Research, Insight & Data Lead in Edinburgh

The Artisanal Spirits Company is seeking a Research, Insight and Data Lead to join our Technical & Data team. Following an 18-month programme of third-party data disentanglement, new systems implementation and data quality assurance, we now own the end-to-end data pipeline and have a comprehensive understanding of data across the wider business group. NetSuite Analytics Warehouse (NSAW) is established as our core data warehouse and reporting platform. This appointment will provide continuity and leadership for the next phase of our data capability, ensuring high-quality research, analysis and operational performance support across the group.

As Research, Insights & Data Lead, you will oversee the end-to-end management, governance and strategic use of data across the organisation. You are the champion in the shift from third-party dependency to a fully in-house, owned and operated data ecosystem. Your primary responsibilities are to ensure our data is valid and accurate, understand and support how that data is used and draw insights from it to be used in actionable outcomes across all business domains.

You will own the strategy, analysis, implementation and tooling that surrounds our data. You will work heavily with the marketing, commercial and executive teams to ensure that we are leveraging all information to improve and grow the performance of the business. You will search out, find and recommend unique and different approaches to using our data to test and re-test how we can best sell to, understand and develop our customers.

You will hold a senior role within the business and should therefore have the visionary and influencing skills to improve our current data approach and output, working cross-functionally to deliver high-quality data outcomes. This role is an evolution of the current Data Lead role, moving to have a more comprehensive influence over the data strategy, utilisation and implementation across business domains.

You will have a curiosity to understand numbers and the insights that can be gained from them and have a passion for predicting trends and the use of data to inform business strategy and decision making. You will also have strong business sense, outstanding critical thinking skills and the ability to synthesise complex problems and use data to create solutions.

• Define and execute company-wide data strategy aligned with business priorities across all departments.
• Act as the primary data stakeholder, representing the function in leadership forums and cross-team initiatives.
• Author SOPs and governance frameworks to ensure sustainable, compliant, and consistent use of data across platforms.
• Deliver tailored dashboards in NetSuite Analytics Warehouse (NSAW), unlocking real-time insights for teams across the business, visualising KPIs and monitoring metrics of domain success.
• Support and inform commercial pricing structure and strategy.
• Lead production of strategic reports, including rolling sales analysis for distinct companies in our umbrella (US) and churn/sales/member reports for EU countries.
• Build scalable internal tools focused on reducing manual work and enhancing accuracy and consistency in processes.
• Design and manage custom scripts as required to support customer personas, including creating and linking new data fields and sub-records.
• Manage and maintain data analysis to support the creation of prospect personas that reveal untapped market segments.
• Directly influence international product strategy and go-to-market planning, especially media.
• Lead migration of our email campaign platform from a third-party database to an internal system.
• Project ownership of complete CRM replacement project, including project formulation and scoping.
• Support venue EPOS operation as required to ensure streamlined operation.
• Maintain and regularly reconcile our shareholder database as required for correct data keeping and benefit rollout.
• Actively field and fulfil data requests from across the company.
• Conduct ad-hoc research and analytics "consultancy" sessions.
• Maintain relationship with each department to capture evolving data needs and build collaborative analytics solutions.

• A leader with strong influencing and inter-personal skills that can work cross-functionally, achieving required outcomes.
• Experience in a live data environment, carrying out analytics and data management.
• Technical, financial and statistical expertise, and a natural curiosity and creative mind.
• Good understanding of data life cycles and technologies that support it including Microsoft Azure SQL and Power BI.
• Desirable, but not essential, experience with NetSuite or similar eCommerce trading & CRM platforms.
• Experience with dashboard creation and maintenance, including initial setup and information gathering from stakeholders.
• Bachelor's Degree or higher in a relevant field of study (Data Science / Mathematics / Business Information, etc.) or equivalent experience.
• A curiosity for improvements to business processes and innovation through Data Science.
• Strong statistical skills including testing, distributions, regression, maximum likelihood eliminators etc.
• Strong mathematical skills including multivariable calculus and linear algebra.
• Proficient in handling imperfections in data.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to engage with a technical and non-technical audience.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills with an analytical and enquiring mind.
• Efficient decision making and organisational skills.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and prioritise competing requirements.

• Staff bottle allocation.
• SMWS Staff Membership.
• Private Medical Care with Aviva.
• Group Life Insurance (Death in service).
• Discretionary bonus scheme.
• 34 days holidays inclusive of statutory days.
• 30% discount across all brands.
• Income protection cover.
• Bike to work scheme.
• Electric car scheme.
• £100 annual allowance for glasses (screen users only).
• Employee Assistance Programme with Health Assured.
• Salary exchange pension scheme.
• Charitable Giving and Volunteering.
• Annual Staff Party.
• Long service award gift and celebration.

Our purpose is to captivate a global community of whisky adventurers, by creating and selling outstanding, one-of-a-kind whisky and experiences around the world with an ambition to create a high quality, highly profitable and cash generative, premium global business. Based in Edinburgh, the Artisanal Spirits Company (ASC) owns The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), Single Cask Nation (SCN) and J.G. Thomson (JGT), as well as operating a cask storage, bottling and logistics facility in Scotland. Owning over 18,000 casks primarily comprising Single Malt Scotch Whisky, ASC's stock includes outstanding whisky (and other spirits) from 150 different distilleries across 20 countries. With proven e-commerce reach and a growing family of brands, ASC is building a portfolio of limited-edition and small-batch whisky and other spirits brands for a global movement of discerning consumers – delivering revenue of £23.6 million in FY24 with the majority of revenue generated online, predominantly from outside the UK, with presence in the other key global whisky markets including USA, China, Europe, Japan, Australia and Taiwan. ASC has a pioneering business model, a substantial and growing addressable market presenting a long-term global growth opportunity and a strong and resilient business primed to deliver growth.