The Role
Lead sennder’s Data & ML organization (Analytics Engineering, Data Insights, Data & AI Platform, ML/Data Science). Build and coach leadership, define data standards and a single source of truth, improve data quality as a business priority, and commercialize ML/AI to drive margin, cost, and service improvements. Partner with CPTO and SVP Engineering to align technical standards, governance, and stakeholder adoption while delivering measurable business impact.
Summary Generated by Built In
About sennder
Role Overview
Key Responsibilities
Qualifications
WHY CHOOSE sennder…
sennder is redefining road logistics. As Europe’s leading digital freight forwarder, we are building a smarter, faster, and more sustainable future for freight, powered by a single, unified platform that already runs our entire business. We are moving from a decade of growth through acquisition to a company that is outcome-driven, outward-focused, and AI-native by design.
Logistics is one of the best possible use cases for AI, and unlike most of our peers, we own the full loop: the platform, the operations, and the data connecting them. That closed feedback loop is a compounding advantage most competitors can’t replicate. This role exists to turn that advantage into sennder’s sharpest edge in margin, cost, and service, because AI will give us that edge if we lead, or become a risk if we lag.
You’ll own one of sennder’s core unfair advantages: our data. As Head of Data, you lead the full Data & ML organization (Analytics Engineering, Data Insights, Data & AI Platform, and Machine Learning & Data Science), reporting to the CPTO and operating as a strategic partner to the incoming SVP of Engineering to define and enforce the data standards that all domain engineering teams must adhere to.
This is a builder’s role: hands-on, high-ownership, and focused on turning sennder’s data and AI capability into a competitive engine, proven through delivered impact, not strategy decks. You own what’s right (definitions, models, sources of truth) and the mandate to retire what isn’t working, with the CPTO’s backing on pace and stakeholder pushback.
With four teams and real scale comes your first priority: building the leadership bench that runs it. You multiply through strong managers, not by doing the work yourself.
1. Own the Data & ML Agenda
- Lead the Data & ML organization end-to-end. While you will own the overarching data strategy, business alignment and governance, you will manage a Director of Engineering who drives the day-to-day technical execution of our infrastructure, platform, and ML models.
- Stabilize and build the leadership benches beneath you through active coaching, strategic hiring, and organizational design.
- Align technical standards and compliance practices with the SVP of Engineering’s organization, without folding into it.
2. Establish One Source of Truth
- Own the definitions, models, and platform that make “one number, one meaning” real, and retire legacy dashboards and duplicate reporting that undermine it, with a clear migration path rather than an overnight switch-off.
- Treat data outputs as products with users and a quality bar, not artifacts nobody owns; hold the line on what’s technically right while managing the pace of change deliberately with the stakeholders who depend on it.
3. Make Data Quality a Business Issue
- Break data-quality problems into concrete use cases that demonstrate value fast, not abstract governance initiatives.
- Diagnose where incentives, not tooling, are the root cause of poor data, and build the business case for the leaders who own those incentives to fix them.
4. Commercialize ML and AI
- Translate technical ML/data science work into sennder’s core value drivers: margin expansion, cost reduction, and service differentiation, prioritizing ruthlessly by business value.
- Bridge the ML literacy gap with business leadership, and own the data governance foundation that lets sennder scale AI safely and commercially.
5. Change How the Business Sees Data
- Shift Data’s reputation from reporting support to strategic enabler through delivered impact, not a rebrand.
- Build direct, trusted relationships with business leaders in their language, and partner with the CPTO and SVP of Engineering to keep data and AI ambitions grounded in real business need.
Qualifications
Experience & Leadership
- 10+ years in data, analytics, or ML leadership, including 5+ years leading multi-team organizations at meaningful complexity and scale. Comfortable in high-ambiguity, fast-changing environments, with a bias for pragmatic, visible progress.
- A track record of turning a data organization from a reporting/service function into a trusted, product- or platform-grade capability, including stabilizing and building leadership benches through hiring, promotion, and, where needed, replacing team leads.
Data & AI Craft
- Strong architectural understanding of modern data platforms and semantic layers, coupled with deep, proven expertise in Data Product Management and business alignment.
- Working fluency in applied ML/AI sufficient to sponsor, prioritize, and commercialize initiatives,
- Experience with data governance and quality frameworks suited to an AI-native business (not purely compliance-driven contexts). You do not need to build the models yourself.
Stakeholder Management & Communication
- An exceptional ability to make complex technical and data topics simple for non-technical executive and operational audiences.
- A track record of driving real change with stakeholders used to a different way of working: holding firm on what’s technically right while staying genuinely collaborative on how and when change lands, without absorbing blame that belongs to the business.
We believe in empowering our people to grow beyond their limits, embrace challenges, and create solutions that drive our collective success. Our culture thrives on entrepreneurial spirit, resilience, and collaboration.
Dynamic Scale-Up sennder is at a pivotal stage – transitioning from a scale-up to a sustainably growing company. This means we move fast and constantly push ourselves to improve. Joining us means being part of an ambitious, international team of talented individuals who value teamwork as much as bold thinking. Face-to-face connections across our offices remain central – it's not uncommon to travel to our offices across Europe to collaborate as we tackle challenges and celebrate wins, together.
Put Your Stamp on the Industry We operate in a complex and ever-changing industry where your ideas and efforts have tangible, transformative impact. This is your chance to be hands-on in creating sustainable, meaningful solutions that help businesses thrive.
Employee Well-Being We make mental wellbeing and engagement a priority through initiatives like our sennCare program, a partnership with nilo (global wellbeing platform), and regular satisfaction surveys via Culture Amp. And most importantly, work alongside people who truly care about you as a person. There is something special about the people at sennder that goes beyond just ‘work’.
Your Growth, Rewarded We believe in rewarding our team for their commitment and contributions to our long-term success. Our compensation package may include performance bonuses, referral rewards, or equity that align with our goal of building a thriving company together. We're excited to grow with you!
Vibrant Workspaces Our offices are equipped with healthy snacks, focus zones, and social areas to keep you energized and connected. When you walk into a sennder office, you immediately feel the sennder spirit: our shared culture paired with each location’s own unique character. Highlights include a slide in our Wroclaw office and a sunny rooftop terrace in Berlin, Amsterdam, and Milan! We also enjoy coming together regularly, from monthly aperitivos to spontaneous team moments.
We celebrate diversity and value your character just as much as your skills. If you don’t meet every requirement, don’t worry, we still encourage you to take a chance and apply. Bring your authentic self and help us shape the future of logistics in Europe.
Skills Required
- 10+ years in data, analytics, or ML leadership, including 5+ years leading multi-team organizations
- Proven track record turning data org from reporting function to product- or platform-grade capability
- Experience stabilizing and building leadership benches through hiring, promotion, and replacement where needed
- Strong architectural understanding of modern data platforms and semantic layers
- Deep expertise in Data Product Management and business alignment
- Working fluency in applied ML/AI sufficient to sponsor, prioritize, and commercialize initiatives
- Experience with data governance and data quality frameworks suited to an AI-native business
- Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills for non-technical executives
- Hands-on, high-ownership builder comfortable in high-ambiguity, fast-changing environments
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The Company
What We Do
sennder – Europe’s #1 digital freight-forwarder platform for Full Truck Loads. sennder is a leading digital road freight forwarder in continental Europe, linking large commercial shippers with small freight carriers. With its in-house-developed platform, sennder provides a new level of automation, transparency and efficiency to the European €300 billion road freight market, which until now has been dependent on paper, phone and fax and characterized by multi-layer subcontracting. sennder’s digital connection to over 40,000 trucks allows for almost unlimited capacities, no matter what time of the day. sennder digitalizes the truckload-shipping ecosystem by providing mobile apps to drivers, fleet management tools to carrier managers and logistics management solutions to shippers. Real-time booking, a designated contact person always on hand, as well as precise live tracking, bring full transparency to any logistics supply chain. By integrating directly with the shippers’ Transport Management and Freight Management Systems via APIs and by cutting the multiple middle men, sennder increases efficiency and reduces cost for all stakeholders
