Red Badger announces strategic Data & AI expansion and the scale up of a second UK centre.

Data and AI, the Red Badger way

Enterprises have stopped asking whether to invest in data and AI, and started asking how to do it well: fast, responsibly, and with deep, lasting value. Red Badger is expanding Data & AI capabilities by bringing proven lean, outcome-led approach to:

• Modern data platforms, underpinned by cloud data services across AWS and Azure, and built on technologies such as Databricks and Snowflake

• Applied and agentic AI, deployed responsibly using services such as AWS Bedrock and Azure AI Foundry, with the right large and small language models for the job

• A modern and pragmatic approach to data strategy, architecture and governance, grounded in proven frameworks such as DAMA - DMBOK

Delivery of value at pace: small teams, fast feedback, rapid results.

Leadership to match the ambition

To lead both the Data & AI practice and the Leeds region, Red Badger is delighted to welcome Richard Handley as Director, Data & AI and Director, Red Badger Leeds.

Richard brings more than two decades in data, with senior leadership roles spanning public and private sectors, including Head of Enterprise Data Architecture at NHS Digital, before establishing the Data Services practice at Peru Consulting.

As Technical Director across Infinity Works and Accenture, he built up the data, engineering, mobile and delivery practices, with a particular focus on enterprise grade data and engineering.

His experience spans industries and disciplines, from helping an early-stage start-up bring a product to market in 16 weeks and on to unicorn status, to shaping and delivering the data strategy for an NHS trust, standing up a Snowflake platform that gave clinical and operational teams new insight from their data. Across retail, automotive, healthcare, energy and financial services, the goal has never changed: solving tangible business problems with the right data and technology.

A second home in the North

Leeds gives Red Badger a base at the centre of one of the UK's strongest regional business clusters, with direct access to a deep pool of technology talent forged in enterprises across the North. It puts Red Badger's full product, platform, data and AI capability closer to our clients.

Richard has successfully grown a high capability practice before. He grew the Manchester region from a small team into a large, multi-discipline consultancy of over 200 consultants, first at Infinity Works and then through its acquisition by Accenture. He established and scaled advanced client services by pairing the right people and tools to each engagement.

Known as a trusted advisor, leader and coach, he has a track record of building strong teams as much as strong technology. Exactly what's needed to grow a new practice and a new region in parallel.

What's next

With a dedicated Data & AI practice and a growing presence in the North of England, Red Badger is ready to help more organisations turn data and AI into competitive advantage, delivered the way it always has: well formed, expert teams creating real value at pace.

For more information about Red Badger's Data & AI practice, or about working with the team in Leeds and the North, contact Richard directly.

Richard Handley
Director, Data & AI / Director, Red Badger Leeds
richard.handley@red-badger.com