Head of Data & Insights Excellence

Our Team: 

Our ambition: deliver best-in-class enterprise services enabling Sanofi to chase the miracles of science to improve people's lives. Sanofi has been building the foundations of enterprise services over the past few years. With the creation of the global business unit Business Operations one year ago, we have elevated our commitment to innovation, operational excellence and value creation. Business Operations plays a key role for Sanofi in modernizing the way we work. An expert leadership team, passionate about leading high performance.  

We are building for the long term. We bring people together – many of them in our four hub locations around the world - simplifying processes, breaking down barriers and rapidly cross-fertilizing the best ideas across Sanofi.   

Our critical success factors: 

We have identified three key drivers: 

Community - Building a vibrant team that will attract and engage talent, with four global hubs.  

Excellence - Simplifying, standardizing and continuously improving processes to capture synergies, scale effects and productivity improvements. 

Digitalization - Enabling transparency, data-driven decision-making support, agility and rapid innovation across Sanofi's entire value chain. 
 

About the job: 

The Head of Data & Predictive insights is a critical position for the transformation of BO, ensuring an effective management and use of data in line with BO’s and Sanofi’s strategic priorities. The Head of Data & Predictive Insights reports to the Head of Process Excellence & Innovation and is responsible for designing and leading the data strategy, governance and management for BO. This role involves overseeing data collection, storage, processing in compliance with regulations and Sanofi rules, requiring strong stakeholder management and alignment at executive level. It also supports business decision-making, leads strategic initiatives and data product development, advanced analytics and Machine Learning / AI/GenAI in partnership with the Digital organization. 

Main responsibilities:

Data Strategy:

• Develop, prioritize and execute a comprehensive data strategy aligned with BO priorities 

• Collaborate with Service Towers to identify and prioritize use cases

• Foster a data-driven culture across the organization. 

Stakeholder Management:

• Align data strategy and ownership with all relevant (functional) owners 

• Influence Global Process Owners (GPOs) and leadership teams of GBUs and GFs where no GPOs exists yet 

• Ensure necessary funding for investments to improve and streamline data landscape and architecture in close partnership with Digital 

Governance:

• Establish and enforce data governance policies and procedures  

• Manage data catalog, data access design, data ownership model, data foundations and data classifications 

• Implement data standards and best practices for data management

Data Quality: 

• Define Data quality norms and procedures 

• Ensure data quality, accuracy, and integrity across all data sources

• Implement data quality monitoring processes and solutions 

Visualization:

• Implement suitable Dashboards on BI tools 

• Develop and promote self-service BI capabilities to empower business users with data insights 

Advanced Analytics:

• Lead the identification and application of analytical insights to support operational performance 

• Provide data-driven solutions to key business questions and challenges 

Dev / ML Ops (In partnership with Digital Department):

• Oversee the implementation and operation of machine learning models 

• Lead the development and operation of front-end and back-end systems 

• Deploy and maintain validated use cases, ensuring they meet quality and performance standards 

Data Science & AI:

• Together with Digital, collaborate on prediction models, AI and GenAI apps 

• Drive innovation in data science and AI for BO, leveraging the latest technologies to support strategic priorities 

Team Leadership and Development:

• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing data management team of up 30 internal FTEs 

• Provide training and development opportunities to enhance team skills and capabilities 

• Promote a collaborative and results-driven team environment 

Performance Measurement and Reporting: 

• Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of data initiatives 

• Prepare and present regular reports on data activities and outcomes to Process Excellence & Innovation and BO Leadership Teams 

• Continuously refine performance metrics and goals based on data and feedback 

About you:

• Data Management / Data Science background, ideally within a Global Business Services environment 

• Strong people leadership experience, having led and developed sizeable teams successfully 

• Proven experience in data analytics, data governance, data quality management, data security, data architecture and data foundation ensuring data reliability and resilience

• Expertise in advanced analytics, Machine Learning, Data Science and AI technologies with an understanding of the main artificial intelligence algorithm development tools: Python, Machine Learning and Deep Learning algorithms and packages, LLM and RAG, full stack dev knowledge

• Proficiency in middleware and ETL processes (informatica, TibCo, …) 

• Strong strategic and analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities to identify opportunities and make data-driven decisions

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple priorities effectively

• Excellent verbal and written communication, and interpersonal skills to convey complex ideas and influence stakeholders with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.

• Knowledge of both Agile and traditional project management principles and practices and the ability to blend them together in the right proportions to fit a project and business environment 

Qualifications: 

• Master's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field. A PhD would be an advantage, as well as a Master’s degree from a top tier 1 business school 

• Fluent in English (additional languages are a plus) 

• Agile certification 

• Knowledge of Lean Six Sigma methodology (certifications are an advantage)