Director of Data in Belfast

As a strategic member of the Technology Leadership team, the Director of Data will report to the CTO and lead Foods Connected's transition from a data capture platform to a data insights company. This is an influence-led role: while you will manage a small specialist team, your primary impact will come from embedding data-driven thinking across the entire organisation. You will own the enterprise data strategy, working closely with Engineering, Product, Professional Services, Finance, and Operations to ensure data powers decision-making at every level. You will set technical direction for our data architecture built on Microsoft Fabric, while serving as the data champion who helps department heads unlock value from our platform. This role suits a strategic leader with strong technical credibility who thrives on influence rather than empire-building. You will shape how Foods Connected and our customers think about supply chain data, not build a large team.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Data Leadership – 35%
  • Define and execute the enterprise data strategy aligned with Foods Connected's product roadmap and commercial objectives.
  • Partner with the CTO and executive leadership to position data insights as a core differentiator in our market.
  • Establish data governance frameworks, policies, and standards appropriate for a PE-backed business preparing for growth.
  • Build business cases and ROI models for data infrastructure investments.
  • Represent data capabilities in product strategy discussions, helping shape our evolution toward data insights products.
  • Define and monitor data quality, accessibility, and utilisation metrics across the business.
• Cross-Functional Enablement – 30%
  • Build trusted advisor relationships with heads of Professional Services, Finance, HR, Sales, and Operations to understand their data challenges and deliver solutions.
  • Lead development of self-service analytics capabilities that empower non-technical users across the business.
  • Partner with Finance on financial reporting, forecasting models, and business performance analytics.
  • Support Professional Services with customer success metrics, utilisation reporting, and service delivery insights.
  • Deliver executive dashboards providing visibility into key business metrics and trends.
  • Drive enterprise data literacy, promoting a data-driven culture across all functions.
  • Translate complex data insights into actionable recommendations for stakeholders at all levels.
• Technical Direction – 20%
  • Set technical direction for data architecture on Microsoft Fabric, guiding technology choices for product and business intelligence needs.
  • Provide architectural oversight for data pipelines, warehousing solutions, and analytics platforms without necessarily being hands-on day-to-day.
  • Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations (GDPR) and food industry requirements.
  • Champion adoption of modern data practices including real-time analytics and ML-ready data infrastructure.
  • Work closely with the Data Architect to evolve our data systems and address infrastructure gaps.
  • Enable advanced analytics and AI/ML capabilities that serve both customer-facing features and internal intelligence.
• People Leadership – 15%
  • Directly manage the Data Architect and Senior Data Engineer; provide leadership to the BI Reporting team.
  • Foster a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and continuous learning within a small, high-impact team.
  • Conduct performance reviews, provide coaching, and create clear career development paths.
  • Recruit selectively to build capability as needs evolve, without growing headcount for its own sake.
  • Ensure the team understands how their work contributes to Foods Connected's commercial success.

Experience and Qualifications

• Significant experience in a senior data leadership role within a SaaS or product-driven B2B environment.
• Proven track record of developing and executing data strategies that deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and enable data-driven decision making across multiple business functions.
• Experience working in PE-backed or growth-stage companies with mature governance expectations.
• People management experience, with evidence of developing individuals rather than just scaling headcount.
• The Director of Data should have sufficient technical depth to guide architecture decisions and constructively challenge the team. Hands-on expertise is not required across all areas, but credibility and understanding is essential.

Required

• Strong SQL and data modelling expertise.
• Experience with modern cloud data platforms, preferably Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse, or similar lakehouse architectures.
• Familiarity with Power BI or equivalent BI/visualisation tools.
• Understanding of data pipeline design, ETL/ELT patterns, and orchestration approaches.
• Knowledge of data governance, quality frameworks, and metadata management.

Beneficial

• Experience with Python for data engineering or analytics.
• Exposure to ML/AI implementation in production environments.
• Understanding of real-time data processing and event-driven architectures.
• Background in supply chain, food manufacturing, or quality management domains.

Benefits

• Competitive Base Salary.
• Generous Holiday Package - 25 Days + 10 Public Holidays.
• Private Medical, Dental & Vision.
• Employee Wellness Program and Classes.
• Flexible model of hybrid working.