Head of Data - Engineering

About BlaBlaCar
BlaBlaCar is the world’s leading community-based travel app enabling 27 million members a year to carpool or travel by bus in 21 countries. Our team of 800 employees counts over 50 nationalities and is spread across our 5 global offices, 30% working fully remotely.
Your mission
As Head of Data, you will be responsible for defining and executing the BlaBlaCar’s Data strategy, ensuring it aligns with our overall business objectives. You will lead a team of 40 data professionals organized into business-oriented squads, overseeing everything from data warehousing and analytics to data science and AI model development.
You’re leading the adoption of AI throughout the company as part of BlaBlaCar’s AI strategy. This covers three key areas: improving our product with AI-powered features, streamlining / transforming our ways of working in Software development or Customer Service, and driving organic adoption for all employees. This will require a blend of deep technical understanding, leadership skills, and a strategic mindset.

Your responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and inspire a team of managers and individual contributors. Foster a culture of excellence, continuous learning, and collaboration within the data department. Drive professional growth and career development for all team members.
• Define and articulate the long-term vision and strategy for our data organization, ensuring alignment with company goals and anticipating future needs, particularly in the AI space.
• Spearhead the exploration and adoption of new data technologies and methodologies, especially those related to AI. Guide the company's transition to leverage AI effectively in its products and operations.
• Identify and resolve trade-offs and misalignments within or outside the Data department (including Product and Business).
• Partner closely with business leaders, product teams, engineering, and other stakeholders to understand their data needs, deliver impactful solutions, and drive data-driven decision-making across the organization.
• Ensure teams define and meet industry-standard feature and service SLOs.
• Embody and promote BlaBlaCar values across the teams.
• Take ownership of engineering policy, guidelines, and associated ways of working.

Your qualifications

• Strong managerial track record.
• Strong leadership and communication skills (written and oral).
• Experience in building Data and AI-driven products.
• Strong business acumen and ability to be a creative and reliable product and business partner.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a track record of achieving results.
• Ability to collaborate with multiple stakeholders.
• Aligned with our company culture.
• Fluent in English.
• Nice to have: experience managing managers.
If you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications outlined above, tell us why you’d still be a great fit for this role in your application!

Interested in joining the ride?

• a 45-min video-call with your Talent Acquisition Manager Elodie, to get to know you, understand your career expectations and answer your questions.
• you’ll receive a case study as a basis for questions during the interviews.
• a 60-min video-call with our CTO Nicolas Salvy to test your leadership and growth mindset.
• a 60-min video-call with 2 or 3 engineering and product team members to evaluate your business prioritization and team work.
• a 45-min video-call with a Data Manager and one Business stakeholder to explore team management and technical expertise.
• a 30-min video-call with our CTO Nicolas Salvy for vision fit and rounding off the process.

BlaBlaCar is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.