Head of Data

Head of Data - London (Hybrid)

Pinnova Talent is partnering with an award-winning financial services organisation to appoint a Head of Data. This is a high-impact leadership role for someone who can define and deliver a modern data strategy that drives business performance, regulatory alignment, and digital transformation.

If you’re passionate about building scalable data ecosystems, influencing at senior levels, and embedding a data-first culture across an organisation, this could be your next move.

The role

As Head of Data, you’ll lead the strategic direction and technical execution of enterprise-wide data architecture. You’ll be responsible for designing frameworks that support structured and unstructured data, enabling smarter decision-making and operational efficiency.

You’ll oversee the development of metadata models, classification standards, and lifecycle governance, while ensuring compliance with evolving regulatory requirements. Working cross-functionally, you’ll embed data ownership and stewardship across the business and chair a governance council to drive accountability.

On the technology side, you’ll evaluate and implement modern data platforms, including cloud-native solutions, ETL tooling, and cataloguing systems. You’ll also play a key role in fostering internal capability, from training and enablement to building reusable assets and infrastructure that accelerate delivery.

This is a hands-on role with influence across technology, operations, and executive teams.

Candidate Requirements

Must have:

• Proven experience in enterprise data architecture and modelling (conceptual, logical, physical)
• Deep knowledge of data lakes, warehouses, and master data management
• Strong hands-on expertise in data integration, orchestration, and ETL/ELT pipelines
• Familiarity with Azure, Fabric, PowerBI, and relational databases (SQL Server, PostgreSQL)
• 5+ years in senior data leadership/architect roles, ideally within financial services, investment banking, or FinTech
• Strong communication, stakeholder engagement, and cross-functional leadership skills

Nice to have:

• Certifications such as Azure/Fabric Data Engineer Associate or SnowPro Advanced Architect
• Experience building analytics platforms in regulated environments
• Background in embedding data governance frameworks and leading data councils

If you're ready to lead a data function that’s central to business transformation, we’d love to hear from you!