Head of Data

Head of Data - 6‑Month Contract

Location: Hybrid / UK
Duration: 6 Months

About the Role

We are seeking a highly credible Interim Head of Data to support a major transformation within one of our clients. This role is not about deep technical leadership-it is about stabilisation, resetting expectations, and re‑anchoring the function around the value it brings and business outcomes achieved. You will take ownership of a mixed data portfolio and provide clear direction during a critical period.

What You Will Lead

This role requires hands‑on leadership across a broad data landscape, ensuring discipline, clarity, and business alignment across:

• Data Science & Advanced Analytics
• Business Intelligence, MI, and Reporting
• Decisioning(rules engines, credit/propensity models, automation workflows)
• Data Governance(policy, ownership, quality, controls)

Your focus is to re‑establish foundations, reset priorities, and ensure the data function is delivering meaningful commercial outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Rapidly stabilise provide clarity, and delivery discipline.
• Reframe the function to business‑driven outcomes, value creation, and operational impact.
• Provide decisive interim leadership-acting with authority, not via consensus management.
• Challenge business requests constructively, ensuring focus is on higher value work.
• Reset delivery expectations, KPIs, and operating rhythms to align to business strategy.
• Strengthen governance disciplines, data ownership, and quality controls.
• Set up pragmatic delivery frameworks to enable the team to succeed.
• Communicate with senior stakeholders and executives with clarity, confidence, and commercial awareness.

Experience We Are Looking For

• Has personally taken over fragmented data teamsand successfully stabilised and motivated
• Experience running mixed data portfolios-from DS/ML and BI through to decisioning engines and governance.
• Strong commercial awareness, including P&L impact, cost base considerations, and capital trade‑offs.
• Experience quantifying value credibly but pragmatically, without over‑engineering analysis.
• Ability to push back on non‑value‑adding ideas and guide the organisation toward strategic, impactful delivery.
• Proven track record as a temporary leader, able to act with authority, clarity, and urgency.
• Experience within Retail environments - Banking/Investments/Business

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Empathetic but firm leader who excels in difficult environments.
• Business‑first mindset with the ability to bring discipline to data teams.
• Strong communicator

Guidant, Carbon60, Lorien & SRG - The Impellam Group Portfolio are acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.