Key takeaways
- Data leaders report to the CTO, CFO or COO, and the reporting line tells you what they are judged on.
- Each data title buys something different, so choose the one that matches your offer.
- A new data leader or a first data hire is the clearest signal a company is about to choose tools.
- Expect questions on data flows, access, retention and model training before any trial.
What does a head of data do
A head of data runs the company's data platform, reporting and analytics, and is accountable for data quality and governance. In some companies the role also covers data science and machine learning.
The reporting line varies and shapes the job. Under a chief technology officer, the role leans towards infrastructure, reliability and platform cost. Under a chief financial officer, it leans towards trusted numbers and board reporting. Under a chief operating officer, it leans towards operational insight. A chief data officer usually reports to the chief executive.
Which data leader titles should you search
Search the data title that owns the budget for your category, because platforms, analytics work and governance are often bought by different people. The same company may have three of these roles, or one person holding all of them.
- Chief data officer or chief data and analytics officer: large and regulated companies, governance and strategy.
- Head of data, director of data or VP data: scale-ups, owner of the data team and its tooling.
- Head of analytics, analytics manager or BI manager: reporting teams, buyers of dashboards and analytics help.
- Head of data engineering or data platform lead: warehouse, pipelines and infrastructure purchases.
Why a new data hire is the strongest trigger
A newly appointed data leader is the best moment to make contact, because their first months are spent reviewing the stack, choosing tools and bringing in outside help. A company hiring its first head of data has decided to invest and has not yet committed to suppliers.
Job adverts are a second signal: an advert for data engineers usually names the warehouse, pipeline and reporting tools in use, which tells you where you fit before you write. A warehouse migration, an acquisition that merges two data estates or a new reporting rule are further reasons to get in touch.
Which data governance questions will they ask
Data leaders will ask where their data goes and who can see it before they agree to any trial. Have clear answers ready rather than a sales deck.
- Which data you read, which you store and for how long.
- Which subprocessors handle it, and in which regions.
- How access is controlled and logged.
- Whether the connection is read-only or can write back.
- Whether customer data is ever used to train a model.
How to approach data leader contacts
Approach data leaders with technical specifics, not buzzwords. Name the part of their stack you work with, as seen in their public job adverts or engineering posts, and say plainly what your product does to it.
Offer a technical conversation with someone who can answer architecture questions, rather than a general demo. Data leaders are pitched often, and a message that shows you understand their reporting line and tools stands out from the rest.
What GDPR means when contacting data leaders
Data leaders often work alongside the data protection officer, so they will notice whether your own outreach follows the rules. Base B2B contact on a documented legitimate interest, use work addresses only and give a clear opt-out.
When you hold someone's details that you did not collect from them directly, GDPR expects you to tell them where the details came from, usually in your first message or a linked privacy notice. In the UK, PECR rules on marketing email apply too. Treat this as general guidance, not legal advice.
How to find head of data contacts, step by step
Decide which part of the data function you sell to before you search for names.
- Decide whether you sell to the platform, analytics, governance or consultancy side of the data function.
- Search the matching titles, from chief data officer and head of data to analytics manager and data engineering lead.
- Check each leader's reporting line and the company's public job adverts to learn their priorities and stack.
- Watch for a new data leader or a first data hire, and write during their first months.
- Prepare answers on data flows, access, retention and model training before the first call.
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsGive your assistant up to ten named companies, data titles such as head of data or analytics manager and a location. Find fresh leads draws on Pebbles Ai's own GDPR compliant B2B contact database and returns work emails where found, each with a confidence score.
- CapabilityResearch & analysisAsk an assistant to read a company's careers and engineering pages for its data stack and recent hires, with numbered citations back to each source.
Common questions
Is a chief data officer the same as a head of data?
Not usually. A chief data officer sets data strategy and governance at board level in larger companies, while a head of data runs the data team and its tools. At smaller firms one person can hold both.
Should you contact the head of data or the data protection officer?
Contact the head of data for tools and services. The data protection officer oversees compliance and rarely owns a tooling budget, though they may review your terms later.
How do you find analytics manager contacts at mid-sized companies?
Search analytics manager, BI manager and head of analytics, then check whether the role sits in finance, operations or a central data team. That placement tells you who they report to and what they buy.
What do data leaders want in a first email?
A clear statement of what your product touches in their stack and a short answer on data handling. Leave out general claims about being data-driven.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
