Chief Operating Officer – Candide
About Candide
The Candide team operates as a services company with the mandate of consolidating all technology and data services across our group of companies – Babylonstoren (Cape Winelands, South Africa), The Newt in Somerset (Somerset, United Kingdom), and other sister estates in Europe. The team’s responsibilities include data management and warehousing, e-commerce platform and website development, app development, and hospitality technology.
The Candide team is currently based in Paarl (on-site at Babylonstoren, South Africa) and in Bristol (United Kingdom) and consists of approximately 20 people specialising in engineering, product, design, and data.
Key Purpose
Candide offers an exciting opportunity for someone who has a passion for data, analytics, AI and software development. In this role, you will lead the data and technology team and drive the group-wide global strategy.
You will also coordinate the integration of various software systems and collaborate with teams across business units and countries to enable data-driven solutions, improve business processes, and support informed decision-making.
Requirements
- A degree in a relevant field of study, such as data science, statistics, engineering, or computer science
- At least ten years’ experience in relevant fields, including data, analytics, data science, software development, and/or engineering
- Experience in people management and leadership
- Familiarity with CRM software (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce)
- Advanced understanding of BI and analytics tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Google Analytics)
- Familiarity with data science tools and programming languages (e.g., R, Python, MATLAB, pandas) as well as database languages
- Knowledge of data pipelines and data integrations
- Proven experience in building a data strategy and executing projects, including data science and AI applications
- Experience managing technology projects and product development
- Ability to identify and communicate value-adding, data-driven insights to influence marketing, e-commerce, and broader business decisions
- Strong communication skills across all levels of the organisation
- Willingness to travel internationally
- Availability to work on-site, five days per week
- Knowledge of GDPR and POPIA, with experience implementing compliance measures across business operations
- Experience in e-commerce
- Proactive, creative, and able to take initiative
Working as part of a high-performance, service-driven group that prides itself on attracting the finest talent, you will find yourself in an environment buzzing with energy, where smart, motivated people collaborate to deliver the best data and technology solutions.
