Transformation Director, Data Science & Strategy

RX Brasil; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holiday allowance

Private medical benefits

Wellbeing programs

Contributory pension scheme

Share option scheme

Job summary

Elsevier seeks a Transformation Director (Data Science) to lead multi-workstream transformation, ensuring governance hygiene, timely delivery, and coherent portfolio management. The role shapes business cases, engages with senior stakeholders, and translates complex technical plans for executives.

You will partner with Finance to validate assumptions, monitor benefits, and drive investment in future initiatives, aligning with corporate strategy and data‑driven outcomes.

Qualifications

• A data science, ML or AI engineering background, gained through hands‑on practitioner experience or through leading or governing data science delivery, sufficient to understand the technical content of the change workstreams and to translate it accurately for senior, non-technical audiences.
• Substantial experience running portfolio, programme, or transformation governance in a complex, technical organisation, with a track record of improving delivery discipline.
• Demonstrated experience producing and presenting reporting to senior and executive audiences, with the credibility to hold the room.
• Strong grounding in programme management methods (e.g. MSP, PRINCE2, P3O, Agile/SAFe or equivalent), applied pragmatically rather than dogmatically.
• Experience building or contributing to business cases, including benefits and financial modelling.
• Sharp analytical and written communication skills; able to turn complexity into a clear message.
• Confident challenger who can influence without relying on formal authority.

Responsibilities

• Define, maintain, and continuously improve the standards for programme and project management across the transformation: planning, RAID, dependency management, change control, benefits tracking etc.
• Assess hygiene across workstreams, challenge gaps, and coach leads to close gaps early.
• Provide independent assurance on delivery confidence, flag slippage and emerging risk before it becomes an escalation.
• Apply technical understanding of data science, ML and AI engineering to challenge plans, estimates, and risk assessments.
• Run governance cadence end to end, producing concise, accurate packs, dashboards, and narratives for senior leadership.
• Establish a single source of truth for status, milestones, risks, and benefits, ensuring data quality.
• Maintain a coherent view of the change portfolio and align with wider Data Science OKRs and planning cycles.
• Support leads in building robust business cases, validate assumptions with Finance, track realised benefits.
• Shape the pipeline of future initiatives so new proposals fit the portfolio and strategy.

Skills

Data science background

Portfolio governance experience

Executive reporting

Programme management methods

Financial modelling

Analytical & written communication

Influence without authority

Presentation to senior audiences

Business case development

Job description

Elsevier seeks a Transformation Director (Data Science) to lead multi-workstream transformation, ensuring governance hygiene, timely delivery, and coherent portfolio management. The role shapes business cases, engages with senior stakeholders, and translates complex technical plans for executives.

You will partner with Finance to validate assumptions, monitor benefits, and drive investment in future initiatives, aligning with corporate strategy and data‑driven outcomes.