Head of Data - 6‑Month Contract Location: Hybrid / UK Duration: 6 Months About the Role We are seeking a highly credible Interim Head of Data to support a major transformation within one of our clients. This role is not about deep technical leadership-it is about stabilisation, resetting expectations, and re‑anchoring the function around the value it brings and business outcomes achieved. You will take ownership of a mixed data portfolio and provide clear direction during a critical period. What You Will Lead This role requires hands‑on leadership across a broad data landscape, ensuring discipline, clarity, and business alignment across: Data Science & Advanced Analytics Business Intelligence, MI, and Reporting Decisioning (rules engines, credit/propensity models, automation workflows) Data Governance (policy, ownership, quality, controls) Your focus is to re‑establish foundations, reset priorities, and ensure the data function is delivering meaningful commercial outcomes. Key Responsibilities Rapidly stabilise provide clarity, and delivery discipline. Reframe the function to business‑driven outcomes, value creation, and operational impact. Provide decisive interim leadership- acting with authority, not via consensus management. Challenge business requests constructively, ensuring focus is on higher value work. Reset delivery expectations, KPIs, and operating rhythms to align to business strategy. Strengthen governance disciplines, data ownership, and quality controls. Set up pragmatic delivery frameworks to enable the team to succeed. Communicate with senior stakeholders and executives with clarity, confidence, and commercial awareness. Experience We Are Looking For Has personally taken over fragmented data teams and successfully stabilised and motivated Experience running mixed data portfolios -from DS/ML and BI through to decisioning engines and governance. Strong commercial awareness, including P&L impact, cost base considerations, and capital trade‑offs. Experience quantifying value credibly but pragmatically, without over‑engineering analysis. Ability to push back on non‑value‑adding ideas and guide the organisation toward strategic, impactful delivery. Proven track record as a temporary leader, able to act with authority, clarity, and urgency. Experience within Retail environments - Banking/Investments/Business Ideal Candidate Profile Empathetic but firm leader who excels in difficult environments. Business‑first mindset with the ability to bring discipline to data teams. Strong communicator Guidant, Carbon60, Lorien & SRG - The Impellam Group Portfolio are acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.