Data Director

Director of Data | Enterprise Data Transformation High End Luxury Retail | 6 - 12 Month Interim - London | Hybrid We’re partnering with a major global consumer organisation to appoint a Director of Data to lead an enterprise-wide transformation of its data capability. This is a significant leadership mandate with ownership across data strategy, engineering, platforms, governance, data products, BI and analytics enablement. The organisation is investing in creating a more modern, scalable and trusted data ecosystem and needs a leader who can bring structure to the existing landscape, raise engineering and governance standards, and build the operating model required to make data genuinely usable across the business. The opportunity:You will own and execute the enterprise data strategy, leading a broad data organisation spanning:Data EngineeringData PlatformsData Governance & QualityData Product ManagementBI & Analytics EnablementData Operations The initial priority is to stabilise, simplify and centralise the data capability creating clearer ownership, stronger standards and greater reliability before evolving towards a more federated, domain-led operating model. You’ll also own the roadmap for the wider data ecosystem, with Databricks at the heart of the target architecture, alongside Power BI and Looker, while driving the rationalisation of legacy platforms and reporting. Key areas of focusLOwn and evolve the enterprise data strategy and three-year roadmapModernise and scale the data platform and engineering environmentBuild strong DataOps, observability, quality and governance disciplinesEstablish clear enterprise ownership, stewardship, lineage and data standardsBuild a mature data product management capabilityAccelerate self-service BI and analytics across the organisationRationalise legacy platforms, reporting and toolingBuild and develop a high-performing senior data leadership teamPartner with senior business leaders to translate data investment into measurable commercial outcomesCreate the foundations required to support advanced analytics, ML and future AI use cases What we’re looking forWe’re looking for an established Director of Data / Head of Data / Enterprise Data Leader who has led meaningful transformation within a large, complex organisation.

You’ll ideally bring:Experience owning enterprise data platforms and engineering at scaleStrong knowledge of modern cloud data environment. Databricks experience would be particularly relevantA track record of improving data governance, quality, lineage and stewardshipExperience building data product and self-service analytics capabilitiesLeadership of sizeable, multidisciplinary data teamsExperience delivering complex, multi-year transformation roadmapsStrong commercial and executive-level stakeholder managementThe credibility to operate strategically while still engaging deeply with architects and engineers Experience within retail, luxury, consumer, digital commerce or another highly complex customer-led environment would be particularly valuable. This is a role for someone who enjoys transformation: building clarity from complexity, creating strong foundations and then turning data into a genuine enterprise capability.