Chief Data Officer

The Chief Data Officer is responsible for driving the Data and Analytics Department vision, strategy, and execution. The Chief Data Officer strives to ensure that the department is functioning to enable sustainable business growth and profitability, internal efficiencies through improved data structures, constant data cleanliness and insight, efficient data governance and process.

The role of the Chief Data Officer is responsible for the development of the Data and Analytics department’s overall strategy and owning the business’s data management roadmap as well as securing the funding necessary to see through the department’s vision. The Chief Data Officer ensures that the various Data and Analytics departments have their goals aligned with the business’s mission, strategy, and objectives.

The role of the Chief Data Officer is also a part of the executive leadership committee within the business and together with other executives, the Chief Data Officer participates in business-wide decision-making and strategy formulation.

Objectives and Responsibilities of the Chief Data Officer

Leadership/Supervisory Role: The Chief Data Officer is in charge of overseeing the larger Data and Analytics department. This is inclusive of the Data Analytics and Data Science departments. He will oversee the development of new data analytics capabilities across the business and manage on-going comprehensive data analytics.

In his leadership capacity, the Chief Data Officer oversees the strategic data priorities of the department and identifies new business opportunities based the existent data. In this position, he also guides the Data and Analytics on which data to store, analyze, and exploit for the business’s benefit.

The Chief Data Officer provides the Data and Analytics department with vision for business-wide data activities and champions for data ownership, standardization, accessibility, and governance as follows. The Chief Data Officer is tasked with availing an environment that makes data and information accessible to all departments and personnel across the business.

He also regulates how the business captures, maintains, and presents data and information on a global level in order to measure performance.

It is also the role of the Chief Data Officer to manage the lifecycle of data and information in order to comply with the business’s requirements. The Chief Data Officer provides expertise and consults on all major data-related initiatives inclusive of personnel recruiting, development, and retention within the business.

In his leadership position, the Chief Data Officer also plays a mentorship role to key personnel within the Data and Analytics department, assisting in the execution of their function upon request, and encouraging the constant growth in their professional skills in order for them to take up his functions in the future.

Strategy: The Chief Data Officer plays a leading strategic role where he defines and oversees how the business captures, maintains, and applies data and information in order to support of key business processes. He establishes the strategic direction for building the business’s data management program and optimizing how the business uses data both internally and externally.

The Chief Data Officer is tasked with developing, coordinating, and implementing strategies that support the business’s development plans and that capture new opportunities. In this capacity, the Chief Data Officer acts as a thought leader defining the business’s data strategy and data roadmap.

The Chief Data Officer additionally determines how best to leverage data assets that support the business’s strategy. The Chief Data Officer is leader in creating and sustaining vibrant data organization, technologies, processes, and policies within the department and across the business.

Analytics: The Chief Data Officer plays an analytical role where he defines and drives all analytics and business intelligence initiatives in the Data and Analytics department. The Chief Data Officer defines appropriate analytical models necessary to support use cases such as customer segmentation, among others and leverages the power of predictive insights and analytics.

The Chief Data Officer works towards enabling stellar business performance by utilizing not only the data already available to the business, but also tapping into new and innovative sources of data. In this capacity, the Chief Data Officer is tasked with providing the data analytics infrastructure that support and achieves operational business goals and targets.

Collaboration: The Chief Data Officer plays a highly collaborative role and in this position, he will oversee cross-functional data governance while simultaneously ensuring adoption and adherence to data quality and process governance in the relevant collaborating departments.

The Chief Data Officer partners closely with business’s IT leadership responsible for data analytics, custodianship, and infrastructure ensuring alignment with the Data and Analytics department avoiding conflicting activities, and availing the most efficient data analytics insights across the business.

The Chief Data Officer works closely with the IT department in organizing and creating an environment that makes data and information accessible with appropriate channels of access controls. In his collaborative role, he also works with key internal and external stakeholders as well as departmental leaders and executives fostering a relationship of trust and playing an advisory role in the use of data to improve performance and business-wide strategy formulation.

Knowledge and Opportunity: The Chief Data Officer acts as an authority within the Data and Analytics department, promoting the use of industry leading trends and new data management technologies. He is also responsible for finding data analytic opportunities for the business and ensuring data and information compliance with the business policy and external legal requirements.

Other Duties: The Chief Data Officer also performs similar duties as he deems fit for the proper execution of his duties and duties as delegated by the Employer.

Required Qualifications of the Chief Data Officer

Education: The Chief Data Officer has to have a Phd in Computer Science, Data Science, Management Information Systems, Statistics, Analytics or any other related field. An equivalent of the same in working experience is also acceptable for the position.

Experience: A candidate for this position must have had over 10 years or working experience in a senior Data Analytics or Data Science position within a fast-paced and complex business setting. The Chief Data Officer will have gained a vast experience building and leading data science organization or practices as well as successful experience evangelizing/advocating for data analytics value across a business and to diverse audiences.

The candidate will be highly skilled in the design, development, and validation of descriptive, predictive, prescriptive, and applied analytics. He must also have a proven and successful experience in a consulting role for senior business leadership and executives. As well as experience with hands-on leadership roles directly managing data and analytics teams, and driving change within a large, complex business’s.

Communication Skills: Communication skills are an absolute necessity for the Chief Data Officer who oversees the Data Analytics and Data Science departments, making up the larger Data and Analytics department. In order to guarantee that the Data and Analytics is performing at an optimal capacity, the Chief Data Officer must be capable of conveying information an messages with clarity and precision to junior departments.

The Chief Data Officer will also play a highly collaborative role where he will interact with stakeholders, departmental heads and leadership, as well as other executives. These collaborations will be a determinant of the efficiency in application of data analytics across the business, therefore, he must be capable of tailoring messages in a clear, concise, unambiguous, engaging, and convincing manner, understandable even by non-technical department personnel.

Ms Office: The candidate for this position must also be a suitable candidate for this position will be highly proficient in the use of Ms Word, Ms Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, which will be necessary for the creation of both visually and verbally engaging informative materials for collaborating departmental leadership, executives, partners, and stakeholders.

Analytical Skills: The Chief Data Officer must be exceptionally passionate and equally equipped with analytical skills. The candidate for this position, therefore, has expertise in the design, development, verification, and validation of applied, descriptive, prescriptive, and predictive analytics. The candidate must be thought leader as well as practical leader in a business’s vast and varied applications of data analytics.

He will have an ability to understand and relay complex data-related issues in a simple and easy to understand manner and he will also demonstrate expertise in big data technology infrastructure and environments coupled with business process architecture. A suitable candidate will also be highly knowledgeable in front-to-back data lifecycle and be highly proficient in wide array of data tools and technologies such Hadoop, Teradata, SQL, Redshift, PostgreSQL, Vertica as well as scripting languages such as Python and R.

Interpersonal Skills: A suitable candidate will also be a result-driven individual, be highly creative and analytical, be a strategic thinker, have an ability to work comfortably in a collaborative setting, be comfortable working with business top-leadership and executives, be a highly organized, have an ability to work on multiple simultaneous projects and meet tight deadlines, and have an innate ability to remain calm and composed during times of uncertainty and stress.

Leadership/People Skills: The Chief Data Officer must also possess strong leadership, being able to move cross-functional groups in a unified direction as well as being able to move business executives and stakeholders. The Chief Data Officer must be a likable and approachable person who inspires trust and confidence in others who will readily give credit in his insights, judgments, and readily following his directives.

JOB SKILLS REQUIRED FOR Chief Data Officer

• Presentation Skills
• Team building
• Verbal Communication
• Motivating
• Inspiring
• Technology Trend Awareness
• Business Trend Awareness

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