Data Strategy Consultant

Role Overview

The Data Strategy Consultant collaborates with clients to articulate how data can underpin their organizational priorities, public service delivery, operational efficiency, and evidence-based decision-making. This role bridges business goals with a practical data vision encompassing target capabilities, prioritized initiatives, measurable benefits, and a comprehensive implementation roadmap. It operates on an evidence-based approach, ensuring alignment with governance, architecture, quality, security, analytics, and organizational change demands.

Primary Responsibilities

• Evaluate organizational strategies, service priorities, national directives, and ongoing data projects to define the strategic environment.
• Conduct interviews and assessments of current capabilities, challenges, dependencies, and opportunities among stakeholders.
• Guide the creation of a clear data vision, strategic aims, guiding principles, and quantifiable outcomes.
• Identify and organize priority use cases that link data investments to tangible business and societal benefits.
• Develop comprehensive initiative profiles detailing scope, advantages, accountabilities, dependencies, resources, risks, and success criteria.
• Apply transparent prioritization methods to generate actionable options for client leadership decisions rather than imposing choices.
• Design phased roadmaps with implementation waves, milestones, capability dependencies, and investment considerations.
• Establish metrics for benefits realization and governance structures to oversee strategy execution.
• Align strategy content with target operating models, architecture, data quality, security, culture, and analytic functions.
• Prepare executive-level presentations, strategic documentation, decision papers, and supporting evidence.
• Assist in business case development, program initiation, and transition to implementation governance.
• Monitor progress and recommend necessary updates to strategy or roadmap in response to evolving priorities, risks, or assumptions.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in strategy, business, information systems, data management, or a related discipline required; master's degree preferred.
• Equivalent combinations of relevant education and applicable consulting or implementation expertise may be considered.
• 6 to 10 years of experience in strategy, transformation, data management, analytics, business analysis, or management consulting.
• Proven ability to translate organizational goals into initiatives, roadmaps, metrics, and implementation plans.
• Experience preparing executive-level materials and facilitating senior stakeholder workshops.
• Preferred exposure to benefits realization, portfolio prioritization, and public sector transformation.

Technical and Domain Expertise

• Data strategy development and alignment with organizational priorities.
• Assessment of current state and defining target capabilities.
• Use case creation and initiative structuring.
• Application of prioritization techniques, roadmapping, and dependency analysis.
• Measures for benefits realization, performance indicators.
• Considerations in data governance and operating models.
• Understanding of architecture, data quality, security, analytics, and data literacy integration.
• Principles of business case development and investment planning.

Core Competencies

• Strategy formulation and strategic thinking.
• Business analysis and portfolio prioritization.
• Benefits realization orientation.
• Executive storytelling and presentation skills.
• Roadmapping and planning.
• Synthesis of qualitative and quantitative data.
• Facilitation of executive interviews and strategic workshops.
• Managing ambiguity, assumptions, and shifting priorities.
• Converting strategy into actionable implementation steps.

Preferred Certifications

• Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) Practitioner
• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP)