Head of Data (18 Months FTC)

The Head of Data leads the Foundation’s enterprise-wide data strategy, establishing a trusted, secure, well-governed and insight-driven data environment. The role is responsible for delivering data governance, data quality, architecture, engineering, reporting, analytics and the effective use of cloud native data platforms across the organisation. This leadership role accelerates the Foundation’s journey toward becoming a data-mature, insight-led organisation, supporting strategic decision-making, regulatory confidence, operational excellence, and impact measurement. Reporting to the Director of Transformation, the Head of Data builds and develops the team, shapes the Foundation’s data culture, and ensures data is a strategic asset that drives value, trust and innovation. The Head of Data delivers a modern, secure and trusted data environment supporting the Foundation’s mission, and ensures high quality of data that strengthens insight, transparency, regulatory confidence and impact measurement. The role also supports a future-ready data capability, supporting long-term transformation across the Foundation, and helps foster a culture that sees data as a shared asset powering decisions, partnerships and community impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Data Leadership
  • Develop and deliver the Foundation’s enterprise data strategy aligned to mission and organisational goals.
  • Enable data-driven decision-making across all Foundation operations, including Finance & Legal, Endowment, Charities and Impact on Urban Health.
  • Embed data into customer experience, operational resilience, risk management and strategic planning.
  • Ensure measurable outcomes linked to data quality, adoption and organisational value.
• Data Governance & Compliance
  • Lead and mature a robust data governance framework, including standards, policies, ownership models, quality controls and metadata management.
  • Ensure compliance with GDPR, Data Protection and relevant regulatory and audit requirements.
  • Establish trusted data across the organisation through strong controls, lineage, classification and lifecycle management.
• Data Architecture & Engineering
  • Lead on the enterprise data architecture design, including data lakes, warehousing, integrations, pipelines and modelling.
  • Own and optimise cloud-native data technologies across Microsoft Azure, including Fabric, Azure Data Lake, Data Factory, Databricks, Synapse and SQL.
  • Ensure the data platform is scalable, high-performing, secure and aligned to organisational transformation needs.
  • Partner with the Business Systems team to deliver seamless integrations with CRM, finance, impact measurement tools and third-party platforms.
• Analytics, Insight & AI
  • Lead on the development of enterprise reporting and analytics, delivering timely, accurate and actionable insights.
  • Oversee Power BI governance, semantic models and self-service enablement.
  • Drive predictive analytics, operational insight and (where appropriate) responsible AI/ML adoption to enhance outcomes and impact measurement.
  • Champion the delivery and innovation in line with emerging technologies to support operational insight.
• Leadership, Culture & Collaboration
  • Work closely with the Head of Change, Head of Business Systems, and IT Operations Manager to develop end-to-end solutions for business systems, data and infrastructure.
  • Over time, build and lead the multidisciplinary data team.
  • Champion data literacy, high-quality data habits and a culture of curiosity across the Foundation.
  • Represent the organisation externally with regulators, suppliers and strategic partners.
  • Effectively manage internal and external delivery, including procurement and vendor oversight.

Role responsibilities are not exhaustive, and you would be reasonably expected to take on wider tasks that are commensurate with the level of your role.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Skills, abilities, and attributes:
  • Self-starter who is adaptable, works with integrity, and exhibits the Foundation’s core values.
  • Willing to learn and develop new skills, and help to develop the knowledge and skills of peers.
  • Committed to the principle of continuous improvement, with careful attention to detail and due process.
  • Committed to delivering consistent and high-quality customer service to both internal and external stakeholders.
  • Good interpersonal skills and able to effectively liaise with both internal and external communities.
  • Confident in communicating well, both in writing and verbally, and exhibits listening and influencing skills.
  • Ability to operate strategically and hands-on in equal measure.
  • Strong problem-solving and analytical thinking.
  • Ability to build trust, develop relationships and lead through influence.
  • Commitment to data ethics, privacy, responsible technology and community impact.
  • Keeps fully up to date with emerging technologies.
  • Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts for senior and non-technical audiences.
• Knowledge, experience, and qualifications:
  • Proven experience leading data functions in regulated or complex organisations (charity, financial services, healthcare, public sector or similar) - (essential)
  • Strong background in enterprise data management, governance, data quality and architecture (essential)
  • Deep technical expertise across the Microsoft Azure data ecosystem (Fabric, Data Lake, ADF, Databricks, Synapse, SQL, Purview, DevOps) - (essential)
  • Experience scaling cloud-native data platforms and modern data stacks (Lakehouse, pipelines, BI tooling) - (essential)
  • Strong understanding of GDPR, data protection, compliance and data risk frameworks (essential)
  • Track record of influencing at senior/executive levels and leading cultural change (essential)
  • Experience with Microsoft Purview governance and responsible AI frameworks (desirable)
  • Certifications such as Azure Data Engineer, Solutions Architect or equivalent (desirable)
  • Experience with Azure/OpenAI, Snowflake/BigQuery/Redshift, dbt or modern orchestration tools (desirable)
  • Experience enabling insights in impact-driven, donor-focused or audience engagement organisations (desirable)

Benefits

• Contributory pension
• Annual personal development budget
• Annual health and wellbeing personal allowance
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, and parental leave pay accessible without length of service requirements.
• Health and wellbeing programme that offers optional free yearly health check-ups.
• Support for healthy eating via fruit bowls and onsite lunch facilities.
• Agile working, flexible hours, and supportive IT kit.
• Shower facilities and bike lock area.
• Generous annual leave (27 days + bank holidays)
• Subsidies for glasses
• Employee Assistance Programme