Head of Data Operations

London – Hybrid (2 days p/week in office)
Circa £800/day Inside IR35
3 months rolling

Futureheads is proud to be partnered with one of the UK's leading medical research charities to secure a Head of Data Operations.

Our client funds world-class research, influences health policy, and provides information and support. Backed by millions of supporters, they see data as central to how they engage their audiences, run their operations and make an impact.

The Role

You'll lead how the organisation looks after its data, making sure it is accurate, clearly owned, easy to find and protected by design.

This is a real chance to shape a function. You'll design and lead a small team of data professionals and build it into a high-performing team ready for the organisation's future plans.

What you'll do

• Improve data quality - build and roll out a data quality framework across the organisation's most important datasets, so data is accurate, consistent and fit for purpose.
• Use automation and AI - introduce automated and AI-enabled ways to spot and fix data quality issues at scale.
• Give data clear owners - set up an ownership and stewardship model so senior colleagues are accountable for the data in their area.
• Make data easy to find and understand - create a shared model of the organisation's core data and agreed definitions, and own the tools that help people find, understand and monitor data.
• Set standards - define and govern data standards and integration rules across systems, including marketing technology platforms.
• Build in data protection - work with the Data Privacy team so privacy-by-design is part of every system and project from the start.
• Manage platform costs - help track and control spend on cloud and data platforms such as Snowflake, using tools like Datadog and CloudWatch.
• Work with engineering: make sure governance needs shape data architecture and platform decisions.
• Design and lead the team - define the team's structure and roles, then lead, develop and manage performance.
• Advise senior leaders - be the main adviser to the CDO on data quality and risk, turning technical findings into clear recommendations.
• Build a data-aware culture - help colleagues outside the data team understand their role in looking after data.