15 minutes with: Gianluca Barletta

If you were talking to somebody who wasn’t familiar with consulting or data science, how would you describe your role to them?

As Global Head of Data Science, my job is to create the conditions for our data science team to thrive. We’re a global community of around 200 people, covering everything from data strategy and governance to engineering, analytics, and AI. I help shape where we should play in the market, what propositions will make us successful, and how we give our people the training, experience, and opportunities they need to build brilliant careers.

I’m also part of our Digital and Data Executive Committee, where the capability leaders come together to shape the direction of the wider business. Alongside that, I spend a lot of time with clients, particularly in transport and the public sector, helping to deliver complex data and digital programmes.

That is the professional explanation. When my mother asks, I normally say: “I work with clever people to solve difficult problems!”

What makes PA unique – what’s our differentiator?

PA is the ingenuity company, and that really does describe the way we work. Clients tend to call us when the answer is not obvious, the problem crosses organisational boundaries, or previous attempts have not quite worked. We enjoy that complexity.

We have people who’ve spent their careers solving hard technology and data problems, alongside colleagues who have worked inside the industries we serve. Someone who has worked in health, for example, understands not only technology but the realities of operating in and around the NHS.

We also have a fantastic mix of experience. People join us from industry, as experienced consultants, as graduates, and through our apprenticeship programmes. They bring different perspectives, challenge one another, and find answers that a more uniform team might miss.

Increasingly, our advantage also comes from combining PA’s ingenuity with Jacobs’ scale, engineering expertise, market relationships, and knowledge of complex physical environments. Put those ingredients together and we can solve problems that sit across organisations, technology, and the real world.

What are the biggest challenges our clients are facing, and how are we solving them?

Our clients are not short of AI ideas. In fact, many have created impressive proofs of concept. The difficulty comes when they try to take those ideas out of the ‘laboratory’ and make them work reliably across the enterprise.

That is where things become real. AI has to connect with live data, legacy applications, operational processes, governance, security, and the people who will use it. Those elements are often fragmented, so a successful pilot can stall as soon as it meets the complexity of the organisation.

That’s why we created Intelligent Foundations. It’s our way of bringing strategy, data, applications, architecture, governance, operating models, and change together around the outcomes the organisation wants to achieve. Instead of waiting years for a perfect platform, we can deliver an end-to-end ‘thin slice’ tied to a priority outcome. Each slice creates value while strengthening a reusable foundation for the next one.

Airports are a good example. We connect customer, enterprise, and operational data through an architecture designed around specific AI use cases. That enables solutions to move into operational use, helping people spend less time on repetitive work, make faster decisions, and provide a better experience for passengers. The same thinking can be applied in government, health, financial services, consumer markets, and manufacturing. The principle is simple: start anywhere, but create a clear path to scale everywhere.

What’s the biggest trend you’re seeing across your work with clients right now?

The biggest trend is the gap between AI ambition and AI reality. Our Brand Impact Index research highlights this – as part of our study, we talked to 370 business executives about their progress with AI. We found a real willingness to move from initial exploration and pilots to operationalising and scaling AI across multiple functions. However, around a third of those brand executives are still stalling on AI.

Data may be unreliable, applications may not connect, accountability may be unclear, and the operating model may not be ready. As the saying goes, bad data creates bad AI. But the challenge is broader than simply cleaning a dataset.

Intelligent Foundations closes that gap. It connects each AI ambition to the technical and organisational capabilities needed to deliver it. Crucially, it doesn’t treat the foundation as a vast programme that must be completed before value can begin. Each priority use case delivers something tangible and leaves behind reusable architecture, data products, controls, and ways of working. That means the first use case creates value, while also making the second and third easier to deliver. The foundation becomes stronger and more intelligent with every release.

Which projects have you worked on recently that were especially impactful?

I’m fortunate to work on fascinating projects across several markets, but the ones I find most rewarding are those that make a visible difference to society.

A great example is our work with the UK Department for Transport on Digital Traffic Regulation Orders. For the last three years, we’ve helped create a digital service that allows local authorities to publish the rules governing the road. The ambition is to establish a consistent, digital source of truth for those rules across England and potentially the wider UK.

That may sound quite technical, but the possibilities are very tangible. Reliable digital traffic information could support navigation services, connected vehicles, and emergency services. Ultimately, what drivers see on the road should match what appears on their phone or inside their vehicle.

We’ve also been exploring how AI can accelerate the digitisation of historical traffic regulation orders. Since moving from alpha to beta, the service has digitised more than 130,000 orders, involved over 230 local authorities, and attracted interest from more than 250 data consumers. It’s also created opportunities for start-ups and innovators to build new services using the data.

For me, this is data at its best: taking something fragmented and difficult to use, turning it into a trusted national asset, and opening the door to services that can improve people’s everyday lives.

What is the impact of new tech such as AI on the work that you do?

Where do I start? AI affects almost every dimension of what we do.

My team builds the foundations that allow AI to work, develops AI solutions for clients and uses AI to improve how we deliver our own work. It’s accelerating elements of data engineering, analytics, and software development, while also changing the types of questions clients ask us. We genuinely are at the heart of the AI revolution.

But our focus isn’t just on producing another clever demonstration. We look at the whole journey, from deciding where AI will create value to building the data, applications, governance, and operating model that allow it to work safely and dependably.

I’ve never particularly liked the phrase ‘future-proofing’, because nobody can predict exactly what technology will appear next. The better goal is adaptability. Organisations need foundations that can evolve as technology, regulation, strategy, and customer expectations change.

That’s what makes Intelligent Foundations intelligent. It isn’t a fixed technology stack, or a one-off transformation. It is a dynamic layer that connects strategy to delivery, helps organisations put AI into operational use and keeps adapting as new opportunities emerge.

What advice would you give to somebody who wanted to get into your area of work?

My number one piece of advice is to stay curious.

Technology changes incredibly quickly, so the most valuable skill is not knowing every answer. It is enjoying the process of finding things out. Be open to unfamiliar problems, learn from people with different backgrounds and never become too attached to one tool or way of working.

It also helps to develop breadth as well as technical depth. On any given day, I might move between a client problem, an internal strategy discussion, a project delivery issue, and a conversation about someone’s career. That variety is one of the things I love most about the job, but it requires flexibility and a willingness to keep learning.

So, be technically ambitious, but also learn how organisations work and how people respond to change. Ask good questions. Take opportunities before you feel completely ready. And enjoy the mental gymnastics, because no two days are ever quite the same.

What are you most looking forward to?

Professionally, I’m excited about what we can create with Jacobs. Bringing together PA’s innovation, digital and data capabilities with Jacobs’ engineering depth, market access, and understanding of complex infrastructure gives us a genuinely distinctive opportunity.

There are talented people across both organisations working with data, AI, products, and physical systems. By combining those strengths, we can develop new solutions, enter markets where we previously had less reach, and help clients tackle problems that sit between the digital and physical worlds. Intelligent airports are an obvious example, but similar opportunities exist across transport, water, energy, and other critical infrastructure.

Personally, I’m most looking forward to watching my son grow. He is 12 now, and it is wonderful to see him develop his own interests, ambitions, and view of the world. You can help, encourage, and offer advice, but ultimately, you are watching another person discover who they want to become. I honestly can’t think of anything more rewarding for a father.