Data & AI Leader

Business Purpose & Value Contribution

This role leads and grows Graitec's corporate data, analytics and AI capability: the platform, the governance, the analytics the business runs on, and the applied AI that takes cost and friction out of how we operate.

Data is the enabler for our transformation. The metrics we run on, from recurring revenue and product profitability to pipeline quality, depend on data that is trusted, timely and owned. From there the ambition is a governed portfolio of AI and agentic automation embedded in everyday work, with value measured and reported like any other investment. The role also sets the line between the AI we run corporately and the AI in our products.

You will lead a capable, multi-disciplinary team and be the senior data and AI voice at Graitec, working with the SVP IT & Business Transformation and the functional leadership team. It is hands-on leadership, as credible in an architecture review as in a leadership discussion, with influence over how Graitec operates and not only over what the team builds.

Key Outcomes Expected

What success looks like in the first 12 months

• A single trusted source for Graitec's core metrics, with agreed definitions and named business owners
• A governed Microsoft data platform with a published architecture and a roadmap that moves in step with the ERP and CRM programmes
• AI governance live for corporate AI: one inventory, a clear approval route, model and agent assurance, cost control and responsible-use standards
• A prioritised corporate AI portfolio, with use cases in production and value measured against agreed baselines
• Measured productivity and cost-to-serve improvement in at least two core value streams, evidenced rather than estimated
• Self-service analytics adopted across the core functions, with ad hoc reporting demand measurably reduced
• Data and AI literacy raised across the business, with an active champions' network
• An engaged, high-performing team working to a visible, phased delivery plan

Responsibilities

Strategy and Leadership

• Own the corporate data, analytics and AI roadmap, sequenced with the wider transformation portfolio
• Lead, coach and grow a distributed team of engineers, developers and business-aligned analysts
• Act as senior data and AI partner to the leadership team, translating business priorities into delivery
• Own the operating model and the team's budget: how demand is raised, how work is funded and prioritised, and how value is reviewed

Trusted Data & Governance

• Establish data governance, ownership models and quality standards, with definitions, classification and access agreed with the business
• Make data quality visible through published measures against agreed thresholds
• Drive adoption of data-driven decision-making across senior leadership and business functions

Platform and Analytics

• Own the architecture, cost and operation of the Microsoft data and analytics platform, in step with the major programmes and the wider estate
• Build for reuse: certified pipelines, semantic models and patterns that serve every function rather than one-off builds
• Deliver insight that shapes commercial and operational decisions, made on agreed numbers rather than competing spreadsheets
• Drive self-service so the team concentrates on the hard questions

Applied AI

• Shape Graitec's corporate approach to AI, machine learning and agentic automation, and keep it current as the technology moves
• Run the corporate AI use-case pipeline end to end: identify, business-case, prioritise, deliver and measure, retiring what does not pay back
• Define the measures of success before build and report realised value: adoption, productivity, quality, cost to serve and return against business case
• Build data and AI literacy with HR, including an AI champions network, and keep Graitec benchmarked against comparable businesses

AI Governance

• Own AI governance for the corporate landscape: a single inventory of tools, models and agents, and a clear route to production
• Set the assurance standards covering evaluation, human-in-the-loop controls, monitoring, data privacy, responsible use, cost control and audit readiness
• Govern the AI vendor and platform landscape, and define the line between corporate AI and product AI in partnership with R&D

• 10+ years in data and analytics, including at least five leading a function with budget accountability
• Leadership of a data, analytics and AI function in a mid-sized international business, spanning data engineering, BI, advanced analytics and applied AI
• Hands-on data platform architecture on Azure, including Microsoft Fabric, Synapse or Databricks, with modern ELT and data modelling practice
• Power BI at estate level: semantic models, governance, performance and rationalisation, not only report building
• Data governance and data quality delivered at scale, with ownership models, agreed definitions, classification and access control
• AI and machine learning in production with measured business value, including generative AI or agentic automation, and the governance that goes with it
• Data and analytics delivered alongside major programmes such as ERP and CRM, integrating finance, sales, marketing and product data

Also valued

• Experience in a business grown by acquisition, including integrating data estates post-deal
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations and CRM experience
• Software or SaaS sector experience, including subscription, renewal and product usage telemetry
• Experience establishing an AI centre of excellence, a champions network, or AI agents at scale in corporate functions

• Degree or postgraduate qualification in a numerate, engineering or computer science discipline
• Executive-level communication, with a track record of leading adoption and change across multinational, multidisciplinary teams
• Results-oriented mindset with a high degree of ownership and accountability.
• Ability to operate effectively in a global and multicultural environment.