Associate Director – Data Products

The Associate Director, Data Products will play a critical role in accelerating the transition from legacy data and reporting capabilities to the organisation's strategic data platform. The role will focus on translating business priorities into scalable data products, enabling delivery of the Data Platform and Data transformation roadmap, and ensuring continuity of business-critical services during the transition. 

Working across business, technology, analytics, and project teams, the role will balance transformation delivery with operational stability, helping establish trusted, reusable, and adoption-ready data products that support reporting, analytics, AI, and future digital capabilities. 

Key Responsibilities 

1. Data Platform Transition 

• Enable the delivery of data products and platform capabilities that support the transition from legacy solutions to the strategic data platform.  

• Support the Data Platform owner to facilitate the prioritisation and execution of transformation initiatives aligned to Xcelerate and broader business objectives.  

• Identify and manage dependencies, risks, and trade-offs across legacy and future-state solutions.  

• Support adoption of new capabilities while ensuring continuity of critical business services.  

2. Data Product Delegate Owner 

• Define and manage data product roadmaps, priorities, and delivery plans.  

• Translate business requirements into clear product outcomes and implementation priorities.  

• Through robust testing, documentation, and governance, ensure data products deliver measurable business value and support future scalability.  

• Balance immediate business needs with long-term platform strategy.  

3. Business Partnership and Demand Management 

• Interface between business stakeholders and delivery teams.  

• Shape demand into use cases for prioritisation and product requirements.  

• Facilitate decision-making by clearly communicating impacts, dependencies, and delivery options.  

• Partner with functional, portfolio, and analytics teams to align product investments with business outcomes.  

4. Platform, Data and Technical Alignment 

• Collaborate with engineering and architecture teams to deliver scalable, trusted, and reusable data product solutions.  

• Support platform modernisation, migration, integration, and data transformation activities.  

• Enable emerging capabilities including advanced analytics, AI, unstructured data, and data marketplace services.  

• Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture, governance, and data management standards.  

5. Operational Excellence and Adoption 

• Ensure reliable operation of data products and supporting services.  

• Drive continuous improvement, simplification, and service optimisation.  

• Promote strong data product governance, data quality, and stewardship practices.  

• Lead stakeholder engagement, change management, and adoption activities to maximise business value.  

6. Leadership and Influence 

• Influence cross-functional teams across business, technology, analytics, and external partners.  

• Build strong stakeholder relationships and foster alignment around transformation goals.  

• Support vendor, budget, and delivery governance activities where required.  

• Champion a culture of innovation, accountability, and data-driven decision-making. 

Required Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Data Science, Computer Science, Information Management, Engineering, Business, or a related discipline. 

• Significant experience in data product management, product ownership, digital product leadership, data management, or related roles. 

• Proven ability to define strategy and/or deliver data or digital products that create measurable business value. 

• Strong experience working in cross-functional, agile, and fast-paced environments. 

• Demonstrated capability to translate business priorities into clear product requirements, roadmaps, and delivery plans. 

• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills within complex, matrixed organisations. 

• Solid understanding of data engineering and data management concepts, including ETL/ELT, data modelling, data platforms, integration, governance, metadata, and business intelligence. 

• Experience balancing business needs, technical feasibility, operational stability, and value delivery when making prioritisation decisions. 

• Strong communication skills with the ability to simplify complexity, align stakeholders, and drive execution. 

• Experience leading cross-functional teams, directly or through influence. 

• Experience applying FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) to enterprise data product design and delivery 

Desired Skills 

• Advanced degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field. 

• 2+ years of experience with ontology standards for defining a domain. 

• Experience in pharmaceutical, R&D, or Project and Portfolio Management environments. 

• Familiarity with modern cloud data platforms and tooling such as Azure, AWS, GCP, Databricks, or Snowflake. 

• Experience with data catalogue, metadata management, and lineage tools such as Collibra. 

• Experience supporting or enabling AI/ML and advanced analytics use cases. 

• Experience with Power BI or similar enterprise reporting and self-service analytics tools. 

• Vendor management, commercial oversight, and budget management experience. 

• Relevant certifications in product management, data management, agile delivery, or cloud technologies.