Data Programme Director

Ember, a well respected, international not-for-profit in the climate and energy sector,  is recruiting an experienced leader to scale our global data capability and position Ember as the trusted source of independent, high‑quality energy data insights tracking and influencing the clean energy transition. 

Ember is already a world-leading, trusted source on the energy transition, particularly the power sector, with our data widely used by governments, financial institutions, and top-tier media . But the biggest opportunity for rapid decarbonisation lies beyond the power sector through widespread electrification. We aim to be the go-to source for independent, objective, and transparent energy data insights that governments, businesses and other stakeholders can trust across the whole global energy sector. 

This is an exciting opportunity to take a lead role in the next stage of our journey. You will lead our data programme : managing a high-performing team, setting strategy  and overseeing the development and maintenance of our data architecture and tools. 

We are seeking further build on and improve our modern data stack, expand our datasets, develop high profile data tools, and ensure our analytics create real policy and investment decision impact. 

You will be a member of the senior leadership team and contribute to the overall strategic direction of the organisation. You will strengthen and build Ember’s relationships with partner organisations, and pursue new partnerships to ensure Ember remains central within the energy and data ecosystem. 

Ember is a remote-working and multicultural organisation spanning 6 continents – it is innovative, inclusive and fast-growing. As Data Programme Director, you will be responsible for fostering a constructive, empowering and supportive culture within your team.  

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a data strategy to ensure Ember remains at the forefront of the fast-changing data landscape, aligned with organisation-wide goals and cross-team priorities. 
• Lead, coach and line‑manage a diverse team of 10 people with a range of skills including data acquisition, full-stack development, data engineering and data analysis. 
• Ensure Ember’s datasets, data tools and data-driven outputs are of the highest quality, objective, trusted and relevant to salient narratives and research questions on the clean energy transition. 
• Work with the fundraising team to support the development of compelling proposals, and track and report performance against grant objectives.  
• Represent Ember among other relevant stakeholders and strengthen relations with partner organisations, pursuing new relationships that can further enhance Ember’s capabilities and impact.

Location:  Fully remote. Must be able to travel around 1-2 times a year for team meet-ups

Requirements

Must have:

• At least 3 years experience in a data focused leadership role. 
• Excellent team management skills. 
• A strong track record of using data and analytics to help achieve impact.
• Solid technical understanding of the global energy transition. 
• Demonstrated ability to develop a clear strategy and work programme, overseeing end-to-end development and deployment of high-quality data tools and data products in line with that strategy. 
• Hands-on familiarity with a modern data stack:  Python; SQL; orchestration (e.g. Dagster, Airflow), devops on cloud environments (GCP)
• A passion for the clean energy transition and the importance of open data provision.
• An open, cooperative working style, with good communication and interpersonal skills.
• Fluent in spoken and written English.

Nice to have:

• Experience in energy modelling, time-series forecasting, and other applied data science and ML. 
• Good understanding of AI and experience building custom tools leveraging LLMs, vector databases, and agentic frameworks.
• An existing network of contacts in the open data and not-for-profit sectors 
• Track record of publications in a relevant academic area
• Successful fundraising experience 
• Proficiency in languages other than English

Benefits

Salary:  Competitive for the not for-profit sector. Current range: £78,000-£85,814 (UK benchmark). We use a consistent, location‑adjusted pay framework; local ranges will be shared early in the process. 

Contract:  Full time (but working a 9 day fortnight, with no reduction in pay), permanent subject to a 3 month probationary period.  For employees based outside of the UK, a local payroll contract is available, dependent on the country.

Remote culture and diverse team: Ember is a remote-first organisation, with talents of diverse backgrounds from 15+ countries over the world.

Further benefits: We offer a competitive benefits package, including:

• We operate a nine-day fortnight meaning our full-time staff are given every other Friday off work with no reduction in pay
• 25 days holiday.  For each year that you're part of the team at Ember you'll receive an additional day of holiday, up to a maximum of 5 additional days.  
• Generous paid maternity and paternity leave
• Flexible working conditions, including the opportunity for part-time work and home working.
• Access to a local working space can be arranged
• Free annual eye tests
• Access to a counselling service
• Funding and allocated time for your training and development
• Paid volunteer day
• Four paid days off to enable low carbon travel
• Time off to donate blood

Please note: Ember will be closed over the Christmas period and will not be responding to queries between 25 December and 2 January. We will respond once the team returns in January.