Head of Data

Build and own our Data function across data readiness, modelling, and insights

Hands-on leadership role reporting to the CTO and working closely with the leadership team

Partner across product, marketing, and operational analytics to connect them into a broader business intelligence capability

V&A Waterfront, Cape Town (hybrid)

LekkeSlaap is South Africa’s leading accommodation booking app, known for its user-friendliness, exceptional customer experience, and extensive local accommodation options. Owned by Tripco, a travel technology company based in the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, LekkeSlaap is committed to innovation, best-in-class customer service, and setting new standards in travel technology.

As Head of Data at Tripco, you’ll build and own our Data function, taking accountability for how data is made ready, modelled, and turned into insight across the business. You’ll report directly to the CTO, working company-wide to ensure data is trusted, decision-ready, and translated into practical commercial value.

This is a hands-on, player-coach leadership role: you’ll lead and develop the team while staying close to the most important data work yourself. You should be comfortable moving between business questions, stakeholder alignment, analytical problem-solving, and building the structure a lean, fast-moving team needs for data to scale as a company capability.

You’ll work closely across product analytics, marketing analytics, and operational analytics, helping connect these areas into a broader business intelligence capability, and partner with Product and Engineering so data supports product development, measurement, and technical direction. Engineering, in turn, supports the function with data access and tooling.

You'll also make smart use of AI and automation to work more effectively yourself and to help your team do the same, bringing a curious, practical mindset to how these tools can improve data work, analysis, and day-to-day decision-making.

Our Environment You’ll work across a varied data, analytics, and business environment, likely including:

• Business Intelligence & Reporting: BI tools, dashboards, recurring reporting, and ad hoc analysis
• Data & Analytics: SQL-based data sources, digital analytics, booking and commercial performance data
• Marketing & Growth: Google Analytics / GA4, campaign and funnel performance, channel and conversion insight
• AI, Data & Automation: Active use of AI-driven tools, automation, and data-informed solutions to improve internal processes, analytical workflows, and business decision-making
• Cross-functional collaboration: Close partnership with Product, Engineering, Marketing, Operations and other business units to translate business priorities into a practical data roadmap

Responsibilities* Own the Data Function: Build and own Tripco's Data function across data readiness, data modelling, and data insights, establishing the structure, standards, and ways of working it needs to scale.

• Data Strategy & Direction: Shape the company’s data direction and turn business needs into a practical roadmap, bringing data and commercial insight into company-level planning and surfacing key opportunities and risks to leadership.
• Business Insight & Analysis: Translate complex data into clear insight that drives real decisions across commercial, customer, product, and operational areas, proactively flagging trends, opportunities, and risks rather than only reporting on request.
• Data Readiness & Modelling: Improve the quality, consistency, and usability of data, and develop the data models that make information reliable and ready for reporting and analysis.
• Data Integrity & Trust: Establish and improve confidence in key business metrics by identifying inconsistencies, gaps, and risks in reporting, tracking, and data definitions.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Partner closely with leaders and teams across the business, Product, Marketing, and Operations, and work with Engineering for data access and tooling, understanding needs, prioritising work, and communicating clearly.
• Roadmap & Prioritisation: Balance short-term requests with longer-term capability building, prioritising firmly for impact and keeping the function lean rather than over-engineered.
• Team Leadership & Growth: Lead, support, and develop the data function as it establishes, growing the team and capability over time as the business scales.
• Smart Use of AI: Use AI and automation to raise your own and your team's effectiveness, and champion a practical, forward-looking approach to new tools.
• Documentation: Maintain clear, practical documentation around key metrics, reporting logic, definitions, governance principles, and analytical context.
• Continuous Improvement: Contribute to stronger practices, better systems, and a more data-informed culture across the business.

Requirements

Behavioural competencies* Collaboration: Thrives in a highly cross-functional environment, building strong partnerships across technical and non-technical teams and creating alignment around shared goals.

• Commercial curiosity: Thinks beyond reporting and naturally looks for ways data and AI can create real business value.
• Strategic thinking: Can see the bigger picture, balance priorities, and connect day-to-day data work to broader business goals.
• Problem-solving mindset: Approaches challenges with a practical, doer mentality, balancing analysis, judgment, and hands-on execution.
• Adaptability: Comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment, working through ambiguity, and evolving approaches as the business and technology landscape change.
• Urgency & ownership: Takes initiative, manages competing priorities well, and creates momentum around important data and AI work.
• Continuous learning: Proactively keeps skills and knowledge current, with a strong interest in emerging practices across analytics, AI, automation, and business enablement.
• Attention to quality: Committed to producing work, frameworks, and decisions that are thoughtful, reliable, and trusted by the business.

Functional experience & competencies* 5+ years of proven experience in data, business intelligence, analytics, or insights, ideally including function-shaping responsibility

• Experience building or leading a data, BI, or analytics function, including leading a team or capability over time
• Strong SQL capability and comfortable staying hands-on as a senior contributor on complex analysis and data modelling
• Experience with data modelling and structuring data for reliable, consistent reporting and analysis
• Experience translating data into business action, with strong examples of influencing decisions through insight, analysis, and stakeholder partnership
• Experience shaping reporting, analytics, or data practices in a way that improves business trust, clarity, and usefulness
• Strong understanding of commercial and digital performance data, including customer behaviour, funnel performance, campaign effectiveness, and operational metrics
• Experience working cross-functionally with teams such as Product, Engineering, Marketing, and leadership
• Ability to improve data readiness and governance, including clearer definitions, better consistency, and stronger foundations for decision-making and scale
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to simplify complexity and build confidence across different audiences
• Genuinely AI-forward, keen to use AI tools and automation to improve your own and your team's workflows, analysis, and decision-making

Bonus if you have:* Experience in travel, e-commerce, hospitality, marketplaces, or other high-volume consumer environments

• Experience with Google Analytics / GA4, digital tracking, and performance analysi