Director of Data, Analytics & Insight - Manchester Forward Role are excited to be partnering exclusively with a data‑driven technology business in Manchester. Due to continued growth, an incredibly exciting opportunity has arisen for a passionate Director or Data, Analytics and Insights to join the talented team.This senior leadership role sits at the heart of a fast‑moving, data‑driven technology business, where data underpins product development, customer experience, operational performance, and commercial decision‑making. As Director of Data, you’ll shape how the organisation uses insight and technology to scale effectively and compete more intelligently. You’ll own the full data strategy across analytics, engineering, quality, governance, and emerging capabilities such as AI‑driven products and automation.You’ll be responsible for creating an insight‑led culture and ensuring teams across the business can access trusted, actionable data at pace. Your remit will span the full customer journey, covering digital performance, acquisition analytics, channel optimisation, forecasting, experimentation, and supporting operational teams with improved decisioning and performance frameworks. A major part of the role is connecting data with real commercial impact, using insights to influence growth, efficiency, customer outcomes, and product development.Role & Responsibilities Defining and delivering a scalable data strategy that accelerates analytics maturity.Championing data as a strategic asset across every business area.Building a roadmap that strengthens foundational data quality and supports AI‑enabled capabilities.Leading and developing multi‑disciplinary teams across analytics, insights, BI and data engineering.Ensuring analytics is deeply aligned with priorities from Product, Marketing, Sales and Operations.Driving modern analytical practices including attribution modelling, forecasting, experimentation, and digital performance analysis.Overseeing the architecture, reliability and performance of data platforms, pipelines and models.Embedding strong governance, documentation, modelling standards and security best practice.Reducing technical debt and ensuring high availability and stability of data systems.Supporting a wide range of use cases from automated reporting through to machine learning‑driven products.Translating complex insight into clear recommendations that influence trading, strategy and product decisions.Identifying opportunities for growth and operational efficiency through deeper customer and channel understanding.Building business cases, scenarios and forecasts to support commercial planning.Strengthening the accuracy and transparency of channel performance, attribution and investment evaluation.Maintaining high standards of data quality, lineage, privacy and compliance.Creating progression pathways, upskilling programmes and a culture of curiosity, collaboration and accountability. To succeed, you’ll combine strategic leadership with hands‑on credibility across both analytics and engineering. You’ll be comfortable operating in high‑volume, high‑availability data environments, and you’ll understand the commercial mechanics of digital‑first businesses. Most importantly, you’ll be excited by the opportunity to build, scale and shape the future of data in a growing organisation, unlocking new opportunities and maximising the value of the company’s data assets.APPLY NOW or email alicia@forwardrole.com *Please note this role cannot offer sponsorship and you must be based in the North West* As an industry leading, nationwide Marketing, Digital, Analytics, IT and Design recruitment agency, we are continually receiving new assignments to work on, so keep a close eye on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages for a full list of current permanent and interim opportunities as well as marketplace news and fun stuff. Forward Role is operating as an employment agency.

Data Engineering Manager (hands on) - ManchesterI’m working with a hypergrowth business in Manchester who are looking for a Data Engineering Manager. They have new PE investment behind them and a major transformation project is underway.This is a hands-on leadership role sitting at the centre of a significant data platform transformation. You will be running the data engineering squad, responsible for delivering the data infrastructure, pipelines, and reporting capabilities the wider business depends on.They are moving away from traditional batch processing toward a real-time, event-driven architecture and you will be leading that technical journey while keeping everything running reliably in the meantime. It is not a steady-state role there is a real mandate for change, proper investment to back it up, and a new Data Director coming in who wants to build something impressive.What’s in it for you? £88,000Hybrid working, 3 days per week in Manchester City Centre27 days holiday plus bank holidays, your birthday off,Enhanced parental leaveIncome protection for up to 5 years, life assurance at 3x salary, health cash plan, virtual GP and therapy accessGym discounts, cycle to work, free food and a Friday bar + much more.A genuine leadership seat at the table during a period of real transformationThe chance to modernise a data platform from the ground up, event streaming, cloud-native, AI-readyNewly centralised data function with a clear path upward as it grows Must have: Cloud data engineering on AWS – this is non-negotiablePeople management and team leadership experienceStrong SQL and T-SQLETL/ELT pipelines, SSIS, Matillion or similarData visualisationInfrastructure as Code awareness, Terraform or similarStakeholder management  Nice to have: Real-time and event-driven data platform experienceLakehouse or cloud-native data platform architecture experienceData lakes, object storage, and large-scale analytical processingML or advanced analytics exposureAWS security, networking and access controlGDPR and data governance awareness Day to Day: Leading and developing your data engineering squad performance conversations, career development, day-to-day supportGetting hands-on across pipelines, cloud infrastructure, transformation layers, and reportingDriving the migration toward real-time, event-driven data processingKeeping existing SQL Server environments stable and performant while the modern platform is built outWorking closely with stakeholders across the business to understand requirements and deliver solutionsEmbedding good engineering practices CI/CD, IaC, Agile where they are not already in placeMentoring colleagues and helping to grow capability across the team Why it’s a good time to join them?The data, analytics and insights functions previously operated separately are being brought together for the first time under a single Data Director. That means you would be joining at the moment the foundation is being laid, not after the decisions have already been made.There is a signed-off transformation programme, a technical roadmap that includes real-time streaming, AI-readiness and a move toward a modern cloud platform, and senior leadership that genuinely values data.APPLY NOW with your CV or email alicia@forwardrole.com*Please note the role cannot offer sponsorship and is not suitable for those on short term visas*As an industry leading, nationwide Marketing, Digital, Analytics, IT and Design recruitment agency, we are continually receiving new assignments to work on, so keep a close eye on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages for a full list of current permanent and interim opportunities as well as marketplace news and fun stuff. Forward Role is operating as an employment agency.

A highly regarded media agency in Manchester is looking to hire an experienced Media Manager to join their growing client planning team following a major new client win. The client? Think one of the UK's biggest names in beauty and retail! Media Manager Global Media Agency Manchester / Hybrid Salary up £47,000 They're building this new team from the ground up and the Media Manager hire is pivotal, giving you the opportunity to join right at the start of an exciting new partnership with a retail giant. Highly regarded as one of the best teams in the North this is such an opportunity! The Role You'll work across planning & buying of omni-channel media campaigns spanning brand and performance; collaborating with specialists across Paid Media, SEO, Programmatic, Analytics, TV, Radio and OOH. As Media Manager, you’ll support the Executive’s in the team to ensure delivery, will act as a key point of contact for the client and lead the day to day running of this prestigious account. What's in it for you? Over 30 days holiday allowance (bank hols on top) Enhanced maternity and paternity Option to work abroad for 4 weeks of the year Industry leading well-being programme Subsidised gym membership Training programmes and learning solutions The agency has a great culture, flexible working, genuine career progression, and an outstanding benefits package. If you've got media agency experience (or relevant retail media in-house experience), enjoy building strong client relationships, and want to work on campaigns for one of the UK's best agencies, I'd love to chat. As an industry leading, nationwide Marketing, Digital, Analytics, IT and Design recruitment agency, we are continually receiving new assignments to work on, so keep a close eye on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages for a full list of current permanent and interim opportunities as well as marketplace news and fun stuff.Forward Role is operating as an employment agency.