Head of Data;

Position: Head of Data (Permanent)
Location: Brierley Hill

Are you a strategic data leader ready to shape the future of a modern, digitally‑enabled building society?
Dudley Building Society is looking for an exceptional Head of Data to lead our enterprise-wide data strategy and transform how data enables insight, innovation, regulatory confidence, and member value.

As we continue our multi-year transformation, this role will be pivotal in establishing a trusted, well‑governed, cloud-native data environment built on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Purview. You will ensure our data is accurate, secure, high‑quality, and used responsibly across all business functions.

What you'll be leading:

Strategic Data Leadership

Own, develop, and deliver the Society's data strategy-driving quality, trust, governance and value from the organisation's data assets.
Partner with senior leaders to embed data into decision-making, customer experience, risk management and operational resilience.

Azure, Fabric & Purview Ownership

Act as the enterprise owner for our Azure and Fabric data platforms and Microsoft Purview governance environment.
Oversee architecture, roadmap and optimisation across Azure Data Lake, Data Factory, Databricks, Synapse, SQL, Fabric Lakehouse and Power BI.
Ensure data platforms meet regulatory and best-practice expectations (GDPR, PRA/FCA, DAMA).Data Governance & Compliance

Lead the enterprise data governance framework, ensuring strong controls, quality, lineage, metadata and lifecycle management.
Oversee Purview as the single source of truth for classification, compliance, lineage and sensitive data management.

Data Engineering & Architecture

Lead a modern engineering practice delivering secure, scalable data pipelines and lakehouse structures in Azure and Fabric.
Own enterprise data architecture, including integration patterns, domains and semantic models, ensuring alignment with key change programmes and third‑party platforms. Analytics, Insights & AI

Drive enterprise analytics using Power BI, Fabric workloads, and Azure AI/ML.
Enable predictive modelling, operational analytics and responsible AI adoption.

Leadership & Influence

Build and develop a high-performing, multidisciplinary data team.
Champion data literacy across the organisation and represent the Society with partners, auditors and  you'll bring

Essential

Proven experience leading data functions in financial services or other regulated environments.
Deep technical expertise across the Microsoft Azure data ecosystem, including ADF, Databricks, Synapse, SQL, ADLS, and Dev Ops CI/CD.
Understanding of Microsoft Purview governance, lineage, classification and policy controls.
Hands-on leadership across Microsoft Fabric-lakehouse, engineering workloads, and Power BI governance.
Strong understanding of regulatory frameworks including FCA/PRA, GDPR, data risk and operational resilience.

Desirable

Experience with Azure/OpenAI services and responsible AI frameworks.
Relevant certifications such as Azure Data Engineer, Azure Solutions Architect, or Purview Specialism.

Why join Dudley Building Society?

This is an opportunity to join a purpose-led mutual with ambitious transformation plans and a commitment to delivering better outcomes for our members through modern technology, insight and innovation. You'll be influencing change at the highest levels, shaping how the Society uses data for years to come.

In return for your expertise we offer:

35 hours a week contract
Salary up to £80,000
Basic holiday of 30 days+ Bank holidays
Moments that matter days (Think birthdays, weddings + time off for getting the keys to a new house or welcoming a grandchild!)
Pension contribution of up to 8% of salary
Life assurance 4x salary
Full Private Medical Insurance
Healthcare plan covering some of those day-to-day health bills like your dental and optical bills
Great career opportunities and continuous professional development

We're recognised as a Great Place to Work, and there's a reason for that. Check out our careers page for more information about what it's like to join The Dudley team, who we are, what drives us, and why you should join.

Diversity and Inclusion

Our workplace culture respects, welcomes, and supports diversity and inclusion, empowering our People to embrace being a fundamental part of everything we are, and everything we aim to be. We treat everyone with the dignity and kindness they deserve, and strive to encourage and celebrate all the things that make each of us unique