Job Details

Position Summary

The Interim Chief Data Officer (CDO) will serve as the senior-most leader responsible for stabilizing, organizing, and advancing the company's Data & Analytics function during a critical period of transformation. This individual will bring disciplinedexecution, strong business alignment, and deep experience leading data modernization efforts within a Consumer-focused organization.

The ideal candidate is an accomplished, pragmatic operator who excels in environments with lower digital maturity and can quickly establish credibility with executive stakeholders. This role requires a leader capable of translating complex data initiatives into clear, actionable business value, while also providing hands-on direction to a lean, evolving team.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Organizational Stabilization

• Provide steady, experienced leadership to a core Data & Analytics team of approximately nine employees across engineering, architecture, data science, and business intelligence.
• Establish structure, prioritize initiatives, and create sustainable operating rhythms to ensure clarity and accountability.
• Manage and align work across both internal teams and outsourced delivery partners.

Execution & Business Value Delivery

• Lead with an execution-first approach, emphasizing measurable outcomes over theoretical or long-horizon strategy.
• Translate technical initiatives into tangible business benefits that can be easily understood by stakeholders across Corporate and Brand organizations.
• Build trust quickly through consistent communication, transparent decision-making, and realistic expectation-setting.

Business Alignment & Change Leadership

• Serve as a key partner to senior business leaders, strengthening alignment between data initiatives and enterprise priorities.
• Act as a change agent to guide a low digital-maturity organization through modernization efforts.
• Improve adoption of data capabilities by ensuring solutions are practical, reliable, and closely tied to business needs.

Data Modernization & Architecture

• Lead efforts to centralize existing data sources and create a unified, well-governed data foundation.
• Shape and oversee the transition to a federated data model over the next 18-24 months, ensuring appropriate architecture, governance, and scalability.
• Ensure alignment with the organization's AWS-based technology environment.

Business Intelligence Enablement

• Formalize and scale a modern BI program, including governance, training, and ongoing operating standards.
• Drive enterprise-wide rollout of new BI tools while accelerating the decommissioning of legacy platforms such as Tableau and Hyperion.
• Improve BI adoption by ensuring dashboards and reporting tools meet business expectations for accuracy, timeliness, and usability.

AI Readiness & Enablement

• Establish the foundational data quality, governance, and accessibility required for future AI capabilities.
• Identify practical, business-aligned opportunities for AI enablement as the organization matures.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated success leading a data transformation within a Consumer-focused organization utilizing the AWS stack.
• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience spanning data engineering, analytics, BI, or enterprise data architecture.
• Track record of leading teams in low digital-maturity environments and strengthening organizational alignment around data priorities.
• Experience building and modernizing BI programs and retiring legacy analytics platforms.
• Strong executive presence and communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex topics for senior business audiences.
• Proven ability to lead both strategic modernization efforts and hands-on operational execution.

Leadership Competencies

• Execution-Oriented: Strong focus on delivery, prioritization, and operational discipline.
• Credible & Composed: Able to quickly earn trust and instill confidence across a broad set of stakeholders.
• Business-Minded: Adept at connecting data initiatives to tangible business outcomes.
• Change Leader: Skilled in guiding organizations through modernization and capability-building.
• Collaborative: Operates effectively across Corporate and Brand teams with a low-ego, partnership-driven approach.

About Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry unleashes potential in people, teams, and organizations. We work with our clients to design optimal organization structures, roles, and responsibilities. We help them hire the right people and advise them on how to reward and motivate their workforce while developing professionals as they navigate and advance their careers. To learn more, please visit Korn Ferry at www.Kornferry.com