Role Purpose

The Data Strategy Consultant helps clients define how data will support organisational priorities, public services, operational performance and evidence-based decisions. The role connects business objectives with a realistic data vision, target capabilities, prioritised initiatives, measurable benefits and an implementation roadmap. It ensures that strategy is grounded in current-state evidence and coordinated with governance, architecture, quality, security, analytics and change requirements.

The consultant conducts research and interviews, facilitates strategic choices, develops initiative and benefits models, and prepares decision-ready material for client leadership. The role does not set the client's strategy independently; it structures evidence, options and recommendations for authorised stakeholders. Strong candidates can move between executive-level narrative and detailed implementation logic, ensuring that the final strategy is understandable, fundable, sequenced and capable of being monitored after approval.

Key Responsibilities

Analyse organisational strategies, service priorities, national direction and existing data initiatives to establish the strategic context. Conduct stakeholder interviews and current-state assessments covering capabilities, pain points, dependencies and opportunities. Facilitate development of a clear data vision, strategic objectives, guiding principles and measurable outcomes. Identify and structure priority use cases that connect data investment to business and public-value outcomes. Develop initiative cards describing scope, benefits, owners, dependencies, resources, risks and success measures. Apply transparent prioritisation criteria and prepare options for client leadership rather than predetermining the decision. Develop sequenced roadmaps, implementation waves, milestones, capability dependencies and investment considerations. Define benefits-realisation measures and governance arrangements for monitoring strategy execution. Coordinate strategy content with target operating model, architecture, quality, security, data culture and analytics workstreams. Prepare executive presentations, strategy documents, decision papers and supporting evidence. Support business-case development, programme mobilisation and handover into implementation governance. Monitor delivery evidence and recommend strategy or roadmap refreshes when priorities, risks or assumptions change.

Minimum Requirements

Education

Bachelor's degree in strategy, business, information systems, data management or a related field.master's degree preferred. An equivalent combination of relevant education and directly applicable consulting or implementation experience may be considered.

Professional Experience

Typically 6-10 years in strategy, transformation, data management, analytics or management consulting. Experience in strategy, transformation, data management, analytics, business analysis or management consulting. Experience converting organisational objectives into initiatives, roadmaps, measures and implementation choices. Experience preparing executive material and facilitating senior stakeholder workshops. Exposure to benefits realisation, portfolio prioritisation and public-sector transformation is preferred.

Technical and Domain Knowledge

Data-strategy formulation and strategic alignment. Current-state assessment and target-capability definition. Use-case development and initiative structuring. Prioritisation methods, roadmaps and dependency mapping. Benefits realisation, indicators and performance measures. Data-governance and operating-model considerations. Architecture, quality, security, analytics and literacy interdependencies. Business-case and investment-planning principles.

Core Competencies

Strategy formulation. Business analysis. Portfolio prioritization. Benefits realization. Executive storytelling. Roadmapping. Strategic thinking. Benefits orientation. Synthesis. Executive interviewing and strategic workshop facilitation. Synthesising qualitative and quantitative evidence. Developing persuasive but evidence-based strategic narratives. Building structured options and transparent prioritisation models. Writing executive documents and presenting recommendations. Managing ambiguity, assumptions and changing priorities. Translating strategy into practical implementation commitments.

Preferred Certifications

CDMP Practitioner PMPCBAP

Focus areas

Strategy formulation Business analysis Portfolio prioritization

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