Data Strategy Consultant

Do you know exactly why data strategies that look brilliant on paper often fail during execution? Have you spent the last two decades dismantling data silos and architecting high-performing, self-sustaining data operating models across diverse organisations? If you value real-world execution over theoretical slide decks, we need your advisory expertise! About Tiko Tiko is an African nonprofit committed to strengthening the potential and resilience of adolescent girls across Africa. We address the “Triple Threat” of unintended pregnancy, HIV infection, and sexual and gender-based violence by building local health ecosystems that provide stigma-free, no-cost, quality-assured services. Our model brings together key local actors: community-based organizations (CBO) with peer mobilisers who act as health companions to girls; public and private health clinics that deliver care; and retail partners that redeem Tiko Miles -our behaviour-change incentive programme that rewards service uptake and feedback. We invest in partners by strengthening CBO capacity, training frontline workers and providers, supporting clinic quality improvement, and compensating partners based on performance. Our technology platform connects all actors by enabling referrals, verifying service delivery, facilitating payments, and generating real-time data. Tiko operates in six countries: Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Nigeria, with additional offices in Portugal, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. For a clear overview of our work, we recommend watching this short video . Globally, our team consists of +250 enthusiastic, international colleagues. Whether you are working from our biggest office in Nairobi, the fast-growing office in South Africa, or from home, our people are young, and our culture is global and dynamic. Our work environment is fast-paced, informal, and friendly. We are open to remote work for this position and will happily accept applicants from anywhere in South Africa, Portugal, and Kenya. Scope of Work Tiko is seeking an exceptionally seasoned external Data Strategy Consultant to evaluate and evolve our global data function. The objective of this engagement is to thoroughly assess our current setup and provide an experience-driven roadmap to transition Tiko into a mature, data-driven operating model. We need to ensure that our data teams, tooling, and day-to-day workflows directly meet business analytics needs while remaining strictly aligned with robust data architecture and privacy governance. We offer complete flexibility regarding the delivery model, including: Short-term strategic advisory (4–8 weeks) Part-time ongoing strategic support Phased consultancy (Assessment ➔ Target Design ➔ Implementation Support) over a 6 to 12-month horizon. Core Deliverables (Mandatory) Data Team Structure & Target Operating Model Current State Review: Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of our existing team structures across both the Data Engineering and Data Analysis functions. Optimal Structure Design: Provide clear, strategic recommendations for a target data team structure optimised for business needs, future scalability, and strict alignment with data governance and architecture requirements. Cross-Functional Interaction Models: Explicitly define clear, frictionless interaction models dividing responsibilities between Data teams, Core Software Engineering teams, and Data Architecture. Standards & Best Practices: Deliver concrete recommendations on ways of working, standards, documentation guidelines, and shared best practices for data engineers and data analysts—particularly focusing on friction points where they collaborate on shared deliverables. Data Analyst Capability & Role Definition Skills Assessment: Conduct an honest audit of the current technical and analytical skill levels within the existing Data Analyst team. Target Capability Blueprint: Define a modern target capability model tailored for Tiko, outlining explicit expectations for: SQL proficiency and data modelling techniques. BI engineering, dashboard hygiene, and data visualisations. Critical analytical thinking and proactive business insight generation. Capability Uplift & Talent Plan: Recommend a practical, phased plan to bridge the skills gap, outlining specific training and development paths, alongside a future hiring strategy and the ideal seniority mix (Junior/Mid/Senior). Value-Add Optimization: Identify specific, structural opportunities for analysts to deliver deeper insights and contribute more directly to high-level business decision-making. Data Architecture & Governance Alignment Collaboration Audit: Review how data teams currently interact with the Data Architect and the Privacy & Security (PrivSec) Team. Workflow Optimization: Recommend improved ways of working and operational loops to ensure seamless alignment with architectural standards and measurable progress on active data governance initiatives. Blocker Resolution: Actively help the leadership team identify, isolate, and unblock key architectural or data governance challenges currently slowing down delivery. Extended Strategy (Nice-to-Have Deliverables) Business Needs & Analytics Approach Requirement Mapping: Map out and assess our current and future cross-departmental requirements for data analysis, metrics tracking, and reporting. Model Evaluation: Critique whether Tiko’s current approach (which is highly reporting-heavy and heavily reliant on Tableau) is appropriate for our scale. Alternative Model Architecture: Recommend improved analytics frameworks tailored to our maturity, such as self-service BI platforms , embedded analytics loops, or the strategic trade-offs of a centralised vs. decentralised reporting team structure. BI Tooling & Platform Adoption Tooling Audit: Evaluate our current BI tooling stack (e.g., Tableau, Lightdash) and analyze true internal usage patterns. Technical Literacy Assessment: Evaluate the actual technical capabilities of our current business users and data analysts when interacting with these tools. Adoption Risk Mitigation: Identify critical risks to platform adoption, including low data literacy baselines or misaligned tooling choices. Enablement Strategy: Provide clear recommendations on our overarching tooling strategy, the rollout/adoption approach, and continuous internal training and enablement frameworks. Fostering a Data-Driven Culture Data Democratisation: Deliver highly practical recommendations on how to increase organic data usage and data-backed curiosity across all layers of the organisation. Stakeholder Bridges: Design operational mechanisms to better connect data teams with non-technical business stakeholders, breaking down communication barriers. Literacy Frameworks: Suggest specific internal mechanisms to systematically improve data literacy, trust, and tool adoption across the company. Advanced Analytics & Machine Learning (ML) ML Opportunity Mapping: Identify realistic, high-leverage opportunities to introduce or expand machine learning applications within Tiko's ecosystem. Pragmatic Valuation: Provide grounded, hype-free guidance on exactly where ML will add real, measurable value versus where it acts as a distraction. Advanced Roadmap: Outline a realistic, phased path toward advanced predictive analytics capabilities if deemed appropriate for our current infrastructure maturity. The Ideal Consultant Profile We are looking for an authority in the data space who brings a pragmatic, battle-tested perspective rather than academic theory. You should possess the following qualifications: Ecosystem Seniority: 15–20+ years of deep, hands-on experience across the data engineering, architecture, and analytics lifecycle. Executive Background: Proven background having held a Head of Data , Director of Data , or equivalent executive-level consulting role. Cross-Organisational Exposure: Experience working across multiple distinct organisations, giving you immediate context on different data team structures, tooling configurations, and maturity stages. Transformation Proof: Direct experience guiding at least one successful corporate transformation into a fully data-driven enterprise. Key Strengths Required An experience-based understanding of what actually works (and what fails miserably) in different organisational and technical contexts. The ability to critically assess both deep technical frameworks and human organisational capabilities. A highly pragmatic, outcome-focused approach that avoids overly theoretical or dogmatic frameworks. Absolute comfort with challenging internal assumptions and delivering clear, highly opinionated, and actionable recommendations. Exceptional stakeholder engagement, storytelling, and strategic communication skills. You should be currently based in South Africa, Portugal or in Kenya Recruitment Process Introductory call with recruiter | First Interview with Tech Team | Technical Challenge | Final interview with the Tech Team Compensation South Africa: R139,610 - R146,000 gross per month Portugal: €5,806 - €7,700 gross per month Kenya: Ksh801,196 - Ksh1,160.000 gross per month The Details Interested? Click Apply for This Job! Want more information? Check out our website Tiko – Do more with Tiko . We only accept applications through the apply links, not by email. Important Recruitment Fraud Alert Please be aware that Tiko maintains a professional and ethical recruitment process. Zero Fees: We do not charge candidates any fees for applications, interviews, or processing at any stage of the hiring journey. Fraud Prevention: If you receive a request for money, bank details, or "onboarding equipment" payments from someone claiming to represent us, this is not a legitimate request. Official Channels: We only communicate through our verified company email domain (@tiko.org). If you are approached by anyone asking for payment in our name, please ignore the request. — Tiko prioritizes integrity in our workplace and respects your privacy. Tiko is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour by its employees at work, including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct. This is why we will do reference and background screening checks on successful candidates before hiring. Tiko also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme . As part of this scheme, we will request information from your previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during your employment, or incidents under investigation when you left employment. By applying for this position, you confirm you have read and understood these recruitment procedures. We value your privacy and understand the importance of safeguarding your personal data. We invite you to review our privacy notice for the recruitment process to understand how we collect, use, and protect your personal data during the recruitment process. Click here to view the document. By applying for this position, you acknowledge that you have read and understood our privacy notice.