Data and Analytics Lead

A private equity investor is looking at bringing in a hands-on data specialist to improve how information is structured, connected and used across its portfolio businesses.

These are typically owner-managed companies where data capability has not always kept pace with the growth of the business. A company may have separate CRM, operational and finance systems, inconsistent customer records and reporting that cannot provide a reliable version of the truth.

Your job would be to get underneath those problems and fix them.

The role

You would work across an initial portfolio of four or five businesses, each with different systems, teams and commercial challenges.

The work is likely to include:

• Assessing the current data landscape and identifying where the underlying problems sit
• Cleaning, structuring and modelling data so that it can be trusted
• Connecting information held across CRM, operational and finance systems
• Resolving inconsistent records, naming conventions and duplicated data
• Designing and building appropriate data warehouses or similar data platforms
• Creating the analytical and reporting capability that sits on top
• Helping businesses establish a meaningful single source of truth
• Advising on the right technology and approach for each organisation
• Translating commercial questions into useful datasets, reporting and insight
• Working directly with management teams to understand what they need and implement a practical solution

This is not intended to be a purely strategic Head of Data position. The investor needs someone who can diagnose the problem, recommend an approach and remain close enough to the detail to deliver it.

What we are looking for

You are likely to have worked in a consulting, transformation or delivery-focused data role where you have taken ownership of projects from initial discovery through to implementation.

You should be able to demonstrate:

• Hands-on experience improving data quality, structure and governance
• Experience integrating information from multiple business systems
• The ability to design or build data warehousing and analytical solutions
• Experience delivering reporting or dashboard capability from the resulting data
• The judgement to decide what information is genuinely useful and how it should be managed
• The commercial confidence to work directly with founders, owners and senior leadership teams
• The ability to explain technical decisions in straightforward business terms
• Comfort moving between different companies, systems and operating environments

Private equity experience would be useful but is not essential. Experience supporting financial due diligence, preparing business data for an investment or exit process, or working with both smaller and larger organisations would also be relevant.

Why consider it?

Rather than maintaining one established data environment, you would solve a series of meaningful problems across different businesses.

You would have the freedom to assess what each company actually needs, build the right solution and show leadership teams how better data can improve decision-making, reporting and business performance.

It should suit someone who enjoys taking unclear, fragmented data environments and turning them into something practical, reliable and commercially useful.

Working arrangements

The portfolio businesses are located across the UK, so some travel and time on site will be required. The precise working pattern will depend partly on the needs of each project.

The employment structure and package are currently being considered and will reflect the scope and experience of the person appointed.