Head of Data

London / Hybrid (2–3 days onsite)

£130,000 – £180,000 + 12% Bonus + Shares + 25 Days Holiday + Pension

This is not just another data leadership role. It’s a chance to define the data foundations of a new era in scientific innovation. Backed by leading venture capital and fresh funding of £7 million, this fast‑growing scale‑up is building a platform that fuses advanced modelling, AI, and workflow automation to transform how pharmaceutical R&D is done worldwide.

As Head of Data, you’ll be the architect of the knowledge layer that makes it all possible. You’ll take complex, messy, real‑world scientific data and turn it into elegant, scalable systems that empower scientists, engineers, and AI agents to work smarter, faster, and with full traceability.

What You’ll Do

• Shape the vision: Lead the design of a scientific data ecosystem that becomes the backbone of modern modelling.
• Build for scale: Create ontologies, knowledge graphs, and standards that support both out‑of‑the‑box workflows and bespoke customer needs.
• Enable intelligence: Lay the groundwork for AI‑driven automation, recommendations, and auditability.
• Bridge worlds: Partner with product, engineering, ML, and scientific teams to align data semantics with business impact.
• Set the standard: Establish conventions that will scale across industries and geographies.

Who You Are

• A seasoned Head of Data profile (7+ years) with deep expertise in data modelling, semantic architecture, or ontology engineering.
• Someone who has built scalable, extensible knowledge systems across structured, unstructured, and metadata‑rich environments.
• Comfortable working hands‑on with knowledge graphs, schemas, and APIs, while thinking strategically about systems.
• Fluent in Python, graph models, or AI‑integrated data frameworks (nice to have).
• Excited by the idea of applying your skills to scientific or industrial domains where data complexity is the norm.

Extra credit if you’ve worked in pharma, biotech, or scientific R&D — your industry knowledge will help you hit the ground running. If not, strong technical and leadership capabilities are what matter most.

What’s On Offer

• Salary: £130,000 – £180,000 + 12% bonus
• Equity: Shares in a VC‑backed scale‑up with fresh funding and global ambitions
• Time off: 25 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Pension: Competitive employer contributions
• Flexibility: Hybrid working with a London base
• Culture: Modern, collaborative workspace with the energy of a scale‑up and the backing of investors

If you’re motivated by challenge, inspired by impact, and ready to make your mark as the next Head of Data, I’d love to hear from you.

Email – kumbirai.mafini@opusrs.com