Wales & West Utilities (WWU) is a £564m turnover, gas distribution business serving Wales and the southwest of England employing c.2000 staff. Established in 2005, the company operates a network of 35,000 km of gas pipelines, providing services to 7.5m residential and business customers. WWU maintains and upgrades the network and responds to gas emergencies 24/7.
WWU has set a Digitalisation Strategy, focusing on enhancing energy distribution through digital transformation. The key priorities are to focus on stakeholder engagement and to deliver efficient, reliable, and safe energy services while progressing towards decarbonisation. In line with this, the company are appointing their first Head of Data.
They seek an experienced and visionary data expert to set and deliver a comprehensive data strategy that aligns with WWU’s business objectives and their Digitalisation Strategy, including compliance with Ofgem’s guidelines. This appointee will champion data governance, data validation, infrastructure, analytics, and AI adoption, while promoting a data-driven culture throughout the organisation. The Head of Data will report to the Executive Director for Business Services, who leads all business services, and will lead a team of up to 70 staff when the final team is brought together and new talent recruited.
This role is of real importance for several reasons, including WWU’s classification as being part of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, the need to optimise efficiency and performance, future resilience building, and compliance.
The appointee will have significant management experience leading the data function and team, including operating at a strategic level and being a highly effective communicator. With significant expertise in data strategy, governance, and data management, and a proven track record of delivering data-driven transformations, they will have experience of data architecture, cloud-based data platforms, and business intelligence solutions.
Berwick Partners (an Odgers Berndtson company)