Head of Data Platform

Job Description

Press Tab to Move to Skip to Content LinkLocation:Corby, ENG, GB, NN17 9FHBrand: RS GroupFunction: FinanceWork Location: HybridHead of Data PlatformsLocation: Hybrid9 Months FTCOur FTSE100, global organisation, continues to grow and is moving from strength-to-strength. The potential for creating more valuable outcomes from its data assets has been recognised by the business and a new Group CDAO was appointed in February 2023 tolead the transition journey for Group Data Analytics and Automation (GDA&A) towards being Value Driven and Outcome Orientated, which is an exciting and key aspect of us achieving the Group’s Destination 2025 strategy.We need tocreate a place where people ask the right questions, seek insights, and predict trends, to drive value and stay ahead of the competition. To make this happen, we are creating a new culture, shifting mindsets, developing new technologies and investingin our people to drive tangible and significant value to the business from the insights we drive.We have a number of technology workstreams in flight, including:

• The development of a new Enterprise Data Platform (EDP) in Snowflake
• The roll out of PowerBI as our enterprise reporting platform
• New data governance tooling
• New Analytics and Data Science Platform
• Extension of our Automation Platform into Intelligent Decisioning

This role will be a major contributor to our data and analytics transformation journey by leading the ongoing development and implementation of our new EDP and the deprecation of legacy assets and by helping to shape our future in this space.We are looking for a hands-on expert and leader, someone who has ‘been there and done that’ and is able to demonstrate to his team, peers and stakeholders ‘what good looks like’Purpose of the role:

• To be the commercial and strategic owner for the new Enterprise Data Platform ultimately leading to a single location of trusted data used across the business
• Work closely with other GDA&A teams, such as Product Development, BI and Data Science, to ensure that the data platform meets business requirements.
• To build, manage, prioritise and deliver the backlog and roadmap for all development and support of the EDP and associated tools
• Preovision secure, safe and reliable data that meets the needs the business, aligned to the overall Technology strategy and business wide objectives
• To be the voice of Data Platforms in GDA&A and across the organisation
• To manage the commercial relationships with third party suppliers and vendors
• Closely collaborate with the Head of Data Governance & Quality and other peers within GD&A

Key Responsibilities:EDP Delivery• Own the translation of business, functional and technical requirements into a well architected, documented, secure, well governed and a high performing data platform• Manage the roadmap, backlog, and prioritisation of requirements for Squads, from requirements gathering through development to production.• Lead the execution of data engineering, data architecture, and data operations to align with GDA&A’s data and analytics strategy.o Ensure that solutions within the data portfolio are complimentary and best fit with existing and future technologies and IT solutionso With Lead Engineer, Enterprise Data Architect and Solution Architect, set and agree system service metricso Manage the outstanding technical debt with an appropriate programme of work to address it• Manage and improve performanceo Define KPIs for each squad type, and with the support of the Service Delivery Lead monitor the KPIs and identify opportunities for improvement.o Define KPIs for the system, such as up-time. With the support of the lead engineer, monitor the KPIs and identify opportunities for improvementData Managemento Participate in creating, refining, managing and enforcing data management policies, procedures, conventions and standardso Oversee the creation and ongoing development of the technical infrastructure for data governance such as the data catalogue, data flows, security and recovery processesStakeholder Managemento Collaboration with senior stakeholders to improve the perception and utilisation of the data platform• Talent management.o Manage your teams from recruiting to resourcing; from budgeting to people development to create a high performing team.o Review team capabilities and skills and design a plan to upskill / nurture / develop and retain / recruit the best talento Forecasting and forward planning of resource and skills in line with existing and predicted needsLeadershipo You will be the go-to leader in your field of expertise for pioneering thinking and innovation that creates value for the Group.o Actively contribute to the GDA&A leadership team. You will play an active part with the technology teams to ensure alignment of roadmaps and enterprise architecture.o Adhere to, champion, and seek to improve Data and Analytics processes and best practicesUseful Experience

Significant experience as product owner of technical tools and platforms

Extensive experience of standing up Enterprise Data Platforms, ideally with Snowflake as part of the stack

Experience delivering data initiatives and commercial impact

Significant experience in data engineering and executing cloud data migrations / platform and tool decommissioning

Extensive experience in technical framework development and a strong track record of enforcing best practice in line with such frameworks

A deep technical background, with prior or current hands-on development experience,.

using AWS Cloud Services and ideally Snowflake. You know how to use the technology effectively and efficiently.

Experience of the usage of API’s and consuming data for analysis purposes Technical Experience

Extensive knowledge and experienced in multiple Agile approaches, ideally certified.

Experience in resetting TOM and realignment of teams, roles and responsibilities

Experience and understanding of secure development frameworks, engineering operating models, and cloud engineering

Experience of building integrations between with internal and third-party solutions. Proven ability to understand and relay complex data-related issues in a simple and easy to understand manner; demonstrating expertise in cloud data technology infrastructureand environments coupled with business proces