Building a Data Function From Scratch: Finding the Right Head of Data for a Financial Advisory Firm
A financial advisory company came to us with an ambitious brief and a degree of frustration behind it. They needed a Head of Data to establish and lead a brand new data function, but previous attempts to find the right person had come up short. Within four and a half weeks of instruction, we had an accepted offer on the table.
The Challenge
This was not a straightforward hire. The company was not looking to slot someone into an existing structure — they needed someone capable of building one. The incoming Head of Data would be responsible for uniting disparate systems across the business and, in time, delivering a unified data platform, most likely built on Azure and Databricks, though the technology choices were still to be confirmed.
The person needed to operate across multiple levels. At the strategic end, they would need to engage credibly with senior financial stakeholders and shape the direction of the data function. At the delivery end, they would need a thorough understanding of existing reporting systems and the practical experience to move the business towards an integrated, all-in solution.
The company had already been out to market before coming to us. The feedback they gave was telling: they had struggled to find candidates with the right depth, and felt that the search had lacked strategic focus. That was the gap we needed to close.
The Approach
Given the complexity of the brief and the layers involved, we felt one discovery session would not be enough — so we ran two.
The first was with the leadership team, to understand the strategic vision, the longer-term ambitions for the data function, and what success would look like from a senior perspective. The second was with the delivery team, to get a clearer picture of the current state of the business, the systems already in place, and the practical challenges the new hire would be walking into from day one.
That split gave us something valuable: a rounded view of what the role actually required, rather than just what it said on the brief. It also shaped exactly what we were looking for in candidates.
We focused the search on people who had either set up a data practice before, come from a consulting background, or had experience working across large-scale reporting and platform environments. Candidates from similar financial services companies were the natural starting point, and that proved to be the right call. Working on an exclusive basis meant we could search the full market properly, without the noise and duplication that a multi-agency approach can create.
The search produced a shortlist of strong, well-matched candidates. One went all the way through to offer acceptance.
The Result
From instruction to accepted offer, the process took four and a half weeks. For a role the client had previously struggled to fill — and one carrying real strategic weight for the business — that is a result worth noting.
The split discovery approach was the difference. Understanding both the leadership and delivery perspectives meant the search was focused in the right places from the start, and candidates were assessed against the full picture of what the role demanded.
What This Tells Us About Senior Data Hiring
Head of Data appointments are rarely straightforward, particularly when the remit involves building something new rather than inheriting something established. The candidates who can do it well sit at a fairly rare intersection: strategic enough to earn the confidence of senior stakeholders, hands-on enough to understand the technical landscape, and experienced enough to have navigated the complexity of standing up a data function before.
Finding them requires a search that is genuinely tailored to that profile. Broad market advertising will not reach the right people. Understanding the business properly, and knowing where that specific type of talent tends to be working, is what makes the difference.
Looking to build out a data or technology function and not sure where to start? Get in touch with the Nexus Spark team to talk through how we can help.