Director of Advanced Analytics
This is a fantastic opportunity to come and work for a company voted 5th in the Great Place to Work (Best Large Workplaces) awards 2017, and Number 15 in Europe! Our business is fast-paced, innovative and fun. We truly believe it’s our people that make the difference.
We are the UK’s leading pet specialist and aim to be the Best Pet Care business in the World, providing pet owners with all their needs including food, accessories, veterinary and grooming services. Our Omni-channel retailing business operates from a UK wide store network of over 450 superstores alongside an online offering via our website. We also offer services to our customers through our in-store veterinary practices and grooming salons, as well as nutrition consultations, aquaria water testing and pet micro-chipping.
We operate the UK’s largest small animal veterinary business through our interest in around 450 first opinion joint venture practices and 4 specialist referral centres. Our first opinion practices are mainly operated under the Vets4Pets brand and are located both in-stores, as well as in standalone locations. Our referral centres provide high level, specialist services to both our own, and independent, first opinion practices.
Pet Care Analytics for All
The CEO & Board have positioned ‘using data and VIP to better serve customers’ as one of our 4 strategic pillars and intends to keep us ahead of the curve in the Pet Care industry.
To achieve this we are focused on creating an internal analytics capability that will create value by helping us all to make better decisions that improve pet welfare, enables a brilliant customer experience and optimises the working life of our colleagues and partners.
Since the appointment of the Chief Data Officer onto the Executive team we have outlined a strategy to establish “Pet Care Analytics for All”. Analytics will become the lifeblood of our Pet Care ambitions across the Group. We will establish an internal set of capabilities (people, process, technology and culture) that will allow the Group to:
- Get more impactful, relevant and timely insight out to colleagues and partners
- Increase the velocity and effectiveness of our VIP activity and customer experience journeys
- Leverage advanced analytics to optimise our supply chain, customer spend, workload, colleague rotas, pricing, next best action and vet practice profitability
- Introduce further artificial intelligence to improve pet welfare and diagnosis
Role and Context
Notwithstanding Pets at Home’s already pre-eminent position in the Pet Care market, we recognise that we cannot rest on our laurels. We have taken a forward looking approach and placed data and analytics at the heart of the business particularly as we have a successful customer loyalty scheme (VIP) that we can leverage far more than we have. We believe that if we can harness the power of our data it will open up new opportunities. To maximise these opportunities requires a leading class analytics capability within the organisation.
We have outlined 3 broad streams of activity within our analytics strategy:
- Creating an Analytics organisation and operating model
- Implementing a data and analytics infrastructure (Cloud based)
- Changing the organisation to an analytics mindset and culture.
We are at the beginning of our journey. One of the first important roles we are recruiting is a Director to lead and grow the newly established Analytics team within the newly formed Pet Care Analytics Group reporting to Robert Kent, Chief Data Officer.
Key Responsibilities;
- Create and lead the best analytics team in the pet care industry. Establish a small high calibre and agile central analytics team (c. 15-20 colleagues) to deliver the PAH analytics agenda and support the business in leveraging analytics to create value. To grow this team over time in line with realised benefits.
- The team includes a combination of analysts, data scientists and developers – each with different skills and aspirations
- Active engagement in recruiting, developing and motivating talent will be required
- Inspire team learning and development through external stimulus, exposure to new challenges and ongoing coaching
- Consistently and pro-actively provide the business with analysis that leads to business and customer improvement.
- Define and effectively implement a common data and analytics operating model across Pets at Home Group, interlinking with cross-functional business requirements
- Ensure data quality is high and there is a continuous improvement process to identify quality issues and work with the relevant roles to address and fix.
- Promote analytics excellence by identifying and assessing the applicability of new analytical tools for Pets at Home Group
- Define a common standard for the creation of new analytical tools/products and ensure effective adoption of these tools by providing training to end users
- Assist the CDO and lead a cultural change so that leveraging data and analytics becomes the norm for Pets at Home. Thus driving a culture focussed on accuracy, relevancy and timeliness of insight and analysis derived from data
- Work in partnership with our Group HR function to build the PAH brand to attract, retain and grow great analytical talent at Pets at Home
- Provide thought leadership to ensure Pets at Home can apply timely, leading edge thinking and technology to realise competitive advantage through analytics.
Key Experience
- Exceptional analytics experience: Proven ability to apply advanced analytics techniques and statistical modelling to create commercial value and positive outcomes. With particular attention to customer focused strategies and deep domain knowledge of Data Science and Machine Learning automation.
- Act as a change agent: evidence of having effectively advocated and then led the senior management team through positive impact analytic-driven strategies.
- Commerciality: you should have the commercial acumen to use data to see what’s on the horizon and advise the CEO and Board on data-driven customer opportunities, operational efficiencies or commercial benefits when they present themselves.
- Significant experience in using programming languages (Python, R, MATLAB, Scala, C derivatives, etc.) for statistical and machine learning analyses.
- Proven experience to see and know “what good looks like” when it comes to people, tools and practices within analytics.
- A strong analytical background within data, with proven senior data, reporting or analytics experience leading teams both directly and in a matrix style, dealing with a large complex data landscape.
- Exceptional understanding of data sciences tools and techniques combined with an understanding of external data sources, as well as big data platforms, including large consumer data platforms.
- Excellent emotional intelligence with exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
- Preferably some proven speaking, presentation and facilitation experience in internal and external environments.
- Acting as a business partner to all parts of the Group’s business including its Support Offices in Handforth and Swindon, 4 referral hospitals and working with the Group’s field teams to support first opinion practices.
EDUCATION
Bachelor’s degree and ideally Post Graduate within mathematics, physics, statistics or other science/engineering related.
Benefits;
- Competitive salary and market leading benefits
- 36 days paid annual leave (including bank holidays)
- Birthday Leave - 1 day extra leave to celebrate your Birthday!
- The option to buy extra holidays
- Pension Scheme
- Colleague Discount- 20% discount for you (plus one family member). This can be used in Pets at Home Stores, Groom Rooms, Companion Care Veterinary Services, and Pet Plan Insurance!
- “Treats” benefits- an online range of offers and discounts which are available exclusively to Pets at Home Colleagues
- 4 x Life assurance
- Contributory Private Health Care
- Charity Leave- You are entitled to have one paid day’s leave each year to work for your favourite animal related charity.
- Celebrating Special Celebrations? You’ll get 1 extra week off and a gift to celebrate your wedding or civil partnership, and a gift from us if you are expecting or adopting a baby!
- Free Car Parking
- Free Gym
- Values Awards
- Colleague of the Month Awards
- Cycle to Work Scheme
*If you haven't heard back from us within 2 weeks, please assume that unfortunately on this occasion your application has been unsuccessful*
