Head of Data

As the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) helps leaders prepare for opportunity, empowering them to act with confidence when making strategic decisions. The EIU is the global standard in providing high quality, actionable intelligence to the public and private sector, assessing issues that impact the businesses in more than two hundred countries.

Currently we are seeking a Head of Data whose role will be to ensure that all EIU economic data is managed as a strategic asset and made available to drive business growth. The Head of Data will build and be responsible for, the continuous improvement of quantitative economics and data science capabilities, including but not limited to, having a hands-on role supporting the transition from a publisher to a digital and data-driven organisation as well as defining and implementing the data strategy for the EIU to drive this transformation, supporting the development of new products and capabilities.

How you will contribute:

• Drive the creation and implementation of best practices for statistical data modelling, analysis, and machine learning; data exploration and reporting tools; and processes that allow data team to work effectively and efficiently
• Lead, nurture and grow a globally distributed team of Data Scientists and Quantitative Economists, and provide strategic leadership to a growing team of Data Engineers who will support your team.
• Working across the EIU, define the data needs of all of service delivery functions (currently subscription content services, data tools and consulting services that utilise data)
• Work closely with Analysts, Product Management, Product Engineering/Development teams to ensure data-driven priorities and road-maps are aligned across the organisation
• Define and own the overarching data strategy and vision for data pipeline, data analysis and data delivery
• Supervise and steer projects and initiatives to deliver on the strategy working alongside cross-functional teams and external partners
• Manage the optimisation and modernisation of our existing work-flows and supporting tool-sets. 
• Manage external data suppliers and support new data acquisition
• Establish and ensure data governance across the EIU of our third-party data and our use of data in our product delivery
• Build a community of practice around data within the EIU and ensure closer collaboration with Data Science functions across The Economist Group

The ideal skills for this role are:

• Strong experience in data science and analytics within an economic context
• Background in working with and developing business intelligence services in the B2B space
• Good knowledge of both traditional and alternative data sources used for understanding the external environment that our clients operate in
• Significant experience managing, mentoring, and coaching globally-distributed teams of economists, statisticians, data scientists and analysts
• Demonstrable influencing skills at senior levels, driving tangible change across an organisation
• Excellent communication skills, and ability to work across multiple teams and levels within the organisation to set the strategic direction for data
• Experience of overseeing and working in modern data architectures, particularly cloud-based: managing risks and data security
• Experience of leading data science, data discovery and machine learning projects and in setting up data science environments and best practice around these projects, especially in cloud environments
• Experience in creating statistical--  and preferably economic -- models, data exploration, data visualisation and data mining
• Strong understanding of the latest statistical, mathematical or predictive modelling techniques and examples of applying the right approach to answer business questions
• Knowledge of Python and SQL (or other programming languages) is a plus 
• Significant experience with economic modelling tools, such as Stata, Eviews, R Studio, or MatLab