Head of Data

Head of Data & Analytics

Remote-first (UK): Occasional travel to a South West head office

Up to £85k + strong benefits

You’ve built pipelines, modernised warehouses and written data strategies that never quite got the budget. Or you’ve been one layer removed: running a team inside a bigger function, while someone else owns the vision. You know you could own the whole thing. So where’s the role that actually lets you?

This is it.

A well-loved retailer is scaling at home and internationally through third-party partners. They’ve made data a core part of how they’ll grow.

There’s a live Data Transformation programme, and they’re investing in the platform, the team and the people who use it.

They need a Head of Data & Analytics to own it end to end: the vision, the architecture, the governance and the delivery.

You’ll lead a team of data engineers and analysts. You’ll take an established on-prem warehouse (SSIS and SSRS) and shape its migration onto a modern Azure data platform. Your work will reach the commercial teams directly, so trading, merchandising and operations decisions are made on data they trust.

This is a leadership role with real technical ownership, in a business where you’ll see what your work changes.

What You’ll Do

• Set a forward-looking data strategy tied to the business’s commercial priorities and digital transformation, then bring the business along with it.
• Lead, develop and inspire a team of data engineers and analysts, with clear goals and strong delivery across agile cycles.
• Own the architecture of the enterprise data platform on Azure (Data Lake, Synapse, Fabric), alongside the operational data warehouse.
• Lead the decommissioning and migration of the legacy on-prem warehouse, so the move to cloud happens without losing what already works.
• Build data governance that people actually adopt, through data owners and stewards, quality standards, cataloguing and assurance.
• Make Power BI fast, reliable and self-serve, so commercial teams can answer their own questions and data literacy grows across the organisation.

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience leading data engineering, analytics or data platform teams in a commercial environment. Retail or consumer is a strong plus.
• Solid grounding in the Microsoft data stack: Azure, SQL data warehousing, Power BI, and ideally ADF, Fabric, Synapse or Databricks.
• A leader who can set direction, motivate a team and support people’s careers.
• Commercial acumen: you link data decisions to KPIs and can hold your own with executives.
• Someone who has delivered a migration or modernisation, or who is itching to.
• Certifications such as Azure Data Engineer or PL-300 are a bonus, not a requirement.

You’ll get genuine ownership of a function at the heart of a growing brand, with 34 days’ holiday, a generous pension, private medical, a strong staff discount and flexible working.

Ready to stop maintaining someone else’s data estate and start shaping your own? Get in touch.

Jono Paisley | Recruitment Consultant @ TRIA

[email protected]