Director of Data (f/m/d)

Location: Berlin or London (hybrid/remote)
Reporting to: Vice President Technology

Purpose of the Position

At Awin we’re scaling our data and AI capabilities and creating a brand‑new Director of Data role to accelerate that transformation. You’ll partner with senior leadership to translate our multi‑year data strategy into real business impact, strengthening how we govern, operate, and leverage data across our global organization. With ownership across data engineering, our platform, analytics, and ML functions, you’ll shape how data fuels smarter decisions, better products, and sustainable growth.
Key Tasks and Responsibilities

• Translate Awin’s five data pillars into a clear, multi‑year strategy and roadmap with measurable outcomes.
• Align data initiatives with product and business priorities and communicate progress and impact to senior leadership.
• Own and evolve our modern cloud data platform to improve scalability, reliability, performance, and cost efficiency.
• Champion engineering excellence and support data engineering teams in continuously improving best practices.
• Scale and mature our data science and ML capabilities, including expanding the team over the next two years.
• Implement strong delivery practices for ML models and analytics, including experimentation, monitoring, retraining, and documentation.
• Enable broader self‑service analytics by standardizing key datasets, metrics, and data access patterns.
• Lead company‑wide data literacy initiatives, ensuring non‑technical teams can use tools and insights safely and effectively.
• Strengthen governance by formalizing data ownership models, access controls, policies, and regulatory compliance.
• Implement and refine data quality and lineage processes, including clear accountability and transparent quality metrics.
• Introduce and embed a data‑as‑a‑product mindset, ensuring key datasets, models, and services have defined owners, documentation, and feedback loops.
• Measure the success of data products based on adoption, satisfaction, and business value (not just delivery).
• Lead, coach, and develop a high‑performing team across data engineering, analytics, and data science disciplines.
• Shape an operating model that promotes collaboration, high standards, and strong integration with Product & Tech.
• Partner with Security, Legal, and Compliance to manage data privacy, governance, and model‑related risks as our platform and use cases scale.

Skills and Experience

• Proven experience defining and executing a data strategy in a product‑led tech environment.
• Track record owning an end-to-end data and ML roadmap, from discovery to delivery and iteration.
• Hands‑on experience scaling a modern cloud data platform (lake/warehouse, orchestration, streaming).
• Deep understanding of the full ML lifecycle and MLOps / analytics engineering best practices.
• Experience implementing data architecture standards, data contracts, and governance across domains.
• Leadership experience managing managers and senior ICs within growing or transforming data teams.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with Product, Engineering, and commercial stakeholders.
• Exceptional communication skills for technical and non‑technical audiences.
• A product mindset focused on customer and business problems, not technology for its own sake.
• High ownership, resilience, and comfort with ambiguity in a fast‑moving environment.
• Strong advocate for data quality, ethics, and responsible AI.

Our Offer

• Flexi-Week and Work-Life Balance: We prioritise your mental health and wellbeing, offering you a flexible four-day Flexi-Week at full pay and with no reduction to your annual holiday allowance. We also offer a variety of different paid special leaves.
• Flexi-Office: We offer an international culture and flexibility through our Flexi-Office and hybrid/remote work possibilities to work across Awin regions
• Health & Wellbeing: The insurance covers several types of health, vision and / or dental treatments for you and for up to one additional family member.

Established in 2000, Awin is proud of our dynamic, social and inclusive culture.

Like all businesses, we’ve had to adapt and nurture our culture in a virtual environment. Our virtual ‘Life @ Awin’ hub brings our colleagues from across the globe together for various social activities.

Diversity & Inclusion are paramount to us, and we proudly pursue and hire diverse team members. We champion uniqueness and authenticity; this is who we are at our core. Our network of affiliate partnerships are diverse and transparent, as are the employees powering our vision to build the world’s leading open partner ecosystem. We welcome all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. If you need support at any point in the application or interview process, please let us know.

Awin is part of the Axel Springer group. Learn more at axelspringer.com/en/, and explore the Axel Springer Essentials here: axelspringer.com/en/inside/the-essentials-what-we-have-adapted-and-why  

Apply now to begin the next stage of your career at a progressive company that supports both your professional and personal development.