Building Senior NLP Leadership Capability at EY
Find out how DeepRec.ai partnered with EY to make three senior Natural Language Processing hires across leadership and management functions.
Industry: Professional Services, Artificial Intelligence
Headquarters: Switzerland
Hires Made to Date: 3
Roles Placed: Partner, Director, Manager
Results
Senior NLP Hires Made
CV to Placement Ratio
Relevant Candidates Submitted
Hire from an Underrepresented Background
About EY
EY is one of the world’s largest professional services organisations, providing assurance, consulting, tax, strategy, and transaction services across global markets.
As demand for artificial intelligence expertise continued to increase across client engagements, EY required senior-level Natural Language Processing professionals capable of shaping strategy, building technical capability, and supporting complex transformation programmes.
Operating within a fast-moving and highly competitive AI talent market, the business needed access to specialist candidates who combined deep technical expertise with commercial understanding, leadership experience, and the ability to operate effectively within a global consulting environment.
Overview: Hiring Senior NLP Talent in a Competitive Market
EY engaged DeepRec.ai to support the strategic hiring of specialised talent within Natural Language Processing.
The initial requirement focused on two senior-level appointments capable of driving innovation, advising clients, and helping strengthen EY’s wider AI capability. The roles required a rare combination of advanced NLP expertise, leadership experience, commercial awareness, and the ability to deliver within complex consulting environments.
DeepRec.ai’s specialist NLP team conducted a precise, global search, leveraging its extensive Deep Tech network to identify professionals who matched both the technical demands of the roles and EY’s high expectations around leadership and cultural fit.
Seven relevant candidates were submitted for the first two positions, both of which were successfully filled. Following the strength of the delivery, EY retained DeepRec.ai to support an additional senior hire.
All three appointments were successfully completed: one Partner, one Director, and one Manager. The placements also included one candidate from an underrepresented background.
Hear from EY
“The candidate capabilities and fit have been excellent. DeepRec.ai really understood what we were looking for and delivered candidates who aligned well with our needs.
Their approach has been refreshingly timely and proactive, with regular check-ins and discussions about how things were progressing, which I really appreciated.
Sam Oliver was particularly great to work with. He was very proactive in understanding our requirements and did a good job of aligning internally to reduce complexity for us, which made the whole process much smoother.”
The Partnership
DeepRec.ai worked closely with EY’s AI leadership team to understand the technical, commercial, and strategic requirements of each appointment.
The engagement was led by Sam Oliver, who acted as the central point of contact throughout the process. Regular communication, proactive updates, and close internal alignment helped reduce complexity for EY and ensured the search remained focused and efficient.
For the first two roles, DeepRec.ai submitted seven carefully selected candidates. Each profile was assessed against EY’s requirements for NLP expertise, leadership capability, consulting experience, and commercial fit.
Following the successful completion of both initial searches, EY retained DeepRec.ai for a third senior-level appointment. This resulted in three successful hires across Partner, Director, and Manager level, with an overall CV-to-placement ratio of 2:1.
Targeted Hiring for Natural Language Processing Leadership
DeepRec.ai designed a search strategy specifically around the demands of senior NLP hiring.
Rather than relying on broad market coverage, the team engaged a focused global network of professionals with experience across machine learning, language models, AI strategy, consulting, and enterprise transformation.
Every candidate was evaluated not only for technical expertise, but also for their ability to lead teams, influence stakeholders, shape client strategy, and operate within a complex international organisation.
This targeted approach enabled EY to secure three senior appointments with the technical and commercial capability required to strengthen its AI offering across Switzerland and the wider European market.
The success of the engagement demonstrated DeepRec.ai’s ability to deliver highly specialised leadership talent while maintaining a proactive, streamlined, and consultative hiring process.
