Job Title: Head of Data (Strategy, Governance & Delivery)
Location: Leeds/Hybrid (2/3 times per week onsite)
Reporting to: Chief Technology Officer
Salary: £85-90,000 + Excellent Benefits
Type: Full-Time, Permanent
The Opportunity
WRK Digital is proud to partner exclusively with a well-known, high-profile organisation on a transformative data journey. This organisation are at the beginning of a significant transformation programme and are building their data capability from the ground up. This is a brand-new, foundational leadership role with the opportunity to define how data is governed, managed and leveraged across a growing, multi-division organisation.
The Head of Data will be accountable for establishing the enterprise data strategy, defining the governance framework, and building a scalable data platform and reporting capability.
This is a deliberately hybrid role combining:
Strategic leadership — vision, governance, prioritisation, stakeholder alignment
Hands-on delivery — architecture, modelling, pipelines, dashboards and platform decisions
As the first dedicated data leader in the business, success will require someone who can move at pace, bring structure to ambiguity, and partner closely with senior stakeholders and external technology providers.
Key Responsibilities
Data Strategy & Roadmap
Define and own the enterprise data strategy aligned to business goals (growth, operational excellence, client delivery, compliance).
Develop a phased and practical data roadmap covering:
Data platform foundations
KPI and reporting standardisation
Governance and quality controls
Analytics and AI enablement
Establish a "single source of truth" approach for operational and performance data.
Data Platform Architecture
Define the target-state data architecture, primarily within the Microsoft ecosystem.
Select and implement appropriate components across:
Data ingestion and integration
Storage (lakehouse / warehouse patterns)
Semantic modelling
Reporting and self-service BI
Governance and security tooling
Design scalable integration patterns (ETL/ELT, APIs, orchestration).
Develop robust data models to enable cross-division reporting and consolidated group-wide insight.
Insight & Reporting Delivery
Build and deliver high-impact dashboards and reporting for:
Board and Executive reporting
Divisional leadership and operational management
Finance and performance functions
Define and standardise core metrics, KPIs and reporting definitions.
Implement a business glossary, data dictionary and shared KPI catalogue.
Data Governance, Quality & Trust
Establish and embed a comprehensive data governance framework, including:
Data ownership and stewardship models
Classification and handling standards
Role-based access controls
Auditability and lineage
Implement data quality standards, monitoring and remediation processes.
Ensure compliance with relevant regulatory and data privacy obligations (e.g. GDPR).
Stakeholder Partnership
Act as the bridge between business strategy and technical execution.
Partner closely with:
Executive leadership
Divisional leadership teams
Finance, Operations, Risk and Compliance
External managed service providers and technology partners
Lead prioritisation of initiatives to ensure focus on high-value outcomes.
Operating Model & Capability Build
Define the data operating model, clarifying:
What is delivered internally vs via third parties
What is standardised centrally vs owned locally
Over time, build the case for and hire a small, high-performing data team.
Maintain architectural ownership and governance while overseeing delivery through partners.
Skills & Experience
Essential Experience
Experience in a senior data leadership role (e.g. Head of Data, Lead Data Architect, Data Engineering Lead, BI Lead).
Proven track record of building a data platform and analytics capability from scratch in greenfield or low-maturity environments.
Strong experience working with senior stakeholders to translate business questions into:
Data requirements
KPI definitions
Dashboards and reporting products
Technical Capability
Strong hands-on capability across:
Advanced SQL
Data modelling (dimensional and semantic modelling, performance optimisation)
ETL/ELT pipeline design and troubleshooting
Python for transformation, automation or pipeline development
Strong familiarity with the Microsoft data ecosystem, ideally including:
Azure Data Services
Microsoft Fabric
Azure Databricks
Power BI (including semantic models and governance best practice)
Data governance tooling (e.g. Purview)
Strong understanding of:
Data security controls
Access models and role-based permissions
Auditability and compliance requirements
Ways of Working
Highly organised and delivery-focused; able to create structure in ambiguous environments.
Comfortable operating independently and owning a function end-to-end.
Confident prioritising effectively and pushing back on low-value reporting requests.
Pragmatic, commercially aware and outcome-driven.
Desirable Experience
Experience within professional services or multi-entity organisations.
Exposure to M&A or integration environments.
Experience working with managed service providers and blended delivery models.
Familiarity with regulated or compliance-heavy sectors.
Experience enabling analytics or AI use cases.
Why This Role is Different
This is a rare opportunity to define and build a data capability from first principles. You will shape strategy, architecture, governance and delivery in a business that recognises data as a critical enabler of growth and performance. For the right individual, this role offers genuine autonomy, visibility at executive level, and the opportunity to create lasting organisational impact.