Centeca appoints first Head of AI Strategy & Enablement

Centeca has appointed Oliver Northam as its first Head of AI Strategy & Enablement, giving the group a dedicated senior lead for artificial intelligence.

Northam will shape and deliver AI strategy across the automotive fintech group, which operates in automotive finance, retail technology and compliance. The new post formalises work already under way on AI development and deployment, alongside governance, security and regulatory controls.

The appointment comes as Centeca expands its push into generative AI after launching a car-search app through Click Dealer, its automotive retail technology brand. Built by Evolution Funding, the group's automotive finance platform, the app allows consumers to search more than 120,000 vehicles from independent UK retailers within ChatGPT before being connected to the supplying dealer.

Centeca supports more than 5,500 transacting retailers and facilitates GBP £6.5 billion in platform loan advances each year. Formerly known as Evolution Funding Group, it brings together Evolution Funding, Click Dealer, motor finance brokers Motion Finance and Creditas, and Automotive Compliance.

Internal move

Northam takes up the new role from his position as Head of Engineering at Evolution Funding. He joined the business in 2022 and progressed from Development Manager to Head of Engineering while helping modernise its technology platform.

He has more than 15 years of experience in technology and engineering, including work on technical strategy, platform transformation and information security in regulated environments. At Evolution Funding, he helped migrate legacy systems towards an event-driven architecture and used AI-assisted analysis in the overhaul of a ten-year-old technology estate.

The move gives a more formal structure to AI work across a group that spans several parts of the UK vehicle retail market. Centeca's technology connects with more than 35 lenders and supports finance journeys for four automotive manufacturers, creating multiple areas where AI tools could be deployed.

Chief Innovation Officer Paul Saggar outlined the rationale for creating the role.

"AI is changing the way people discover products, interact with digital services and make financial decisions. For Centeca, this creates an opportunity to rethink parts of the automotive journey and develop services that would not previously have been possible.

"The Click Dealer ChatGPT app is an early example of that thinking, creating a new route for consumers to find vehicles and connect directly with independent retailers. But our ambitions extend well beyond a single application.

"Creating this role is a deliberate investment in Centeca's future. Oli combines deep knowledge of our technology with the experience and judgement needed to give our AI activity clear direction and ensure it contributes meaningfully to the group's growth."

Broader AI push

The appointment reflects a wider shift among financial and software businesses to move AI projects from isolated experiments into formal operating structures. In sectors handling regulated financial products, the challenge is not only to build tools customers use, but also to ensure they meet internal security standards and external compliance requirements.

That matters for Centeca because the group spans consumer vehicle search, dealer systems, lending distribution and compliance support. A central AI lead could help align work across those businesses rather than leaving each brand to pursue separate initiatives.

Centeca has presented the ChatGPT car-search tool as an early example of combining assets from different parts of the group. Drawing on retail listings from dealers and development work within Evolution Funding, the project shows how data, software and market access can be used together across the portfolio.

Northam also set out his priorities for the role.

"I have been passionate about technology for as long as I can remember, and AI is the most significant chapter yet. We now have an opportunity to build on that early progress and make AI a dependable part of how products are developed and businesses operate.

"My priority is to create the foundations that allow good ideas to progress confidently: bringing the right people together, testing where the technology is genuinely useful and applying the standards needed for it to be trusted.

"Centeca has extensive technical knowledge, industry experience and data across the group. I'm excited to bring those strengths together and help translate them into the next generation of services for our partners and customers."