At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead transformative data initiatives and modernise enterprise data landscapes.
- Company: Join a leading UK organisation shaping the future of data and AI.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, car allowance, healthcare, generous leave, and pension scheme.
- Other info: Inclusive culture with opportunities for personal and professional growth.
- Why this job: Make a significant impact on data strategy and drive innovation at scale.
- Qualifications: Senior leadership experience in data transformation and cloud platforms.
The predicted salary is between 61816 - 75552 £ per year.
Competitive salary plus car allowance, healthcare, annual bonus potential, 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising with service and a company pension scheme with highly competitive contribution rates.
Permanent, Full time London Farringdon x3 days a week in office.
Location: London
Reporting to: Chief Technology Officer
Shape the future of data, AI and digital intelligence at scale. We're looking for an exceptional data leader to transform how one of the UK's largest organisations uses data to drive better decisions, innovation and growth.
As Director of Data & Digital Intelligence, you will lead the modernisation of a complex enterprise data landscape, creating a trusted, AI-ready data platform that enables better decision-making across the organisation. You'll be responsible for turning data into a strategic business asset, accelerating the adoption of AI and advanced analytics, and unlocking new value through data products and services.
This is a high-impact leadership role operating at the intersection of technology, business strategy and transformation. You'll work closely with senior executives to shape the future of the organisation's data capabilities and deliver measurable commercial and operational outcomes.
What you'll be doing:
- Lead enterprise-wide data transformation
- Define and deliver the enterprise data strategy and roadmap
- Drive the transition from fragmented legacy platforms to a modern cloud-based data ecosystem
- Build a product-led approach to data, enabling reuse, standardisation and scalable delivery
- Create a clear vision for how data supports business growth and strategic decision-making
- Build a modern data platform
- Lead the migration to a secure, scalable Google Cloud Platform (GCP) environment
- Establish modern platform capabilities including data ingestion, transformation, observability, security and FinOps
- Ensure cloud transformation delivers long-term value and avoids unnecessary technical debt
- Create an AI-ready foundation that enables future innovation
- Establish trusted data governance
- Embed enterprise-wide data governance and ownership
- Improve data quality, standards, metadata management and accessibility
- Create a culture where data is treated as a strategic asset
- Champion data literacy and accountability across the organisation
- Accelerate AI and advanced analytics
- Enable the successful adoption of AI, machine learning and automation at scale
- Ensure responsible AI principles are embedded into delivery
- Support experimentation and innovation through repeatable frameworks and governance
- Increase adoption of self-service analytics and insight capabilities
- Drive business value from data
- Partner with business leaders to identify and prioritise opportunities
- Create a single source of truth across key business domains
- Establish clear benefits tracking and value measurement
- Demonstrate measurable outcomes from data investments
- Build and lead a world-class function
- Lead teams spanning data engineering, analytics, governance and platform capabilities
- Build organisational capability and talent
- Shape supplier and partner strategy
- Influence a wide network of technology, data and business stakeholders
What we're looking for:
Essential experience:
- Senior leadership experience delivering large-scale enterprise data transformation programmes
- A proven track record of modernising complex legacy data environments
- Experience leading major cloud data platform programmes, ideally on GCP
- Strong expertise in data governance, quality, metadata and operating models
- Experience enabling AI, machine learning and advanced analytics adoption
- Demonstrable success delivering measurable business value through data and technology investment
Essential skills:
- Exceptional stakeholder management and executive influencing capability
- Strong commercial and strategic thinking
- Deep understanding of modern data architectures and data product operating models
- Experience leading large, complex transformation portfolios
- Ability to lead through matrix structures and diverse delivery teams
- Strong focus on outcomes, value realisation and execution
Desirable:
- Experience in highly regulated or complex operational environments
- Experience creating customer-facing data products or services
- Knowledge of data monetisation strategies and commercial data opportunities
Why join?
This is an opportunity to lead one of the most significant data transformation programmes in the UK. You'll have responsibility for:
- A multi-million-pound transformation investment
- Enterprise-wide influence across technology and business functions
- Large-scale teams and strategic supplier partnerships
- The development of future AI and data capabilities
- Delivering measurable value across an organisation operating at significant scale
If you are passionate about transforming organisations through data, building modern cloud platforms, and unlocking the potential of AI, we'd love to hear from you.
Extra Benefits:
- Family friendly support - enhanced maternity pay, paternity leave, adoption leave and shared parental leave
- Supportive and generous company sick pay
- Funded Dental – As a manager you are eligible to a level of employer funded dental insurance
- Health Assessment – As a manager you are eligible to an employer funded health assessment every 2 years
- Benefits Account – You will have access to your personal benefits account on our ‘My Bundle+’ platform. There are more than 800 retail offers to help you save on things like groceries, days out, holidays and your household bills as well as employer provided and voluntary benefits to suit your lifestyle.
- Your Wellbeing - you and your family have 24/7 access to services and tools to help you get the most out of life. From your physical and mental health to financial and social support and advice. It’s free, and it’s for everyone.
Next Steps: The next stage of the selection process will be a face to face/virtual interview consisting of competency based and role specific questions. Trust is the foundation of Royal Mail. We aim to be transparent about the qualities we seek and what a career with us entails, building trust from the start of your journey with us. We understand that candidates may not meet all the criteria for the role. If your experience is different, but you have relevant skills we’d love to hear from you.
Royal Mail Group is committed to inclusion and representing the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all individuals. As a proud Gold signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant, we especially encourage applications from the Armed Forces community, including cadet instructors and spouses/partners.
We are committed to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process. If you require any adjustments to support you during the hiring process, please discuss these with your recruiter when contacted.
For more information on Royal Mail Group and our values please click here:
Closing Date: 20 Sept 2026
Please note, this advert may close early if the appropriate number of applications has been reached.
Data Director in London employer: Royal Mail
Royal Mail is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment at our Leeds Mail Centre, where you can be part of a significant technological transformation in the delivery services sector. With competitive salaries exceeding £55,000, generous leave entitlements, and a commitment to employee growth through continuous improvement projects, we foster a culture of collaboration and innovation. Join us to not only advance your career but also contribute to a company that values diversity and inclusion, ensuring every voice is heard and respected.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Data Director in London
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We think you need these skills to ace Data Director in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Projects:In the world of data science, your projects can speak volumes about your skills. Make sure to showcase a few key projects in your CV or portfolio, especially those that highlight your ability to work with data sets, build models, or use relevant tools like Python, R, or SQL. Don’t forget to include links to any GitHub repositories if applicable!
Quantify Your Achievements:Employers love numbers! When drafting your CV, highlight your achievements with quantifiable results. For instance, mention how your data analysis led to a certain percentage increase in efficiency or revenue at a previous job or project. These details can really make your application pop!
Craft a Tailored Cover Letter:For a full-time role at Royal Mail, your cover letter should reflect your passion for data science and your excitement about the specific projects or values of the company. Dive into why you’re a good fit, how your skills align with their needs, and any unique perspectives you can bring to the team.
Stand Out with Relevant Courses and Certifications:Although experience talks, relevant courses or certifications can be your ticket to impressing hiring managers at Royal Mail. Mention any standout courses you've completed that equipped you with essential skills, such as machine learning certifications or data visualisation courses. This shows your commitment to continuously developing your skills in the field!
How to prepare for a job interview at Royal Mail
✨Brush Up on Your Statistics
For a data science role, we need to seriously sharpen our statistics skills. Get ready to tackle technical questions on probability distributions, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis. These are often the bread and butter of data science interviews, so don't just skim over them!
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Prepare a killer portfolio showcasing your data science projects. We should include details about the datasets used, the tools and techniques applied, and the impact of your findings. If we can walk them through a particularly challenging project or a cool visualisation that had real-world implications, it’ll really make us stand out!
✨Get Comfortable with Python and R
Most data science positions require us to be proficient in programming languages like Python and R. We should practice common libraries like pandas, NumPy, and scikit-learn, and be ready for live coding exercises or algorithm questions. Showing off our coding chops can really impress the interviewers at Royal Mail!
✨Prepare for Case Studies
Expect to encounter real-world case studies during the interview. We might be asked how we’d approach a data problem or analyse a dataset to extract insights. It's essential to think out loud and demonstrate our problem-solving process so that the interviewer can see our logical thinking in action.
