Director of Data Intelligence & Monetisation

The Independent is an online news publisher that was established in 1986 as a national newspaper independent of party political affiliations or proprietorial influence. In 2016, The Independent became a fully digital publisher, moving away from print in pursuit of sustainability, and to safeguard its values and journalism for the future.

The Independent has always thrived through innovation and change. It was the first British newspaper to add a Saturday magazine; the first to give photography the same prestige as a news copy; the first to challenge the Westminster lobby system of closed briefings; the first broadsheet to move to the more compact ‘tabloid’ format; the first to launch a concise quality compact paper; and the first – and only – major newspaper to pull off a successful transformation to fully digital publishing.

Through The Independent, Independent TV, eCommerce, indy100, subscriptions and other ‘reader revenues’, The Independent plans to continue the work of many decades, bringing much-needed independent journalism to over 100 million unique global visitors a month, making its voice ever louder and more insistent the world over. We have an international editorial team with our main offices in London and New York.

A highly collaborative, proactive, commercially astute, data leader, with strong analytical and technical skills, as well as a deep understanding of the data and mar-tech space. Experience of the advertising, media and publishing sector is highly valuable.

• Leadership & Influence: A proven leader, able to develop high-performing teams. Gravitas and confidence, with the ability to influence upwards and across teams internally and externally. Known as a trusted expert, always acting in the interest of the business. Experience working with industry bodies.
• Strategic & Business Acumen: Proven technical expertise in media, marketing, and advertising technology, with a track record of designing strategies to overcome business challenges. A determination to drive new revenue streams from data assets. Ability to manage revenue budgets, forecasting, and pipeline projection across multiple revenue streams. Experience in developing management reports for board and executive leadership teams. Knowledge of global digital news consumption, business models, and competitor landscapes. International outlook with a keen interest in the US market and growth opportunities.
• Decision-Making & Problem-Solving: Able to work autonomously while making informed decisions in consultation with key stakeholders. Proactive and intelligent approach to problem-solving in a fast-paced environment. Well-versed in data privacy laws, security governance, and compliance requirements.
• Relationship-Building & Advocacy: Evidenced experience in building strong, lasting relationships with both clients and key internal stakeholders. A brand advocate, championing The Independent in the wider marketplace. Able to establish partnerships with new clients and stakeholders.
• Operational Excellence & Execution: Excellent data storyteller with the ability to develop this skill amongst others. Clear eye for detail, with strong time management, administration, and organisational skills. Efficient in meeting deadlines while maintaining high-quality execution.

Working as the number two to the Chief Data Officer, you will be responsible for:

• All digital (editorial), customer, commercial, ecommerce; analytics, performance, insight, optimisation and forecasting across all Independent Media brands globally and for additional brands where Publisher Support Services contracts exist. Whilst accuracy of the data and visualisations shared is vital, providing deeper, more strategic insights that tell a story and focus on the why is imperative and a skillset which needs to be developed amongst the team and wider department.
• Identifying key business questions and answering them through data - ensuring we own business-wide metrics/KPIs and enable the delivery of revenue attribution at a content, product, advertising and customer level.
• Working collaboratively with key business stakeholders, such as the Director of Customer Marketing and Publishing Director of Independent Ventures, to develop initiatives that increase zero- and first-party data collection and enrichment.
• Working with Finance to guide business investment decisions based on detailed opportunity analysis and projection forecasting/modelling.
• Supporting existing and developing new opportunities to monetise our data assets.
• Taking the lead in our department, working closely with the Director of Data Science & Engineering, Chief Technology Officer and wider Product Development department in the identification and selection of new technology partners which enable us to deliver our vision. Working closely with our legal and data privacy colleagues to ensure we remain compliant, staying abreast of changes and contributing to wider industry and trade body discussions which we are part of.
• Representing the Chief Data Officer in their absence.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Deliver against your monthly and quarterly revenue targets agreed with your line manager. Deliver key projects on time and to budget.
• Establish core business metrics aligned to business strategy.
• Through robust data analysis and modelling, in collaboration with Finance and relevant stakeholders, guide business investment and wider decision making to C-Suite and Board level standard.
• Develop data products that drive efficiency, profitability and growth whilst simultaneously enhancing data literacy across the business.
• Provide near real-time reporting and insight that is accurate and valuable to the business.
• Identify and implement new initiatives to monetise data assets, drive engagement and enhance the A2K strategy.
• Advocate of department vision and strategy, raising the bar in data services delivered to internal stakeholders.
• Provide timely, accurate information to C-Suite colleagues as and when required.
• Deliver against our industry bodies commitments.

Skills and Experience:

• A minimum of three years in a similar leadership role with proven experience in using data to drive business investment decisions.
• Strong team player, with a focus on finding solutions for growth and forward-thinking approaches to maximising revenue, reach and engagement.
• Financially astute, able to deliver against the revenue budget for IDNML, ongoing management reporting and revenue forecasting.
• Experience in defining and articulating customer KPIs such as APRU, CLTV etc.
• Experience in converting anonymous users to known customers.
• Experience in membership and subscription models within the publishing industry.
• Experience and interest in emerging technologies such as AI and how these can be leveraged within our business to deliver efficiency, profitability and growth.
• Drive and determination to deliver against business goals.
• Proven experience in change management, taking colleagues on a journey, championing department and wider business vision and strategy.
• Excellent commercial skills and ability to communicate clearly and concisely upwards, across other teams and externally to partners.
• Great understanding of the media landscape and a keen interest in news and current affairs.
• Involvement in industry groups like AOP, IAB etc.
• Experience/understanding of digital advertising and 3rd party monetisation.
• Working in close partnership with other internal teams to achieve desired outcomes: editorial, commercial, video, finance, technical, audience.
• Proficiency with Google Cloud products, Domo, Adobe Analytics, GA4, Piano, Braze, Google Ad Stack, Permutive, data clean rooms and ID solutions (Google Sandbox, Anonymised, LiveRamp, ID5, IntentIQ etc).
• Familiarity with The Independent brand, websites and products on and off-platform is an advantage.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. As a growing and global brand, we must have a workforce that’s more representative of our readers, viewers, clients and partners, and a workplace that creates a sense of belonging for everyone. We are committed to hiring and developing a diverse workforce regardless of background, and we support our people to thrive in their careers here.

The Independent is an equal opportunities employer, if you require any reasonable adjustments to complete your application, please do not hesitate to advise us accordingly.

Our values: You will deliver across all our values.

• Inclusive: We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. Working as a team, we put transparency and effective communication at the heart of everything we do.
• Innovative: From the very beginning, The Independent has been breaking the mould. We take risks and are always looking to try new ideas in pursuit of excellence.
• Independent: Nobody tells us what to think; we make up our own minds and aren’t afraid to do things differently. Like our readers, we value honesty and integrity above outside influences.