Job Description

Key Responsibilities

Data Strategy & Architecture

• Define and own the Group's target data architecture on Microsoft Fabric (lakehouse / medallion patterns, data pipelines, semantic models), while keeping the design open to other platforms and technologies where they genuinely serve the Group better.
• Personally build and maintain core Fabric artefacts - pipelines, lakehouse structures, semantic models, reports - in addition to specifying them for vendors and future team members; today there is no delivery team to delegate to.
• Lead the migration path away from legacy, on-premise, single-vendor data setups towards a scalable, governed, cloud-native architecture.
• Act as the data voice on the Group's Architecture Review Board, ensuring every AI and data initiative across the Group aligns to a single architectural direction rather than fragmenting into local solutions.

Data Governance & Compliance

• Stand up the Group's first formal data governance framework: data catalog, data quality rules, ownership and stewardship model (RACI), naming conventions, and change/version control for data assets.
• Own the Group Master Data programme (chart of accounts, cost centres, customers, products) that today blocks reliable cross-entity reporting.
• Ensure data practices meet GDPR and local data-protection requirements across all jurisdictions the Group operates in, working closely with local IT and legal/DPO functions.

Helix Platform Leadership

• Take executive ownership of Helix, the Group's Fabric-based data platform programme, from its current early-stage footing through to a mature, governed, multi-domain reporting and analytics platform.
• Own the programme roadmap, budget and prioritisation, balancing the Finance function's near-term reporting needs against the longer-term architectural foundation the Group needs.
• Define and enforce a group-first principle: local or business-unit data initiatives may pilot new ideas, but the platform architecture is decided and owned at Group level.

Vendor & External Resource Management

• Own the Group's portfolio of external data, BI and Fabric delivery partners end-to-end: sourcing, RFQ/RFP management, contract negotiation, and ongoing performance and delivery accountability.
• Run competitive vendor selection processes for data services and longer-term data-foundation partnerships, several of which are already in flight and will need to be concluded by whoever takes this role.
• Actively manage the balance between vendor delivery and building sustainable internal capability, so the Group is not permanently dependent on any single external partner.

Team Building & Leadership

• Build the Group Data team from its current near-zero headcount, starting with an already-approved Data Analyst hire, and grow it deliberately as the platform and governance model mature.
• Coordinate - and over time formally integrate - data-adjacent contributors who today sit informally in other parts of the business, into a coherent Group Data function.
• Establish the working practices, documentation and knowledge transfer needed so the function is not dependent on any single individual.

Stakeholder Management & Governance Participation

• Partner closely with the business - Finance today, as executive sponsor of Project Helix programme, and other functions as the platform's scope extends - to translate reporting requirements into a durable data architecture rather than one-off reports.
• Represent data topics in the Group AI & Data Council, chaired by the CIO, and ensure AI use cases are built on governed, trustworthy data rather than ad hoc extracts.
• Build trusted working relationships with Regional IT leads and local business stakeholders across Portugal, France, Ireland, Spain and Italy, respecting local ways of working while driving convergence on group standards.

Candidate Profile

Essential

• Hands-on experience in data architecture and engineering
• Able and willing to personally build pipelines, data models and reports
• Proven track record designing and implementing modern data architectures: data lake / warehouse separation, lake-house or medallion patterns, and migration away from legacy on-premise ETL.
• Experience with the Microsoft Fabric ecosystem (OneLake, Data Factory / pipelines, Power BI semantic models, Purview) or clearly transferable Azure Synapse / data platform experience — current, practitioner-level.
• Demonstrated ownership of a data governance programme: data catalog, data quality, master data management, ownership/RACI frameworks - DAMA-aligned practice is a plus.
• Substantial experience managing external vendors and consultancies: running RFQs/RFPs, negotiating contracts, and holding delivery partners accountable.
• Experience building or significantly growing a data team, including hiring, coaching and career development.
• Comfortable operating in a decentralised, multi-entity, multi-ERP environment.
• Working knowledge of GDPR and data-privacy practice across multiple EU jurisdictions.

Highly Valued

• Experience with financial or ERP-adjacent data (consolidation, chart of accounts, cost centres).
• Exposure to Business Central or comparable mid-market ERPs, even without owning them directly.
• Prior experience in an industrial, manufacturing or engineering group.
• Familiarity with data-foundation work in preparation for AI/ML use cases.

Languages

• Fluent English and Spanish a key requirement.
• Working knowledge of French, Italian and/or Portuguese an advantage

Location & Travel

• Based in Madrid, Spain.
• Occasional travel to Group sites in Portugal, France and Ireland may be required.