PwC Extract and Data Acquisition Lead, TC

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Job description

Under the newly formed Tech Central group, PwC is making a substantial investment in technology and capability, making sure our people have the latest tools at their fingertips to make a real difference to our people, to our business and to our clients.

The Data Platform is PwC's 'platform ecosystem' for data - a system of services and capabilities that will facilitate the secure acquisition, management, and consumption of data in a globally consistent way. It has the ability to securely connect to client systems, ingest, store, catalogue and transform data and provides capability to share visualisations and dashboards directly with clients. The Data Platform has over 13k users in the UK and many more globally, and is set to become the primary infrastructure supporting all Data and Analytics work across the PwC Network.

The Data Acquisition Suite Lead role was recently established as part of the central Data Platform team to recognise the importance of Data Acquisition across all lines of service, and also to support the further growth and adoption of the Data Platform.

Data Acquisition in PwC is about using a range of tools to connect to our clients' systems and extract that data for ingestion into our own PwC environments for further processing. The Data Acquisition Suite Lead will be primarily responsible for the rollout of our data acquisition capabilities outside of our External Audit practice, including the PwC-developed 'Extract' application and other internal and third-party developed data collection solutions. Main responsibilities include:

• Leading uptake of the Acquisition Suite across client engagements in all Lines of Service (LoS) by identifying use cases and working closely with LoS leads to prove out use cases through targeted involvement in high profile or complex onboarding scenarios.
• Driving each LoS to develop its own data acquisition capabilities and establishing a community of expertise in the UK, working with each LoS to develop targets for the use of the Acquisition Suite.
• Working closely with other Data Acquisition specialists, both in External Audit and the Data Platform team, to support and develop knowledge collaboratively.
• Playing a central role in the enhancement of script repositories for data extraction from the most common client systems, co-ordinating efforts and contributing SME knowledge where appropriate.
• Being a point of escalation for any challenges arising during the implementation of data extraction tools, utilising a suite of tools including Airflow, Django and Databricks, getting hands on with more complex issues, and engaging with wider support teams as required.
• Working with leadership to define a firmwide Data Acquisition strategy and being responsible for its implementation, considering how this relates to other strategies across the firm and wider network, including LoS and Global Data Acquisition strategies, and initiatives driven by the Chief Data Office, Next Generation Cloud and Next Generation Audit teams.
• Leading the expansion of data acquisition coverage, including proposing new solutions, leading development work, organising pilots and testing of new connectors for ERPs, and delivering new solutions in the future roadmap for data acquisition (e.g. Azure Data Factory) in conjunction with the Global Acquisition Suite team.
• Oversight and management of our pipeline of activities, planning Sprint priorities and delivering timely progress reporting to senior stakeholders with an awareness of the portfolio and capacity of team members.
• Engaging with OGC, Risk Management and Network Information Security around new and updated extraction tools and capabilities to ensure they are appropriately tested, reviewed and approved prior to release

In the role, the lead will have responsibility for requesting allocation of central budget towards strategic development projects and so will be expected to prioritise needs equitably across all lines of service.

A key part of the role will be to work closely with the wider Data Platform team; it is recognised that Data Acquisition is instrumental to the adoption of Data Platform across the firm and therefore this role has a fundamental part to play in the way the Data Platform team engages with the wider business. For the right candidate, this may include support from a Project Management perspective and participating in Board level reporting.

The role requires the following essential skills:

• Technical mindset and understanding of the complexities of data acquisition (databases, VPNs, encryption/security)
• Knowledge/experience of relevant data acquisition technologies (e.g. Azure Data Factory, Snaplogic, APIs) as well as being able to troubleshoot and provide solutions to issues arising in the use of data acquisition tools
• Experience of existing data structures and/or extraction methods on one or more ERPs (e.g. SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics)
• Ability to build effective relationships with key stakeholders both internally and externally - client-facing teams, clients and colleagues in other teams and territories.
• Strong communication skills to be able to articulate the benefits of PwC's Acquisition Suite solutions to senior leadership, and influence outcomes towards embedding new technology. This includes interpreting the needs of technical and business stakeholders to convert business requirements into definitive solutions.
• Decision-making skills guided by clearly articulated priorities, with an awareness of the importance of risk and complexity.
• Able to address concerns/obstacles swiftly with appropriate resolutions, and confident in escalating concerns on a timely basis with appropriate consideration of potential solutions
• Ability to identify key requirements from a data perspective, with an awareness of how this fits into the broader context of strategy, systems, processes and solutions.
• Able to consider the patterns and interactions on a larger scale, and how trends and practices outside their service will impact their work.

In addition to this, the following skills are desirable:

• Capable of evolving and defining governance and taking responsibility for collaborating and supporting in wider governance. Knows how to assure services delivered by technical architects across sets of services.
• Understanding the key principles of project management and able to engage with stakeholders regarding priorities, risks and timelines. Able to use (and articulate the benefits of using) project management tools such as Kanbanchi.
• Capable of developing and delivering strategy as part of a large organisation with multiple stakeholders, using patterns, standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements.

Additional information

• Opportunity for working from home? Yes
• Amount of time client based (%) - none
• Opportunity for job sharing? Yes
• Need to travel/overnight stays away from home - Occasionally
• Opportunity for flexible working (hours)? Yes
• Amount of time PwC office based (%) 40-60%

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