Head of Data Services
- Manchester, United Kingdom
Posted 2 days ago
About the role
Head of Data Services
Idox Professional Services
Land, Property & Public Protection (L3P)
UK, home based, with occasional travel.
About the role
This role is suited to a senior data migration and Professional Services leader who can combine technical authority in complex ETL, multi-source data alignment and migration assurance with the operational, commercial and people leadership needed to scale a high-performing delivery function.
The Head of Data Services will lead and mature the L3P Data Services function through a period of significant operational and market change. The role will be central to Idoxs response to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) over the next 35 years, establishing the strategy, standards, tooling and repeatable delivery models needed for complex data alignment, migration and transformation programmes.
This is a highly visible, UK home-based leadership opportunity, requiring someone who can bring discipline, consistency and commercial focus to day-to-day operations while driving controlled innovation through automation, AI-assisted delivery, modern data engineering practices and improved tooling.
As a member of the L3P Professional Services leadership team, the postholder will lead, develop and scale a Data Services function responsible for complex ETL, migration, transformation, reconciliation and data alignment projects. They will act as a senior customer-facing leader and trusted advisor, balancing customer service, commercial judgement, delivery risk, technical assurance and team motivation.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership and Service Development
- Define and execute the Data Services strategy for complex ETL, migration, reconciliation and data alignment services, aligned to L3P, Professional Services and divisional objectives.
- Lead Data Services transformation, ensuring the function is scalable, commercially viable and able to support both LGR and customer onboarding demand.
- Develop a multi-year roadmap for capability, standards, tooling, AI adoption, automation and repeatable delivery models.
- Evolve Data Services from a project-based delivery function towards a standardised, productised and repeatable service model.
Local Government Reorganisation Data Alignment Programme Leadership
- Lead the Data Services approach to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) alignment programmes over the next 35 years, ensuring Idox has a scalable and commercially robust model for complex local authority structural change.
- Define standards and governance for multi-authority data alignment, complex ETL, multi-source data merges, transformation, reconciliation, validation and migration assurance.
- Provide senior technical and delivery leadership on LGR data strategy, reflecting local government operating realities, legacy system complexity, statutory service continuity and customer risk.
- Work with Professional Services, Product, Engineering, Sales and divisional leadership to shape LGR delivery capability, commercial propositions, implementation planning and customer messaging.
Operational Excellence and Service Performance
- Own operational performance across utilisation, forecasting, capacity planning, delivery predictability, margin and financial efficiency.
- Establish and enforce standardised delivery methods, governance, estimation practices, quality controls and migration assurance checkpoints.
- Lead resource and capacity planning across multiple concurrent customer programmes, balancing capability, availability, commercial return and delivery risk.
- Monitor productivity, utilisation, margin, delivery quality, customer outcomes, forecast accuracy and service maturity.
- Ensure robust delivery assurance, risk management and escalation for complex ETL, migration, reconciliation and data alignment projects.
- Embed lessons learned, root-cause analysis and continuous improvement into operating practices, standards and future delivery frameworks.
AI, Automation and Innovation
- Lead adoption of AI-assisted delivery, automation and modern data engineering practices to improve complex ETL, migration, mapping, validation, reconciliation and assurance activities.
- Automate migration assessment, rule mapping, data quality profiling, reconciliation reporting and quality assurance across multi-source customer data sets.
- Develop repeatable frameworks, tooling and accelerators that reduce manual effort and support scalable data transfer, merge and alignment programmes.
- Partner with Product and Engineering to improve capabilities for customer onboarding, legacy migration, multi-authority alignment and LGR delivery.
Customer and Commercial Leadership
- Provide senior leadership on migration strategy, delivery approach, commercial risk and assurance for major customer programmes, including complex LGR data alignment engagements.
- Act as a trusted advisor to senior customer leaders and frontline local authority stakeholders on complex ETL, migration, reconciliation, validation and multi-source merge decisions.
- Lead strategic customer engagements, pre-sales, bid responses and commercial discussions where Data Services input is critical to scope, solution design, risk assessment, estimating and delivery confidence.
- Negotiate customer expectations on migration scope, dependencies, data quality, readiness, timelines and change control, protecting commercial position and delivery standards.
- Provide senior escalation support for high-risk programmes, balancing customer service, operational reality, commercial judgement, statutory service continuity and long-term solution success.
Skills & Experience
Essential Experience
- Significant senior leadership experience, likely gained over 5+ years, running Data Services, Data Migration, ETL or Professional Services delivery functions, with direct accountability for people leadership, operational performance, customer delivery and commercial outcomes, not only technical workstreams or individual delivery assignments.
- Proven experience building, developing and scaling operational delivery teams, setting goals, managing performance and creating clear accountability across managers, senior specialists or multi-disciplinary teams.
- Significant experience leading complex data migration, ETL, transformation, data transfer, multi-source merge, reconciliation and validation programmes; experience limited primarily to BI, reporting, analytics or dashboard delivery would not be sufficient.
- Strong track record leading complex customer-facing programmes in software, technology, public sector, regulated or operationally critical environments, particularly where data from multiple systems or organisations must be aligned into a single target solution.
- Experience defining operational strategy, service improvement plans, delivery governance and organisational change in a commercially accountable delivery environment.
- Proven ability to own utilisation, forecasting, capacity planning, resource allocation, budget management, margin, delivery risk and operational performance metrics.
- Confident engaging with senior customer leaders, frontline operational users, executive stakeholders and internal leadership teams, including in high-risk, commercially sensitive or escalated delivery situations.
Essential Migration and Technical Expertise
- Strong understanding of complex ETL, data migration, transformation, reconciliation, validation and migration governance.
- Sufficient technical depth to challenge migration approaches, estimates, data quality assumptions, merge logic, reconciliation methods and assurance plans.
- Understanding of multi-source data transfer, legacy system migration, target data model alignment, cloud migration architectures and modern data platforms.
- Awareness of automation, scripting or tooling used to improve migration delivery, such as SQL, Python or equivalent technologies.
Desirable Experience
- Experience working with Public Sector, Local Government, regulatory, land, property, planning, public protection or similarly complex operational domains.
- Experience leading multi-organisation, multi-system or merger-related data alignment programmes, whether in local government or another complex sector.
- Experience developing repeatable migration frameworks, accelerators, quality gates or productised data migration service models.
- Experience applying AI, automation or modern tooling to improve migration assessment, mapping, reconciliation, validation or delivery assurance.
Ideal Candidate Profile
- Senior operational leader with proven experience running complex Data Services, Data Migration, ETL or Professional Services delivery functions.
- Strong people and programme leader, able to set expectations, build capability, manage performance, protect scope and lead teams through complex, high-stakes delivery.
- Technically strong in complex ETL, data migration, multi-source data merges, reconciliation, validation and migration governance.
- Commercially astute and customer-facing, with ownership of utilisation, capacity, margin, delivery quality, customer outcomes and operational performance.
- Motivated by controlled innovation, using automation, AI and improved tooling to make migration delivery more repeatable, scalable and assured; Local Government, public sector, regulated or complex multi-organisation data alignment experience would be advantageous.
Download the full Job Description here: Head of Data Services
Closing Date: 13/09/2026