Director, SDS

Job Description

About This Role

As Director, of Strategic Data Services , you are the senior practitioner and leader of our data services practice. You have done the work of an Information Architect , and you still can: when a critical client needs you, you roll up your sleeves and build alongside the team. You directly manage our Information Architects, guide our offshore team, and make sure the work is done correctly and delivers what clients actually need to achieve and exceed their desired business outcomes.

You are also the voice of Strategic Data Services in the market. You work alongside our go-to-market team in pursuits, leading the technical conversation: understanding the client's business problem, how they define success, and how data work gets them there. You scope the work (approach, staffing, timeline) and advise clients on the business case for investing in it. A GTM partner leads the deal; you make sure what we sell is what we can deliver well.

You also own how we do the work. You set the vision for where our methodologies and tools go next, informed by what you see in the market and from competitors, and you propose where the service catalog should grow. Because we are an AI-enabled company, your instinct is to build repeatable tools that multiply what each person can do, not to add headcount to every deal.

Key Responsibilities

Delivery and Quality

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• Be accountable for the quality and outcomes of SDS engagements, and step into client work directly where it matters most.
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• Provide senior guidance on taxonomy, schema, enrichment, and data quality approaches; review key deliverables before they reach the client.
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• Serve as the escalation point for engagements at risk.
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• Manage resource allocation across engagements, balancing skills, utilization, and client priorities.
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• Carry a modest billable load for planned work on critical clients.
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Solutioning and Scoping

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• Lead the technical conversation in sales pursuits: understand the client's business problem, define what success looks like for them, and advise on best practices.
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• Scope new engagements: define the approach, staffing, and timeline, with the authority to make final scope and staffing decisions within agreed guardrails.
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• Help clients build a business case for data investments, drawing on past experience and using each new engagement to establish fresh proof points.
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• Partner with GTM leaders, who own the deal and the relationship, to ensure what is proposed is deliverable and valuable.
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Methodology, Tools and AI

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• Own our SDS methodologies and the vision for how they evolve.
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• Define where our approaches and tooling should go next based on your knowledge of the market and competitors.
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• Make sure the team applies the methodology consistently and improves it from what each engagement teaches us.
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People and Leadership

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• Directly manage and develop Information Architects: hiring, coaching, performance, and growth.
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• Provide day-to-day direction to our offshore analyst team through a dotted-line relationship.
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• Build a culture of craft, curiosity, and AI-enabled working.
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• Mentor Business Analysts and others on taxonomy and structural design principles.
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What Good Looks Like

COMPETENCY

IN PRACTICE

Hands-On Credibility

Has led information architecture work and can still do it. Teams respect the work, not just the title.

Customer Orientation

Starts with the client's business problem and definition of success, then works back to the right data approach.

Decisiveness

Makes clear scope, staffing, and approach calls backed by evidence, within agreed guardrails.

Force-Multiplier Mindset

Looks to apply AI or another repeatable tool or method before adding people to a problem.

Commercial Judgment

Scopes work that is valuable for the client and sustainable for Pivotree, and can articulate the business case for both.

Developing Others

Raises the capability of every person on the team, onshore and offshore.

AI-First Mindset

Uses AI tools daily, experiments with them, and validates AI-generated structures with domain expertise before they reach a client.

Qualifications

Required

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• 10+ years of experience in information architecture, data architecture, or taxonomy and data design, with a strong foundation in product data. A university degree in a related discipline or equivalent experience.
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• 5+ years managing teams.
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• Consulting or professional services experience delivering data work to enterprise clients in retail and/or industrial manufacturing & distribution.
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• Hands-on experience as an Information Architect: designing taxonomies, schemas, and metadata frameworks for large-scale catalog or data environments.
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• Experience scoping and pricing data engagements, including approach, staffing, and timeline.
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• Strong client-facing discovery skills, with the ability to engage business and technical leaders and advise them on best practices.
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• Ability to help clients define the business case for data investments.
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• Hands-on experience using AI tools to accelerate analysis and delivery.
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• Working knowledge of PIM/MDM platforms (for example Stibo STEP, Akeneo, or equivalent).
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• Demonstrated experience building or evolving methodologies, frameworks, or reusable tooling.
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What Will Make You Stand Out

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• Experience working in-house at a retailer and/or an industrial manufacturer & distributor, in addition to your consulting background, so you understand these businesses from both sides of the table.
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• Experience beyond product data, such as customer, supplier, location, or inventory domains.
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• Experience turning one-time data efforts into ongoing governance programs.
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• Experience managing blended onshore and offshore teams.
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