Director of Data Operations

About 9fin

The world's largest asset class, debt, operates with the worst data. Technology has revolutionised equity markets with electronic trading, quant algos and instantaneous news. However, in debt capital markets, the picture is completely different. It still behaves like it's in the 1980s; trillions of dollars of trades are placed over the phone, news is slow, and corporate credit information is imperfect and scattered. Our mission is to change this. 9fin's proprietary technology delivers fast and comprehensive financial, credit, legal & ESG analysis. Our clients are able to make faster, more informed decisions, win more business and most importantly, save time. Our fast growing list of clients include 9 of the top 10 Investment Banks, leading Asset Managers, Hedge Funds and Law Firms.

The Opportunity

We're seeking a Director of Data to own 9fin's data strategy and operations. 9fin's Data Operations team plays a critical role in ensuring that timely, accurate information is ingested into our platform at scale. This is a unique opportunity to define what data we collect, why it matters, how we deliver it - while leading a large (150+ person) operations organisation to execute at vision. You'll join at a moment when the data function is maturing, giving you meaningful influence over the direction and pace of our growth. If you're energised by driving strategy, building and scaling teams, and turning complex market data into business advantage, this is for you.

This role requires a commercially minded data leader with finance expertise and ability to set strategy in a fast paced, growing environment. You'll need to be comfortable operating at both altitude and detail: shaping our long-term data vision while making thoughtful trade-offs to maximise impact. You'll be the person who can translate complex market documentation into clear data priorities, balance multiple stakeholder demands, and guide the existing data operations organisation through growth with clarity and confidence. You will bring credibility, independence and strong relationship building skills to a role that sits at the intersection of product, content and the rest of executive leadership.

What you'll work on

• Define and lead 9fin's operational data strategy by identifying what data we need, why we need it, the ROI of acquiring it, and what that means for Data Ops resourcing to ensure operational readiness for new products.
• Interface and partner with senior stakeholders across the business to ensure alignment of the data roadmap, maintain strong executive-level relationships.
• Where Product sets roadmap direction, Engineering builds, and Content defines nuance, ensure the Data Ops team is prepared to collect, structure and execute that data.
• This role prevents teams from working in silos and ensures the whole machine moves in sync.
• Drive cross-functional delivery by coordinating discovery, scoping and delivery for data-heavy projects.
• Translate product requirements into operational workflows, ensure resources are aligned, and manage the handoffs between SMEs, engineering and operations.
• Lead the Data Operations organisation based in Belfast that is expanding globally which handles financial and news / market data with 30+ workstreams.
• Standardise how hubs work, what 'good' looks like, and how performance is measured.
• Reduce variation in quality and output by aligning leadership, processes and tooling across geographies.
• Own external data vendor strategy. Centralise licensing, negotiate improved terms, assess alternatives, and maintain a unified view of 9fin's external data sources to reduce duplication and improve commercial outcomes.
• Operate with a value-driven mindset to prioritise investments, make smart trade-offs, and ensure we direct resources toward the highest impact data while ensuring buy-in from relevant stakeholders.
• Champion best-in-class data quality by defining clear standards, driving continuous improvement across accuracy, completeness and timeliness to ensure that our data meet our client's expectations.
• Build performance transparency by owning the dashboards, metrics and SLAs that drive Data at 9fin, including understanding our clients needs and matching outputs to meet them.
• Make throughput, quality and resourcing visible so leaders can make decisions based on data rather than anecdote.

About You

This role will be a great fit if you're an experienced data-leader in the finance industry - ideally with direct exposure to leveraged finance - and you're equally comfortable defining strategy and rolling up your sleeves on execution. You have:

• Finance domain expertise: You are familiar with offering memorandums, credit structures, covenants or similar complex documentation.
• Leadership experience: You've led large international data operations teams (100+ people) and know how to scale people, processes and performance across multiple jurisdictions and offices.
• Data systems understanding: You grasp database mechanics, data workflows, and quality frameworks at a high level, enabling productive collaboration with engineering and operations.
• Stakeholder management: You excel at navigating competing priorities, influencing senior leaders and building credibility quickly across functions.
• Strategic and execution balance: You can define long-term data strategy while diving into detail when needed to drive operational excellence.
• Executive ownership: You operate confidently at a senior level, exercising sound judgement, setting direction, and bringing clarity to ambiguous environments.

Benefits

We're a scaling start up, and we enjoy sharing our success, when the company succeeds, we always reinvest that in our people. We also offer huge amounts of responsibility, an abundance of opportunity for growth and a platform to truly excel.

• Competitive Salary (our salary bands are benchmarked at 75-90th% of market)
• Equity
• Pension (your minimum contributions are 4% with 9fin matching up to 7%)
• Private Medical Insurance
• Paid sick leave with Income Protection for long periods of illness
• Group Life Assurance
• Season Ticket Loan & Cycle to Work schemes

Time off

• 25 holiday days per year
• Local public holidays (with the ability to exchange them for alternative days)
• Hybrid working model, to allow you the flexibility to decide how, where and when you do your best work
• Work abroad for up to 3 months a year
• 1 month paid sabbatical after 5 years of service
• Enhanced parental leave & flexible working arrangements available

Training & Culture

• Professional learning and development budget
• Quarterly team socials
• Summer and Winter company social events

9fin is an equal opportunities employer. At 9fin we are dedicated to building and promoting a fair and inclusive workplace where everyone can reach their full potential and truly belong. We recognise that building diverse teams enables a more creative and productive environment. If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't perfectly align with the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be who we're looking for - either for this role, or perhaps another.