Head of Data Management

About The Institute

The world of professional accountancy is changing at an unprecedented pace, adapting to its crucial role in climate reporting, AI and emerging technologies, increasingly sophisticated regulation, and evolving ways of working. This pace of change ensures that the non-stop demand for professional accountants and their services will continue to grow and expand to 2030 and beyond.

Chartered Accountants Ireland, the longest established and fastest growing professional accountancy body on the island of Ireland, is changing rapidly too, drawing on best-in-class organisational design and state-of-art digital solutions to provide forward-looking education, support, and regulation to members, firms, and students in the years ahead. We are embarking on a business transformation programme, the most exciting and ambitious in our 135-year history.

Institute Values

The Institute seeks to ensure an environment based on its values of Innovation with Ambition, Collaboration for Impact, Speed and Simplicity, Trust, Inclusion, and For Tomorrow, For Good. Candidates should be able to demonstrate how these may apply to them in the role for which they are applying and how their previous experience is relevant to them.

The role:

Summary of the Role

The initial focus is the establishment of a Data Management Office which is responsible for overseeing the planning, development, and execution of data management strategies and initiatives within the organisation. You will be responsible for ensuring efficient data governance, data quality, data security, and data integration across various systems and applications. The ideal candidate should possess strong analytical, communication, and leadership skills to drive effective data management practices and support the organization's data-driven decision-making process.

In addition to the establishment of a Data Management Office, it is envisaged that the role will provide subject matter expertise on the data implications of the new transformative applications architecture and in its subsequent implementation. The role will include research into new data enabling technologies and trends, which could be leveraged to improve the organisation’s data management, and you will maintain an awareness and understanding of applicable EU regulations and guidelines as they relate to Data.

This role has a reporting line to newly created role of Chief Information Officer.

Data Management Office Responsibilities

• Develop and implement data governance policies, standards, and procedures.
• Oversee the establishment and enforcement of data ownership, data stewardship, and data lifecycle management practices.
• Monitor compliance with data governance policies and make necessary adjustments as needed.
• Design and implement data quality frameworks to identify and resolve data integrity issues.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to establish data quality metrics and ensure adherence to data quality standards.
• Conduct periodic data quality assessments and create improvement plans based on the findings.
• Develop and enforce data security policies and procedures to protect sensitive data.
• Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR) and industry best practices.
• Collaborate with IT teams to establish data integration strategies and data architecture models.
• Oversee the implementation of data integration solutions and ensure data interoperability across systems.
• Evaluate new data technologies and tools that could enhance data management capabilities.
• Coordinate with the business to extract meaningful insights from data.
• Provide guidance on data analysis methodologies and reporting practices.
• Support the development of data-driven reports and dashboards for stakeholders.
• Collaborate with business leaders to understand data requirements and align data management initiatives with business objectives.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders to ensure their understanding and support for data management initiatives.
• Manage directly or indirectly a team of specialists as required.

   

  Transformation Programme Responsibilities
  

• Support the Transformation Executive in the definition of requirements and objectives of all data streams in the transformation programme.
• Establish and enforce data governance and data quality standards.
• Responsible for the Data Conversion workstream of the Transformation programme, including source and target data mapping, conversion mapping and transformation rules, quality control including completeness and accuracy of data being converted, and post implementation reviews of conversion process.
• Develop and implement data integration strategies to consolidate and streamline data from various sources to ensure a consolidated reporting platform with a single source of truth.
• Design and maintain ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes for data extraction and transformation.
• Engaging with the Privacy Manager on GDPR and PI data requirements and Security consideration of said data.
• Engagement with third party suppliers in the mapping of data architectures across multiple SaaS applications.

The candidate

Qualifications and Skills:

• Bachelors or masters degree in computer science, Data Management, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Proven experience (10 years) in data management, data governance, or a similar role.
• Strong understanding of data governance principles, data quality management, data security, and data integration concepts.
• Knowledge of data privacy regulations and compliance requirements.
• Familiarity with data analysis, reporting tools, and data visualization techniques.
• Excellent leadership and people management skills.
• Analytical mindset with problem-solving capabilities.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills to interact with various stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple priorities effectively

Flexible work arrangements

The Institute is seeking and encourages applications from experienced candidates who may be looking for flexible work arrangements. If such arrangements are being sought please bring these to the attention of your interviewer.

The Institute will use the information which you have provided in this form to respond to your request or process your application and will hold and protect it in accordance with the Institute's privacy statement, which explains your rights in relation to your personal data.  By submitting this application acknowledge you have read our privacy statement.

Chartered Accountants Ireland is an equal opportunities employer.

How to apply:

Please contact for further details and to send your details, Susan Nix (snix@morganmckinley.com) with our selection partner, Morgan McKinley.