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Lucent Search research | AI & Data Leadership Report 2025–2026
AI leadership retention and succession
How prepared is your organisation for a change in AI or data leadership?
A senior leader’s departure can affect decisions, stakeholder relationships and the continuity of programmes already under way. Where responsibility is concentrated in one person, the consequences can extend across the business.
Lucent’s research found that nearly 63% of surveyed AI and data leaders planned to change jobs within 12 months of responding. For organisations relying on these leaders to build capability and deliver change, that makes retention and succession relevant to execution planning.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
What the research found
Nearly 63% planned to change jobs within 12 months
41.8% of respondents expected their next job change within six months, with a further 20.9% expecting to move within six to twelve months.
By contrast, 19.8% reported no plans to change jobs.
These responses indicate substantial interest in moving within the surveyed group. They do not establish how many subsequently moved, whether those moves were internal or external, or why respondents were considering them.
Nearly 69% had been in their current role for three years or less
29% had held their current role for less than a year, while 39.8% had been in it for one to three years.
Short tenure can reflect several circumstances, including a newly created position, an internal promotion or a move between employers. The distribution should therefore be interpreted alongside the wider respondent profile.
Many respondents brought considerable experience
The largest experience group, 37.6%, reported more than 20 years of professional experience in AI or data.
The sample includes experienced professionals who were relatively new to their current roles. Understanding how their expertise translates into impact requires attention to the role, the organisation and the support around them.
BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS
What this means for the business
AI and data leaders often connect technical capability with business priorities, investment decisions and governance. Their effectiveness can depend on relationships and knowledge built across several functions.
When a leader leaves, the organisation may need to transfer more than a portfolio of projects. It may also need to preserve the reasoning behind priorities, agreements with stakeholders, knowledge of delivery constraints and responsibility for unresolved decisions.
The potential disruption depends on how the organisation operates. A capable leadership team, documented decisions and clear ownership can support continuity. Heavy dependence on one person can make a transition more difficult.
For executive teams, the research prompts two questions: how well are we supporting the leader we have, and how prepared are we if that person moves?
RETENTION AND MOTIVATION
Rebecca’s perspective: examine the role before assuming the answer is pay
Compensation deserves attention in any retention discussion. So do the scope of the role, the opportunity to deliver and the support available.
An experienced leader may have been appointed to achieve outcomes that depend on decisions elsewhere in the organisation. They may have inherited a different level of capability from the one anticipated, or seen business priorities change without a corresponding change in their remit.
These are matters to explore directly with the individual. The survey’s career-intention figures cannot tell an employer what will retain a particular person.
I would examine four areas.
Whether the role still matches the business need
Revisit what the leader was appointed to achieve and what the organisation now requires.
If priorities have changed, agree how the role, measures of success and resources should change with them. A remit that has expanded informally may need to be redesigned explicitly.
Whether the leader can influence the decisions that affect delivery
Consider access to executive discussions, authority over resources and the ability to resolve dependencies across functions.
Where a leader is accountable for outcomes that rely on others, establish how those commitments will be secured and maintained.
Whether there is a credible opportunity to progress
Discuss what the individual wants to achieve next and where that aligns with the organisation’s needs.
Progression may involve broader responsibility, deeper expertise, a larger business contribution or the opportunity to complete a significant programme. The relevant conversation will differ by person.
Whether continuity extends beyond the individual
Identify where knowledge, relationships and decision-making are concentrated. Develop deputies, clarify delegated authority and make the reasoning behind major decisions accessible.
This supports the incumbent as well as a future successor. It gives the leader more capacity to focus on the work that requires their attention.
LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS
Questions for your leadership team
Use these questions to examine retention and succession together.
When did we last discuss this leader’s ambitions?
Do we understand what they want from the role and what may cause them to reconsider it?
Does the remit reflect current priorities?
Have expectations changed without corresponding changes to authority, resources or reward?
Can the leader make the contribution we recruited them to make?
Which organisational barriers remain unresolved?
What depends disproportionately on this individual?
Consider decisions, relationships, technical knowledge and business context.
Who could provide continuity during a transition?
Is there someone with the capability, authority and capacity to step in?
Would we recruit the same role again?
If the position became vacant, would the current brief still meet the business need?
HIRING IMPLICATIONS
What this means for succession and appointments
Succession planning should establish the capability the business will need next and how it will maintain progress through a transition.
That may involve developing an internal successor, strengthening the wider leadership team, arranging interim cover or preparing for an external appointment. The appropriate choice depends on the expected outcomes and the capability available.
Where a departure is confirmed, it is useful to review the role before taking it to market. The organisation may need continuity in some areas and a different combination of experience in others.
Lucent’s Leadership Requirement Diagnostic examines the business priorities, existing leadership capability, role scope and conditions for success. It helps establish what the next appointment needs to achieve and what should be addressed before the new leader arrives.
EXPLORE RESEARCH
Explore related findings
Structuring AI and data teams for delivery
How team design and capability connect to the wider organisation.
AI ownership, accountability and executive sponsorship
How authority, cross-functional commitments and executive support affect delivery.
AI and data leadership compensation
Reported pay in the context of geography, experience and role scope.
ABOUT
About this research
This page draws on the organisational challenges section of Lucent Search’s AI & Data Leadership Survey Results 2025–2026, including questions about cross-departmental collaboration and organisational buy-in.
The findings reflect the participating leaders’ experiences at the time of the survey. They should be read alongside the respondent profile, question wording and methodology.
Research and interpretation by Rebecca Hastings, Founder of Lucent Search.
CONNECT
Planning for a leadership transition?
You may be considering succession, responding to a departure or reviewing whether an existing role still meets the business need.
Speak to Rebecca about the outcomes you need to protect, the capability already in place and what the next phase requires.
Lucent Search · AI & Data Leadership Report 2025–2026