Associate Director - Data & BI

Engagement and Solutions Lead - Data & BI is the strategic owner of the data and business intelligence solutions and stakeholder engagement charter, responsible for building and scaling the analytics, reporting, and data infrastructure that powers business decision-making. The role serves as the senior-most bridge between business leadership and the Data & BI function, translating business priorities, operational challenges, and transformation goals into a coherent data strategy, robust BI architecture, and a high-performing analytics organization.

The role partners closely with Operations, WFM, Finance, HR, Learning, Engagement & Solutions, Direct to Ops, and Learning Technology teams across geographies to drive measurable, data-led business outcomes, and leads a team of data and BI managers, analysts, and engineers.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the end-to-end data and BI solution strategy, aligning it to enterprise and business unit priorities.
• Define the target-state data architecture, reporting ecosystem, and analytics roadmap.
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of BI managers, data analysts, and data engineers.
• Establish data governance standards, data quality frameworks, and metric definitions as a single source of truth across functions.
• Champion a data-driven culture, embedding analytics and insight generation into business decision-making.
• Serve as the primary senior interface between business stakeholders, including Operations, WFM, Finance, HR, and Learning, and the Data & BI function.
• Understand business priorities, operational challenges, and transformation opportunities, and translate these into data and BI solutions.
• Lead discovery workshops and requirement-gathering sessions with senior business and functional leaders.
• Build trusted relationships with business and functional leaders and act as a data thought partner and advisor.
• Own demand intake, qualification, prioritization, and governance for the Data & BI portfolio.
• Lead problem definition, business analysis, and end-to-end BI and analytics solution design.
• Partner with Azure architects and technology teams to translate business needs into scalable Azure solutions.
• Assess Azure-based options considering business value, security, scalability, integration, and cost.
• Identify opportunities for cloud modernization, automation, analytics, and AI.
• Translate business needs into data requirements, reporting and dashboard specifications, and analytics solution objectives.
• Oversee development of dashboards, self-service reporting, predictive and diagnostic analytics, and automated insight delivery using Power BI and other reporting platforms.
• Partner with Engagement & Solutions, Direct to Ops, and Learning Technology teams to embed Data & BI capabilities into fit-for-purpose business solutions.
• Evaluate and drive adoption of AI- and analytics-enabled solutions, automation, and workflow tools to enhance decision speed and accuracy.
• Ensure all Data & BI solutions align with business strategy, governance standards, and expected outcomes.
• Own portfolio planning, prioritization, and roadmap development for Data & BI initiatives.
• Define objectives, scope, success criteria, and expected business outcomes for Data & BI initiatives.
• Monitor initiative progress, data platform health, and adherence to governance and compliance standards.
• Prepare and present data strategy updates, portfolio status, and key decision points to senior leadership and executive stakeholders.
• Manage senior and executive stakeholder expectations and communication on data strategy and analytics outcomes.
• Facilitate alignment across business functions, geographies, and BOLT teams on data priorities.
• Resolve ambiguity, competing priorities, and scope-related challenges across the Data & BI portfolio.
• Act as a trusted advisor to business leaders on data strategy, insight generation, and analytics maturity.

Key Deliverables:

• Data & BI strategy and roadmap aligned with the Head of Data & BI and stakeholders
• Business Requirements Documents (BRDs) for data and analytics initiatives
• Functional requirements, data models, and reporting specifications
• Dashboards, scorecards, and self-service analytics solutions
• Solution assessments and recommendation papers
• Business cases and benefit realization plans for data initiatives
• Portfolio prioritization recommendations
• Data governance framework and metric standardization documentation
• Demand pipeline and initiative roadmap
• Stakeholder communication and governance artifacts
• Team capability-building and performance management plans

Key Skills & Competencies:

• Data & BI strategy and roadmap ownership
• Business analysis and requirements management
• Solution consulting
• Stakeholder management
• Business process improvement
• Prioritization and roadmap planning
• Change management
• Agile and Waterfall methodologies
• Data governance and metric standardization
• Team building and people leadership
• Data Analytics and Business Intelligence at an advanced or expert level
• Power BI and enterprise reporting platforms, with hands-on and architectural fluency
• Data modeling, data warehousing, and data pipeline concepts
• Automation and workflow solutions
• AI- and analytics-enabled solutions, including predictive analytics and GenAI-driven insights
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Azure, Azure Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric, Synapse, Azure SQL, Databricks, and Power BI
• Awareness of Azure Logic Apps, Functions, API Management, Power Automate, and Azure OpenAI and AI services
• Understanding of cloud security, governance, data protection, and FinOps concepts
• Strategic thinking
• Executive presence and influence
• Team leadership and people development
• Problem solving
• Decision making
• Communication and presentation

Qualifications & Experience:

• 12+ years of experience in Data & BI, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Strategy, or Data Engineering leadership roles, with demonstrated progression into senior leadership.
• Proven experience building and leading Data & BI teams and managing enterprise-scale reporting and analytics platforms.
• Experience with technology, analytics, automation, or digital transformation initiatives.
• Experience delivering Azure or cloud, data, analytics, automation, or AI transformation initiatives.
• Ability to work effectively with Azure architects, developers, data engineers, and BI teams.
• Exposure to Operations, WFM, Finance, HR, or Shared Services functions, ideally in a BPO, shared-services, or large operations-led environment.
• Strong stakeholder management, facilitation, and influencing skills at senior and executive levels.
• Experience leading requirements workshops, solution design discussions, and data governance forums.
• Experience managing multiple Data & BI initiatives, competing priorities, and cross-functional teams.
• MBA, PGDM, or an equivalent postgraduate qualification preferred. A degree or certification in Data Science, Analytics, or a related field is an added advantage.

Skills

Analytics, Automation, Azure Synapse, BI, Business Intelligence, Data, Data Engineering, Data Governance, Data Modeling, Data Pipelines, Data Warehousing, Databricks, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI