Most organisations know their data has value. Very few can prove it.

They are a specialist boutique pioneering the field of Data Economics: the discipline of quantifying what data is actually worth, building the investment cases that unlock board-level decisions, and helping organisations treat data as the economic asset it is. It’s a niche that sits at the intersection of strategy consulting and financial modelling and it’s growing fast.

At around 40 people, the firm is award-winning, profitable, and at an inflection point. Their client list spans some of the UK’s largest infrastructure, utilities, and transport organisations. The CDO and CFO are typically in the room. The work shapes real decisions.

This hire is a significant one. They are looking for an Associate Director to own and scale their data valuation capability — someone who can lead engagements, develop client relationships, and help define what this practice looks like at the next stage of the firm’s growth. It’s the kind of role that doesn’t come up often.

You’ll be leading engagements where the central question is: what is this data worth, and what should we invest to improve it? That means working with clients to map where data drives financial outcomes, building the models that translate data quality into business value, and presenting findings in a way that moves a CFO or CDO to act.

No two engagements look the same — the sectors vary, the clients vary, and the problems are genuinely complex. But the thread running through all of it is rigour: commercial rigour, analytical rigour, and the ability to tell a clear story from complicated evidence.

Day to day, you can expect to:

• Own senior client relationships and act as a strategic advisor at C-suite and Director level
• Lead data valuation and data strategy engagements end-to-end, with accountability for quality and commercial outcomes
• Shape and evolve the firm’s methodology, propositions, and go-to-market approach
• Identify and convert new opportunities — this is a commercial as well as a delivery role
• Lead, coach and develop project teams, with real visibility into your impact

You’ll be a seasoned consulting professional — likely at Senior Manager or Associate Director level — with a track record of owning complex engagements and building senior client relationships independently.

Essential:

• 8–15 years in a consulting environment, with clear progression and genuine client ownership
• Experience leading end-to-end engagements with accountability for commercial outcomes
• Strong analytical and structured thinking — comfortable translating data or operational insight into financial terms
• Excellent communication skills; able to shape a narrative and hold a room at executive level
• Experience in one or more data-related domains: data strategy, governance, operating models, or value realisation
• Demonstrable business development capability — identifying, shaping, and closing opportunities

You may be coming from:

• A data strategy or analytics consultancy (PA Consulting, Baringa, Deloitte, EY, PwC, KPMG, Artefact, Dufrain)
• A strategy house with digital or data exposure (Oliver Wyman, Strategy&, Roland Berger)
• An in-house data strategy or transformation leadership role at a major organisation

• The timing is genuinely interesting. Data Economics is an emerging discipline and this firm is defining it. Joining now means shaping what the practice becomes — not inheriting someone else’s playbook.
• The conversations are at the right level. You’ll be presenting to CDOs and CFOs within weeks of joining. There’s no long queue to get to the senior table.
• The package reflects your market value. Compensation is benchmarked against senior consulting market rates — plus meaningful equity options and a potential exit horizon that a Big 4 or strategy house simply can’t offer.
• It’s a small firm that thinks big. Forty people, no layers of management, low politics. Your work is visible, your voice carries, and the founding team is still hands-on in the work.
• Flexibility with purpose. Around 60% in-person collaboration; genuine autonomy to shape the rest of your week around where you do your best work.

This role is being recruited on a confidential basis. The client’s name will be shared with suitable candidates at first conversation stage.

Please apply to find out more.