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Salary: GBP 121,000 - 137,000 / annual
Focal Systems is an industry-leading retail AI company headquartered in San Francisco with operations in Canada, the UK, and a tech hub in Poland. The company deploys deep learning computer vision solutions at scale with top retailers worldwide.
As Director of Analytics, you will own the complete analytics function end-to-end: from the Snowflake data warehouse and dbt transformation layer through to the BI/reporting tools used across the business. You will set the technical direction for the analytics stack, lead a small team of analysts and analytics engineers, and serve as the trusted advisor to executive stakeholders for data-driven decision-making.
This is a hands-on leadership role. You will manage the team while also reviewing models, working directly in the warehouse, and making tooling decisions rather than purely delegating. Key responsibilities include:
- Own analytics architecture end-to-end, from Snowflake warehouse through dbt transformations to BI layer
- Set and evolve BI tooling strategy, evaluating current tools (Sigma) against alternatives (Looker, Tableau, Power BI, Hex, Mode) as the team and data volume scale
- Lead, hire, and develop a team of analysts and analytics engineers
- Partner with Product, Customer Success, and Engineering to define key metrics, build self-serve reporting, and scope analytical work
- Establish data modeling standards, testing, and governance across dbt models
- Own data security and access controls across warehouse and BI layer, ensuring sensitive retail and operational data is properly governed and meets customer requirements
- Build and own executive-facing reporting on core business metrics (product availability, store performance, inventory accuracy)
You will be a rigorous thinker who treats data as evidence, not decoration. You have strong technical depth in SQL and the modern data stack, with hands-on experience leading or growing analytics teams. You are comfortable owning ambiguous, open-ended problems from "what should we measure" through shipped dashboards. You communicate findings crisply to both technical and non-technical audiences, including executives, and have opinions on BI tooling grounded in real experience.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 8+ years of experience in analytics, with at least 3 years directly managing or leading a team
- Deep hands-on SQL, including complex CTEs, window functions, and query optimization
- Real experience running a cloud data warehouse (Snowflake strongly preferred)
- Hands-on experience with dbt or comparable transformation layer
- Track record evaluating, migrating, or scaling BI tools, with ability to articulate tradeoffs between Sigma, Looker, Tableau, and Power BI
- Experience translating messy operational data into decisions executives act on
- Excellent written and verbal communication, with ability to influence cross-functional partners without authority
- Comfortable operating remote-first across distributed teams
NICE TO HAVE:
- Experience with IoT, sensor, or computer-vision-derived data (high-volume, noisy, real-time)
- Python for analytics engineering or pipeline work
- Experience scaling an analytics function inside a growth-stage startup
- Background in retail, grocery, logistics, or operationally complex environments
- Experience mentoring managers, not just individual contributors
