Head Of Data And Technology – England Hockey
England Hockey

Job Title:	Head of Data and Technology
Location:	Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, Buckinghamshire / Flexible arrangements
Salary:	Competitive
Contract:	Fixed Term (18 months)
Responsible to:	Finance and Administration Director

Background:

England Hockey is the National Governing Body for the sport of Hockey. England Hockey has income and expenditure of circa £9m p.a. It is responsible for the management and development of the sport from grass roots to elite activities.  England Hockey is also the nominated country for Great Britain Hockey and is responsible for assessing and preparing Great Britain squads to qualify for and participate in the Olympics.

England Hockey employs 76 staff and has a membership comprising clubs (800+), counties (45) and Areas (8). Around 140,000 individuals play regularly in the club system with an estimated 15,000 playing at university/college.  Over 15,000 coaches, umpires and officials are supported and developed by England Hockey.

Nature and Scope:

England Hockey is on a journey to transform its commercial and business operations following the pandemic to make sure we continue to grow our game with strong foundations and appeal to our existing as well as our future members and audiences.

As part of this journey the opportunity has arisen for a strong leader and expert with the ability to work both strategically and operationally within the organisation to consolidate and enhance the data and technology landscape.

Our new strategy is due to be rolled out later this year and our ambitions are to become more digitally capable, appeal to younger generations and be more reflective of society.

Reporting to our Finance and Administration Director, the Head of Data and Technology will have overarching responsibility for all EH’s data, systems and technology projects working in collaboration with Legal and Governance on GDPR, Commercial on websites, CRM and incoming opportunities involving technology and Hockey Performance and Development teams on projects underway, most notably our Game Management System currently rolling out a fixtures and competitions phase.

We are looking for someone who can seamlessly share technical knowledge with non-technical minds, create and drive teams and projects to excel and work collaboratively with all levels of the organisation to ensure technology and data is governed robustly.

Organising, protecting and using data optimally for the good of the game is really important to us at England Hockey and will be in the future. As we go on this journey the Head of Data & Technology will help us to develop a data culture to drive innovation and learning. We want to make better decisions for the future of hockey and this role will enable us to get there by improving our data completeness and structures, knowing what decisions have been made and producing high quality reporting.

Data

• Develop and implement a data strategy for the organisation to acquire, analyse and utilise high quality data ensuring GDPR compliance.
• Align the data architecture of the organisation with clear milestones for the future.
• Drive best in class data practices for both internal efficiency and external product offerings.
• Provide leadership on good product management and data practices.

Technology  

• Consolidate and own the technology project portfolio and system infrastructure for the organisation ensuring that projects are delivered with appropriate technology governance and standards.
• Develop and embed technology strategies and roadmaps that align with the organisations strategic digital journey, improve process efficiency within the organisation and provide excellent customer service to customers and stakeholders
• Facilitate sharing of technology best practice across the organisation
• Manage relationships with all third parties, ensuring clear SLA’s are in place with regular meetings and escalation routes.
• Lead technology, data and project experts to work collaboratively.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Our teams are focused on delivery for the good of the sport and work collaboratively across the organisation. We are also a values-based organisation with a strong ethos to work with integrity and nurture an environment of inclusion. Any leader joining us would need to demonstrate that this culture would be one they could thrive within and help us make it even stronger.

Knowledge and Experience

• High level of education or relevant experience
• Clear evidence of successful senior leadership in a complex environment, and a track record of operating credibly at all levels in an organisation.
• Experience of strategy development and delivery.
• Experience in the same or similar role with a proven track record of driving and leading large-scale product strategies for (ideally) a data centric business.
• Experience in infrastructure, application, and product areas of technology.
• Possess hands-on experience and a comprehensive understanding of working within an enterprise architecture function.
• Experience with solution design and architecture.
• Experience of working with 3rd party technical and application architects.
• Proven experience in driving innovation in IT development and the delivery of IT Services
• Experience of improving client experience technologies.
• Dynamic, engaging and collaborative leader with experience of successfully leading and managing diverse teams.
• Experience in Risk Management Methodologies
• Proven experience of managing and being accountable for budgets.

Skills and Abilities

• Developed senior management and leadership skills gained in a complex organisation.
• Demonstrable proven ability to build and motivate high performing teams and create a learning culture with colleagues operating across a range of disciplines.
• A change advocate, with the ability to hold challenging conversations with both internal and external stakeholders, leading on these where necessary
• Clear and concise written and verbal communication skills at senior levels of management.
• Strong and engaging presentation skills
• Excellent project and budget management skills.
• Outstanding analytical and problem solving skills.
• Familiar and able to operate in a matrix organisation.
• Ability to manage expectations and deliver commitments.
• Pro-active team player.

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