Senior Data Advisor

At Great Place to Work UK, we're on a mission to transform the way the world works by helping businesses become more resilient, successful, and sustainable. We empower leaders with the recognition and tools they need to create exceptional employee experiences through Employee Surveys, Certification, Best Workplace Lists, and Change and Culture consultancy. With insights from over 25,000 global organisations, we guide businesses in building workplaces that foster trust, engagement, and long-term success.

Find out more at www.greatplacetowork.co.uk.

The Senior Data Advisor is a Tier 3 senior expert role, brought in to make an immediate impact on a demanding three-month brief. This is a hands-on technical authority, not a role that needs ramp-up or supervision. The person must land and run, own the most complex data work from day one, and act as a genuine technical backstop and second pair of eyes for the Head of Business Intelligence rather than another draw on senior time. They will own the delivery, quality, and continuous improvement of the most complex data processes supporting the Customer Success, Consulting, and Business Intelligence teams, working with the Head of Business Intelligence and the Head of Customer Success Data & Operations to keep operational reporting robust, resolve data issues decisively, and hold data quality across systems. Given the short, high-intensity nature of the contract, we are looking for a proven senior specialist who can take ownership immediately and be trusted to deliver without hand-holding.

• Take full, independent ownership of the R scripts underpinning our most critical products, reporting, and analytical insight, developing, hardening, and improving them to an expert standard without supervision.

• Lead the redesign and enhancement of complex templates, R scripts, and analytical processes as business needs change, making authoritative technical decisions and standing behind them.

• Own the most sensitive and complex client data queries end to end, resolving them with expert judgement and technical confidence rather than escalating them upward.

• Act as the definitive senior escalation point for data issues, owning root-cause analysis, risk mitigation, and resolution, and reducing the load on the Head of Business Intelligence rather than adding to it.

• Set and enforce a high bar for data quality across all reporting and delivery, designing the checks and controls that keep outputs accurate and defensible.

• Own the data preparation and validation for Best Workplaces list activity outright, ensuring submissions to the Growth & Recognition team are complete, accurate, and evidence-ready.

• Be the senior technical authority Customer Success Managers turn to for the hardest delivery and data challenges, giving decisive, expert direction.

• Where the contract allows, strengthen the wider team by coaching colleagues on complex data processes and leaving behind cleaner, better-documented ways of working.

• A recognised senior expert in data delivery: at least 5 years leading complex, business-critical data projects with full accountability for quality, timelines, and outcomes, and able to land and deliver from day one with no ramp-up.

• Expert-level ability to analyse survey data and turn it into credible, decision-ready insight, including confident, independent use of advanced statistical techniques such as segmentation, PCA, and KDA.

• Deep, demonstrable mastery of R, with 5+ years at a senior or lead level building, hardening, troubleshooting, and optimising production-grade scripts and analytical workflows; experience developing applications with Shiny (R) a strong advantage.

• Operates with complete autonomy: sets direction, makes and owns high-stakes technical judgement calls, and drives complex work to completion without oversight.

• Proven at running multiple complex, high-pressure workstreams at once, anticipating risk and holding delivery discipline when timelines are tight and immovable.

• A confident, credible communicator with senior stakeholders, able to explain complex data issues plainly, influence decisions, and hold their own with Heads of and client-facing teams.

• High ownership and professional authority: closes loops, sets the standard, and constructively challenges when needed to protect delivery and client outcomes.

• Comfortable acting as the technical backstop and second pair of eyes for senior leaders, reducing escalations rather than creating them.

• Experience in data warehousing or data engineering, including setting up cloud-based data warehouses and running R scripts in an online/cloud environment, is advantageous but not essential.

• Experience with SQL to support our data infrastructure and experience with Azure is highly desirable.

At Great Place to Work UK, our values guide how we think, act, and lead every day. They shape the standards we hold ourselves to, the experience we create for our colleagues and clients, and the culture we build together. Regardless of role or seniority, every individual plays a part in bringing these values to life.

We work collaboratively, recognising that the best results come from shared effort, diverse perspectives, and open communication. We step outside of silos, help one another beyond role boundaries, and make decisions together. We listen actively, ask questions, and value every voice. Success is collective, and we celebrate it as such.

We communicate with clarity, honesty, and purpose. We explain the what, when, how, and why so expectations are understood and direction is shared. We check understanding rather than assume it, keep things simple, and ensure people have the information they need at the right time. Clarity enables trust, strong working relationships, and high-quality outcomes.

We take responsibility for our actions, our performance, and our impact. We follow through on commitments, share honest updates, and address problems early. Ownership includes supporting others without taking over, keeping promises to colleagues and clients, and being accountable even when the situation is challenging or ambiguous.

We aim high and continuously seek improvement, both individually and collectively. We encourage healthy debate, welcome feedback, and recognise those who step outside their comfort zone. We set ambitious, data-informed goals and look for smarter, more effective ways to deliver results. Innovation, learning, and thoughtful experimentation are integral to how we work.

Everything we do connects back to our mission and the bigger picture. We make choices rooted in our values, even when the path is difficult. We consider the impact of our decisions on clients, colleagues, and the business. We stay curious, adapt to change with clarity and empathy, and show others how their work contributes to our purpose.