Director of Data & Analytics in Manchester - Forward Role

Director of Data & Analytics

Manchester (3 days per week onsite)

Forward Role are thrilled to be partnering exclusively with a high-growth, PE-backed technology organisation in Manchester. As the business continues to scale, they are investing heavily in their data capability, and as part of this next phase, they are hiring a Director of Data & Analytics to centralise, elevate and grow the function.

This senior leadership role sits at the heart of a fast-moving, data-driven technology business, where data underpins product development, customer experience, operational performance, and commercial decision-making. As Director of Data & Analytics, you’ll shape how the organisation uses insight and technology to scale effectively and compete more intelligently. You’ll own the full data strategy across analytics, engineering, quality, governance and emerging capabilities such as AI-driven products and automation.

You’ll also be responsible for creating an insight-led culture and ensuring teams across the business can access trusted, actionable data at pace. Your remit will span the full customer journey - covering digital performance, acquisition analytics, channel optimisation, forecasting, experimentation, and supporting operational teams with improved decisioning and performance frameworks. A major part of the role is connecting data with real commercial impact, using insights to influence growth, efficiency, customer outcomes and product development.

Data already plays a fundamental role in the organisation, but there is a clear mandate to take it to the next level. The incoming Director of Data & Analytics will:

• Centralise analytics, insights, data engineering, BI and data science into one unified capability
• Shape and deliver the data strategy, architecture and operating model
• Build a modern, real-time data environment
• Drive AI-enabled self-service analytics and free up analysts for high-value insight
• Strengthen data quality, governance and reliability across the entire estate

This role will be crucial in building out the organisation’s data capabilities and enhancing performance across product, digital, commercial and operational teams.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Leadership

• Define and deliver a scalable, future-fit data strategy
• Champion data as a strategic asset across the organisation
• Build a roadmap that strengthens foundational data quality and enables AI-driven capability
• Create progression pathways, upskilling frameworks and a culture of curiosity, collaboration and accountability

Analytics & Insight

• Lead analytics teams across digital performance, acquisition, experimentation and attribution
• Ensure analytics is aligned with Product, Marketing, Sales and Operations
• Drive modern analytical approaches including attribution modelling, forecasting and optimisation
• Convert complex data into actionable recommendations that influence trading, product, strategy and investment decisions

Data Engineering & Architecture

• Oversee architecture, reliability and performance of data platforms, pipelines and models
• Minimise technical debt and ensure high availability across the data ecosystem
• Embed strong standards across governance, modelling, lineage, documentation and security
• Support use cases ranging from automated reporting through to ML-driven product features

Commercial Impact

• Identify opportunities for growth, efficiency and improved customer outcomes
• Build business cases, models and forecasts to support strategic decision-making
• Strengthen evaluation of channel performance, attribution and investment effectiveness

Skills & Experience

The ideal candidate will be an experienced data leader who blends strategic vision with hands-on credibility. You will likely have:

• Progressed through analytics and data roles into broader leadership, with a very strong commercial mindset and business acumen
• Strong understanding of data engineering fundamentals, data lakes and modern data architecture
• Experience operating in high-volume, high-availability, digital-first environments
• A track record of building high-performing data teams
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into commercial impact
• Passion for elevating data maturity and enabling self-service across a business

Most importantly, you’ll be excited about shaping a unified, modern data function that will drive the next chapter of growth.

As an industry leading, nationwide Marketing, Digital, Analytics, IT and Design recruitment agency, we are continually receiving new assignments to work on, so keep a close eye on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages for a full list of current permanent and interim opportunities as well as marketplace news and fun stuff.
Forward Role is operating as an employment agency.