At the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, we work with political leaders around the world to drive change. We help governments turn bold ideas into reality so they can deliver for their people. We do it by advising on strategy, policy and delivery, unlocking the power of technology across all three. And by sharing what we learn on the ground, so everyone can benefit. We do it to build more open, inclusive and prosperous countries for people everywhere.
We are a global team of over 800 changemakers, operating in more than 40 countries, across five continents. We are political strategists, policy experts, delivery practitioners, technology specialists and more. We speak more than 45 languages. We are working on over 100 projects, tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. We’re all here at TBI to make a difference.
In a world of ever more complex challenges, we believe diversity of background and perspective is a strength. We pride ourselves on a culture that values and nurtures difference. We are dedicated to unlocking potential, not only for the countries we work in but also for each of our team members. No matter where you’re from or who you are, if you’re passionate about the transformative power of progressive politics, we invite you to build a better future with us.
The Client Engagement and Delivery Lead (Data) will drive the design and delivery initiatives that help governments build modern data foundations and use data at scale to improve public outcomes. Reporting to the SD for Client Engagement and Delivery, the role spans strategy and execution. The Lead will work closely with the country teams to identify government needs and shape business opportunities, enabling policies and operating models for data sharing, and strengthening delivery capability so projects translate into scalable, sustainable impact. This role complements the Client Engagement & Delivery Leads on AI and Tech Transformation, with a deeper hands-on emphasis on data architecture and interoperability.
The Client Engagement & Delivery Lead (Data) will work with the product manager and developers in the AI and Innovation business unit:
Map government problems to data platform solutions and roadmaps across core systems (budgeting, procurement, HR, finance, case management).
Translate user and policy needs into technical requirements for data pipelines, storage, models, and APIs; co-design pilots and iterate to production.
Ensure delivery assurance: security, privacy, data governance, quality, lineage, monitoring, and interoperability-by-design in public-sector environments.
Overall, the Client Engagement & Delivery Lead (Data) will act as a bridge between TBI’s global expertise (in the AI & Innovation business unity and more broadly in TBI) and country-level execution.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Government Engagement and Opportunity Shaping
Support country teams to identify data-related opportunities within digital transformation agendas.
Articulate demand into clear advisory and delivery scopes with measurable outcomes and value cases.
Engage senior counterparts to align data initiatives with national priorities, reform agendas, and platform strategies.
Partner with country teams to understand client priorities and adapt sales approaches to specific country or regional contexts, to convert demand into engagement.
Provide ongoing support to in-country delivery teams to ensure alignment and execution quality.
Data Strategy, Architecture & Interoperability
Co-develop actionable data strategies and roadmaps (platforms, integration layers, governance, skills), linking policy aims to concrete architectures.
Design or assess reference architectures for analytics, operational data stores, data lakes/warehouses/lakehouses, and interoperability (APIs, events, metadata/catalogues).
Advise on data governance (roles, stewardship, quality, lineage), privacy and security controls, and data sharing agreements suited to government contexts.
Bring data subject-matter expertise: able to design and review data architectures (batch/streaming), data models, ETL/ELT pipelines, API and event-driven integrations, data catalogues/lineage, and platform choices (e.g. AWS/Azure/GCP).
Bring interoperability experience: on data exchange patterns and standards (e.g. APIs, schemas, metadata, identifiers), and designing cross-agency data sharing, MDM, and access controls, beyond policy alone.
Delivery & Implementation Support
Translate needs into backlogs and delivery roadmaps; oversee discovery → pilot → scaled deployment and troubleshoot risks.
Run technical design reviews (pipelines, storage, schema, integration, monitoring); evaluate vendor claims and ensure fit to context.
Partner with Product/AI Incubator team to embed data capabilities into services (budgeting, procurement, HR, finance, case management).
Work closely with product developers and engineers to ensure propositions are accurately represented and tailored to government client needs.
Support enabling policies and operating processes in government (e.g., data governance, procurement for platforms/services) that unblock delivery.
Coordination & Knowledge Sharing
Collaborate across AI BU and country teams to ensure coherent data approaches across engagements.
Work with the Deployment Specialist to capture and disseminate playbooks, patterns, and tooling.
Contribute to thought leadership on data foundations and interoperability in government; represent TBI in relevant forums.
Person Specification
Essential Skills
7–10 years’ experience across data architecture/engineering and delivery in the public sector.
Demonstrable ability to design, implement, and review: pipelines (batch/stream), storage layers, data modelling and semantics, APIs/integration, observability, lineage, and access controls.
Experience with cloud data stacks (e.g., Spark, Airflow, dbt, Kafka, BigQuery/Snowflake/Synapse).
Credibility with engineers and architects; able to convert strategy into delivery plans and measurable outcomes.
Must have hands-on government experience as implementers or practitioners (not policy-only backgrounds).
Excellent written and verbal communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to work effectively across cultures, and with distributed and cross-functional teams.
Desirable Skills
Familiarity with donor-funded or multi-year implementation programmes.
Regional expertise (APAC, MENA, LATAM).
Closing Date:
2026-02-15