Director - Data & Analytics (m/f/d)

Overview

C&A is one of Europe’s leading fashion retailers, operating over 1,300 stores in 17 countries and employing more than 25,000 people. The company is transforming into an omnichannel retailer and is in the middle of a data revolution, moving from reporting‑reliant to truly data‑enabled operations.

As Domain Lead – Data & Analytics (internally titled Director – Data & Analytics), you will define the vision, lead the team, and own the platform that drives data‑enabled decisions, products, and customer experiences at scale.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive vision and roadmap for Data Engineering aligning with C&A’s business priorities, delivering impactful near‑ and medium‑term data products and building toward a year‑plus strategic horizon.
• Build, lead, and mentor a high‑performing team of data engineers and managers, fostering a culture of excellence, inclusion, continuous learning, and reliable business support.
• Establish strong relationships with product, data governance, data science, analytics, and engineering leaders, translating business goals into scalable data solutions and achieving outcomes against C&A’s highest priorities.
• Coach team members and leaders with thoughtful observation, courageous honest feedback, and clear career paths, skill matrices, and succession plans.
• Anticipate, communicate, and navigate business and technical risks, orchestrating alignment across domains and driving change management that sticks.
• Lead the evolution from centralized, report‑driven work to domain‑driven, product‑oriented data delivery, establishing modern practices (data contracts, SLOs, CI/CD, observability) that enable self‑service and trusted insight.
• Own the stability, efficiency, and evolution of core data platforms and pipelines, including Snowflake, MicroStrategy, Ab Initio, and Data Vault, and adjacent ecosystems (Databricks, Spark, Kafka, cloud), improving reliability, performance, cost, and scalability with clear SLIs/SLOs and incident/post‑mortem rigor.
• Own budget planning and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) management for data products and services, ensuring efficient resource allocation and financial accountability.

Success Metrics (First 6–12 Months)

• A clear data engineering strategy with measurable OKRs adopted across domains.
• Improved platform reliability and efficiency (defined SLIs/SLOs, reduced incident frequency/MTTR, meaningful cost optimizations).
• Tangible progress on domain‑driven data products (data contracts, self‑service capabilities, trust/quality metrics).
• Strong engagement scores and visible growth of engineers and managers.

Qualifications

• Track record leading Data Engineering at department scale, shipping large‑scale, high‑volume, low‑latency data architectures in production.
• Deep hands‑on understanding of platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, Spark, Kafka, and a major cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP), comfortable evolving legacy or simplifying enterprise stacks toward modern patterns.
• Passion for the customer and delivering data that tangibly influences product direction and customer experiences.
• Ability to drive cultural change, influence senior stakeholders, and foster cross‑functional collaboration, experienced transitioning from centralized reporting teams to domain‑driven, product‑oriented models.
• Passion for building inclusive, empowered, growth‑oriented teams, skilled at mentoring, feedback, and developing managers.
• Visionary yet grounded; able to connect business realities to technical strategy and deliver iteratively.
• Exceptional communication with strong analytical instincts; credible with senior leadership and comfortable simplifying complex trade‑offs.

Benefits

• Countless learning and development opportunities via C&A Academy.
• Access to a partner discount scheme.
• Employee discount of 20% in C&A stores.
• 30 days’ vacation.
• Corporate pension scheme.
• Mental health and wellness program.
• Exciting international and inspirational working environment.
• Positive working atmosphere with an open feedback culture.

Equal Opportunity Statement

C&A fosters equal opportunity for people of all backgrounds and identities. We are led by a gender‑balanced board committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization where everyone can become their best self. We do not discriminate based on age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, religion or belief, parental and family status, or any other protected characteristic. We welcome applications from women, men and non‑binary candidates of all ethnicities and socio‑economic backgrounds. We encourage people belonging to underrepresented groups to apply. Even if you don’t check every box but see yourself contributing, please apply and help us build an inclusive community.

Employment Details

Seniority level: Director
Employment type: Contract
Job function: Research, Analyst, and Information Technology
Industry: Retail Apparel and Fashion

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