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Data Director
Manchester / Hybrid
About CAVU
For airports, for partners, for people. We are CAVU.
At CAVU, our purpose is to find new and better ways to make airport travel seamless and enjoyable for everybody, from the smallest ideas to the biggest transformations. Every day is an opportunity to create better travel experiences.
From our revenue-accelerating single-platform technology, Propel, through to our world-class hospitality venues including 1903 and Escape Lounges, our solutions make travel smoother for passengers and more profitable for our clients and partners.
We know that to bring your best ideas, you need the space to think, the support to grow, and the freedom to be your authentic self. Whether you're working from our offices, from home, in our lounges, or on the road, we provide an environment where you can create, innovate, and help transform airport travel.
Together, we can reach new heights. Together, we are CAVU.
Why This Role Is Different
This is a rare opportunity to join CAVU at a pivotal stage in our growth journey. Reporting to the Chief Product & Technology Officer, you'll have genuine influence across the organisation, helping shape both our data strategy and broader business direction. You'll work alongside senior leaders to determine where we invest, how we scale and how data helps unlock future growth opportunities across our products, customers and partners.
This role could be particularly exciting for a senior data leader from a small to medium-sized digital, technology, e-commerce or SaaS business who is looking to broaden their impact and operate at enterprise scale. Rather than inheriting a fully mature data organisation, you'll play a leading role in defining what great looks like, building capability, creating a data-driven culture and leaving a legacy that will influence the business for years to come.
For the right person, this is a career-defining opportunity to shape the future of data at CAVU and directly contribute to the next phase of growth.
The Role
As Data Director, you'll lead the evolution of our enterprise-wide data capability, creating the strategy, foundations and culture that enable data to drive smarter decisions across the business.
Working closely with senior leaders across Product, Technology, Commercial, Finance, Customer and Operations, you'll ensure data becomes fully embedded in how we think, plan and deliver. You'll bring clarity to a complex and evolving landscape, balancing strategic priorities while building strong partnerships across multiple stakeholder groups. Your ability to influence, align expectations and bring people on the journey will be just as important as your technical and commercial expertise.
From completing the migration and validation of our new data warehouse to embedding a new reporting platform as the single source of truth, you'll lead a talented team while helping CAVU unlock new opportunities through analytics, AI and data-led innovation.
What You'll Be Doing
Inspire and Lead a High-Performing Data Function
- Create an inclusive, collaborative and high-performing culture where people can thrive.
- Lead and develop multidisciplinary teams across Data Engineering, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Science and Governance.
- Build leadership capability and create meaningful career development opportunities.
- Foster a culture of learning, experimentation and continuous improvement.
- Champion diversity of thought, knowledge sharing and cross-functional collaboration.
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Shape and Deliver Our Data Strategy
- Define and execute a multi-year data strategy aligned to CAVU's growth ambitions.
- Establish a clear roadmap across platforms, governance, analytics and data products.
- Make thoughtful decisions about priorities, ensuring investment is focused where it creates the greatest business value.
- Balance short-term business needs with long-term strategic objectives.
- Identify opportunities to leverage data, AI and machine learning to support growth, innovation and operational excellence.
Build Trusted Partnerships Across the Business
- Act as a strategic advisor to executive and senior leadership teams.
- Build strong relationships across Product, Engineering, Commercial, Finance, Customer and Operations functions.
- Navigate complex stakeholder environments with confidence, empathy and credibility.
- Manage competing priorities while setting clear expectations on delivery, outcomes and value.
- Influence decision-making through insight, evidence and commercial understanding.
- Create alignment across teams and leadership groups to drive successful outcomes.
Drive Governance, Quality and Insight
- Establish robust governance frameworks, standards and accountability.
- Improve data quality, consistency and accessibility across the organisation.
- Ensure compliance with privacy, regulatory and security requirements.
- Develop meaningful KPIs and measurement frameworks that support business objectives.
- Champion self-service analytics and data products that empower teams to make informed decisions.
- Ensure data and insight activities remain focused on delivering measurable business outcomes.
Enable Scalable Delivery
- Partner closely with Product and Engineering leaders to embed data into products and platforms.
- Oversee critical programmes including platform migration and reporting transformation.
- Promote modern data practices, engineering excellence and automation.
- Drive adoption of scalable technologies and ways of working.
- Effectively manage dependencies, risks and stakeholder expectations to ensure successful delivery.
What We're Looking For:
Essential Experience
- Significant leadership experience within Data, Analytics or Information Management.
- A proven track record of defining and delivering enterprise-wide data strategies.
- Experience building, developing and transforming multidisciplinary data teams.
- Strong experience partnering with executive stakeholders and influencing strategic decisions.
- Expertise in data governance, quality frameworks and modern data management practices.
- Experience delivering cloud-based data platforms and analytics capabilities, including AWS technologies such as Redshift, Glue and SageMaker.
- Demonstrated success in driving organisational change and increasing data maturity.
- Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to connect data initiatives to measurable business outcomes.
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You'll Thrive Here If You...
- Enjoy building and scaling capabilities in growing businesses.
- Have experience navigating ambiguity and bringing structure to evolving environments.
- Are excited by the opportunity to influence strategy rather than simply execute it.
- Know how to prioritise effectively, balancing long-term vision with immediate business needs.
- Have exceptional stakeholder management skills and are comfortable working across a broad range of business functions.
- Build trust quickly and communicate with clarity and authenticity.
- Are confident setting expectations, managing complexity and bringing people together around a shared goal.
- Lead with curiosity, empathy and accountability.
- Are passionate about developing people and creating environments where everyone can succeed.
- Have worked within a high-growth digital, technology, e-commerce or SaaS environment and are motivated by the opportunity to shape a larger, more complex organisation.
Desirable Experience
- Experience within digital, travel, e-commerce, marketplace or SaaS businesses.
- Exposure to multi-brand, multi-product or international organisations.
- Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions or large-scale platform migrations.
What's in It for You?
This is an opportunity to take ownership of a highly visible and strategically important function at a business that sees data as a critical driver of future success.
You'll have the autonomy to shape strategy, influence decision-making at the highest level and create lasting impact across the organisation. You'll join a collaborative leadership team, work alongside talented colleagues and help build the capabilities that will power CAVU's next phase of growth.
Equal Opportunities and Reasonable Adjustments
We're building something brilliant at CAVU: a diverse team of people who reflect the global customer base we serve. We're proudly part of MAG, and together we're on a mission to be number one in our industries, and that takes talent in all its forms.
Whether this is your first role or your next big step, we want to hear from you, even if you don't think you tick every box. What matters most is what you bring.
We're proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you need any adjustments to support your application or interview, just let us know. We're committed to helping you perform at your best.
Our Colleague Communities play a big part in that journey, including Women's Network, Embrace (Race & Ethnicity), Fly with Pride (LGBTQIA+), Mind Matters (Mental Health), PACT (Parents & Carers), RespectABILITY (Disability & Neurodiversity), and the CAVU Global ID&E Affinity Group.
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