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Mandate-First Strategy
We define what the executive must accomplish before defining who belongs in the candidate pool.
Chief Data Officer Executive Search
Chief Data Officer Executive Search
Find the Data Leader Who Can Turn Enterprise Information Into Advantage.
The strongest Chief Data Officers are not simply data experts. They are enterprise leaders who can create trusted data foundations, prepare the organization for AI, influence the executive team, build capable organizations, and connect data investment to measurable business outcomes.
Scion Executive Search identifies, directly recruits, and assesses proven Chief Data Officers and senior data leaders nationwide through dedicated retained search.
National retained search
Passive executive outreach
Confidential searches
Data + AI leadership expertise
Nationwide Executive Search
98%+
Long-term executive retention beyond the first year
for Scion placements.
0
Long-Term Executive Retention
0
Executive Placements Nationwide
20+
Years of Executive Search Experience
50
State National Search Capability
Why CDO Search Requires More
The CDO You Need Probably Is Not Looking for Your Job.
High-performing data executives are often already building enterprise data platforms, modernizing governance, enabling AI, leading analytics organizations, and transforming companies elsewhere.
The harder challenge is not finding people with data titles. It is identifying which executives have actually solved the leadership problem your organization faces.
CDO titles mean different things.
One company needs governance leadership.
Another needs an AI-ready platform builder,
analytics strategist, change leader, or commercial
data executive.
The highest-value candidates are usually passive.
Successful executives rarely depend on job postings
to find their next leadership opportunity.
They must be identified and directly recruited.
Technical credentials are not enough.
A CDO must translate data into enterprise priorities,
influence peers, communicate with boards, lead change,
and create adoption.
AI has raised the leadership stakes.
Data quality, governance, architecture, access,
security, and operating models now directly influence
what organizations can safely build with AI.
Why Scion for CDO Executive Search
A Search Built Around the Leadership Outcome, Not the Applicant Pool.
Scion combines mandate definition, executive market intelligence, national research, passive recruitment, structured assessment, and high-touch search management to identify leaders aligned with the organization's real business requirements.
02
National Market Mapping
We identify target organizations, analogous environments, adjacent sectors, geographies, and relevant executive populations.
03
Passive Executive Recruitment
We recruit proven leaders directly rather than limiting the search to candidates actively applying for jobs.
04
Data + AI Leadership Assessment
Candidates are assessed across business impact, data strategy, governance, AI readiness, technical depth, and executive influence.
05
Dedicated Retained Execution
Your search receives dedicated resources, consistent communication, stakeholder guidance, and management through successful close.
Planning a CDO, CDAIO, or senior data leadership hire?
Talk with our retained search team about the mandate, leadership structure, market, confidentiality needs, and executives capable of leading the next stage.
Define the Leadership Mandate
CDO, Chief Data & AI Officer, or Chief AI Officer?
Sometimes the first search decision is not who to hire. It is which executive mandate will best support the organization's strategy. Explore three common leadership models below.
Chief Data Officer
Best When Data Foundations and Enterprise Trust Are Central to the Mandate.
A CDO can be the strongest structure when an organization needs enterprise ownership around data strategy, governance, quality, analytics, platforms, operating models, stewardship, or data-driven decision-making.
Discuss a CDO Search →
STRATEGY
Enterprise data roadmap and investment priorities.
GOVERNANCE
Ownership, stewardship, quality, lineage,
standards, and trust.
PLATFORMS
Data architecture, access, infrastructure,
modernization, and scale.
ANALYTICS
Insights, BI, decision support,
measurement, and adoption.
Chief Data & AI Officer
Best When Data and AI Need One Integrated Enterprise Leader.
This model can align trusted enterprise data foundations with AI strategy, analytics, governance, products, operating models, and business adoption under one executive mandate.
Discuss a CDAIO Search →
DATA READINESS
Create reliable and governed foundations for AI.
AI STRATEGY
Prioritize use cases around business value and feasibility.
GOVERNANCE
Connect responsible AI controls to broader data governance.
ADOPTION
Move AI and analytics from experiments into operational use.
Chief AI Officer
Best When Enterprise AI Itself Is the Primary Strategic Mandate.
Organizations may benefit from a dedicated AI executive when artificial intelligence is becoming a distinct product, transformation, investment, governance, or operating priority.
Explore AI Executive Search →
AI PORTFOLIO
Select and prioritize enterprise AI opportunities.
IMPLEMENTATION
Move models and AI products from concept into production.
RESPONSIBLE AI
Establish governance, controls, permissions, and oversight.
TRANSFORMATION
Drive adoption across teams, processes,
products, and workflows.
What Clients Get
More Than Candidates. A Complete Retained Search Strategy.
Every engagement is structured to create broader executive-market access, stronger assessment, clearer stakeholder decision-making, and greater confidence in an important leadership appointment.
Access the Executive Market
National mapping and direct recruitment reach proven leaders who may never enter an applicant pool.
Define the Right Mandate
Deep discovery aligns stakeholders around outcomes, scope, reporting structure, leadership priorities, and success measures.
Assess Beyond the Résumé
Evaluate executives for leadership capability, relevant operating experience, business judgment, technical credibility, and alignment.
Guide Stakeholder Decisions
Support boards, CEOs, investors, and search committees through calibration, interviews, candidate comparison, and selection.
Keep the Search Moving
High-touch communication, candidate management, search reporting, feedback loops, and consistent execution from launch through close.
Reduce Executive Hiring Risk
Experienced retained search, confidential outreach, references, offer support, strong long-term retention, and a search guarantee.
Everything included in a Scion retained executive search
Dedicated retained search team
Deep discovery and position strategy
Customized search strategy
National executive market mapping
Target-company research
Passive executive outreach
Confidential recruiting capability
Executive assessment and vetting
Industry and functional alignment
Search committee guidance
Consistent search reporting
Candidate management
Interview and selection support
Reference support
Offer strategy and closing support
Search guarantee subject to engagement terms
20+ years of search experience
1,000+ executive placements nationwide
CDO
Talent Market
Peer Organizations
Adjacent Industries
Passive Executives
Analogous Environments
National Markets
Referral Networks
Talent Market
Passive Executive Recruitment
We Don't Wait for the Right CDO to Apply. We Go Find Them.
The strongest data leaders are often already succeeding elsewhere. Scion's retained process builds the relevant executive market, identifies prospective leaders, and approaches them directly.
✓
Map target organizations.
Identify companies with relevant scale,
data maturity, architecture, operating models,
industries, and challenges.
✓
Research executive populations.
Surface leaders whose backgrounds align with
the mandate regardless of current job-search activity.
✓
Engage confidentially.
Direct executive outreach introduces the opportunity
thoughtfully and protects discretion where required.
✓
Calibrate using market feedback.
Real executive conversations help clients understand
market response, trade-offs, compensation, and mandate fit.
What Your Search Receives
A Disciplined Path From Leadership Need to Successful Appointment.
Scion manages the search as one connected process rather than a series of disconnected candidate submissions.
01
Position Strategy
Mandate, outcomes, culture, structure,
compensation, and success profile.
02
Market Map
Target organizations, sectors,
geographies, and executive populations.
03
Executive Research
Identify leaders whose operating history
aligns with the work ahead.
04
Direct Outreach
Thoughtful engagement of active
and passive executive talent.
05
Assessment
Leadership capability, technical depth,
judgment, alignment, and outcomes.
06
Finalist Selection
Candidate intelligence, interviews,
references, calibration, and comparison.
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Offer & Close
Offer strategy, candidate engagement,
negotiation, acceptance, and transition.
Executive Assessment
Do Not Hire the Buzzwords. Hire the Operating Pattern.
Data, cloud, analytics, AI, governance, transformation, machine learning, and modernization can all appear on the same résumé. What matters is whether the executive has actually made the decisions your environment requires.
Every retained search scorecard is calibrated around the organization, its maturity, industry, leadership structure, technical environment, culture, risk profile, and expected outcomes.
Enterprise Data Strategy
CORE
Business Value Creation
CORE
Data Governance & Trust
CRITICAL
AI Readiness & Fluency
HIGH
Platform & Architecture Judgment
HIGH
Transformation Track Record
CRITICAL
Executive & Board Influence
CRITICAL
Team Building & Organizational Leadership
CORE
Your Search May Be Different
Different Business Situations Require Different Data Leaders.
Select the situation closest to yours to see how the leadership profile may change.
Hiring the Organization's First Chief Data Officer
First-time CDO hires typically require more than technical depth. The executive may need to define the function, establish credibility, create enterprise ownership, build the team, determine investment priorities, and show early business value.
BUILD
Create the function and operating model.
ALIGN
Establish ownership across business and technology.
PROVE
Deliver early wins that build enterprise support.
Replacing or Upgrading Existing Data Leadership
A replacement search may require discretion, honest assessment of what needs to change, and clarity around the capabilities that were missing from the previous structure.
DIAGNOSE
Identify what the next leader must do differently.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Protect the organization and incumbent where needed.
RESET
Recruit against the future mandate rather
than the past job description.
Preparing Enterprise Data for AI Transformation
AI programs expose weaknesses in data access, governance, quality, architecture, ownership, and operating models. The right leader must connect foundational data work with practical enterprise AI priorities.
READINESS
Build trusted data foundations for AI.
GOVERNANCE
Connect responsible AI to data controls.
VALUE
Prioritize initiatives around measurable outcomes.
Data Leadership for PE-Backed Growth and Value Creation
Investor-backed organizations may require faster modernization, stronger management visibility, scalable systems, better KPI discipline, acquisition integration, and data-driven commercial decision-making.
VISIBILITY
Improve KPI and operating insight.
SCALE
Build systems that support growth.
VALUE CREATION
Connect data investment to business outcomes.
Modernizing Fragmented Data Platforms and Operating Models
Legacy architecture, duplicated data, inconsistent definitions, weak ownership, technical debt, and disconnected analytics can require a leader with deep transformation and organizational change experience.
ARCHITECTURE
Modernize platforms and data flows.
OPERATING MODEL
Clarify responsibilities across teams.
ADOPTION
Ensure new capabilities are actually used.
Strengthening Governance, Risk, Quality, and Enterprise Trust
Organizations in complex or regulated environments may need leaders with especially strong experience in data ownership, lineage, controls, privacy, quality, stewardship, regulatory expectations, and accountability.
TRUST
Improve quality and confidence in enterprise data.
CONTROL
Strengthen governance and stewardship.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Establish clear enterprise ownership.
Integrating Data After Mergers and Acquisitions
Transactions can create overlapping platforms, inconsistent definitions, duplicated processes, conflicting ownership, fragmented analytics, and urgent requirements for consolidated business visibility.
INTEGRATE
Connect systems, platforms, and domains.
STANDARDIZE
Create shared definitions and governance.
UNIFY
Give leadership stronger enterprise visibility.
Data, Analytics, AI & Technology Leadership
Search Expertise Across the Modern Data Leadership Organization.
Scion leads retained searches across C-suite and senior functional leadership roles surrounding enterprise data, analytics, AI, engineering, governance, and technology transformation.
Chief Data Officer
Data strategy, governance, platforms, quality,
analytics, culture, and enterprise value.
Chief Data & AI Officer
Integrated leadership across trusted data foundations,
analytics, AI, governance, and adoption.
Chief AI Officer
Enterprise AI strategy, implementation,
governance, products, adoption, and transformation.
Chief Analytics Officer
Analytics, BI, insight generation,
decision science, enterprise measurement,
and adoption.
Chief Information Officer
Enterprise systems, cloud, transformation,
information strategy, governance,
and technology operations.
Chief Technology Officer
Technology strategy, architecture,
engineering, platforms, product,
innovation, and technical scale.
VP / SVP of Data
Senior data leadership across strategy,
engineering, platforms, governance,
analytics, and teams.
Head of Data
Data function leadership for growth organizations,
enterprises, business units, and transformations.
VP of Data Engineering
Data platforms, architecture, pipelines,
infrastructure, reliability, engineering teams,
and scale.
VP of Analytics
Analytics strategy, BI, decision support,
measurement, insights, and enterprise adoption.
Head of Data Science
Data science, modeling, experimentation,
machine learning, decision science,
and applied intelligence.
VP of Artificial Intelligence
AI strategy, models, engineering,
enterprise deployment, responsible use,
and business integration.
Head of Machine Learning
ML engineering, model development,
MLOps, deployment, experimentation,
and technical leadership.
Data Governance Executive
Ownership, stewardship, quality,
lineage, privacy, standards,
compliance, and enterprise trust.
AI & Data Governance Leader
Responsible AI, data policy, controls,
model and data risk, transparency,
and trusted deployment.
Enterprise Data Architect
Architecture strategy connecting data platforms,
cloud, integrations, governance,
access, and scale.
Industry-Aligned Search
The Data Mandate Changes by Industry. The Search Should Too.
Scion calibrates the executive market around the operating, regulatory, customer, technology, and commercial realities of the client's sector.
Technology & SaaS
Product data, cloud platforms, AI,
customer intelligence, growth analytics,
architecture, and scale.
Financial Services
Regulatory data, risk, governance,
controls, analytics, customer intelligence,
AI, and modernization.
Healthcare & Life Sciences
Clinical and patient data, privacy,
interoperability, research, analytics,
regulation, and AI.
Retail & Consumer
Customer intelligence, personalization,
commerce analytics, pricing, loyalty,
supply chain, and AI.
Manufacturing & Industrial
Operational data, IoT, automation,
quality, predictive analytics,
connected operations, and supply chain.
Private Equity
KPI visibility, value creation,
integration, scalable systems,
modernization, and operating intelligence.
Professional Services
Knowledge systems, client intelligence,
analytics, automation, AI,
productivity, and commercial insight.
Media & Digital Platforms
Audience intelligence, recommendations,
advertising data, content analytics,
privacy, product data, and AI.
Transportation & Logistics
Network data, optimization, forecasting,
routing, operational intelligence,
automation, and visibility.
Energy & Infrastructure
Asset intelligence, operational data,
IoT, reliability, forecasting,
risk, and modernization.
Real Estate
Portfolio intelligence, asset data,
market analytics, operations,
customer insights, and transformation.
Mission-Driven Organizations
Impact measurement, constituent data,
governance, fundraising intelligence,
modernization, and responsible use.
Search Intelligence
A Great Search Should Give You More Than Candidate Names.
Retained search should help the organization understand the executive market, clarify trade-offs, test the mandate, and make a stronger leadership decision.
Throughout the engagement, Scion brings market information, candidate feedback, executive assessment, and search calibration back to the client.
Target-Market Visibility
Understand where relevant executives currently sit.
Candidate Market Feedback
Learn how the opportunity, scope,
and mandate are perceived.
Executive Comparability
Compare different operating patterns
against one success profile.
Search Calibration
Refine priorities as real market information emerges.
Reduce Executive Hiring Risk
A Search Partnership Built Around Successful Placement.
Scion's retained engagements include a service guarantee. In the rare event that a placement does not meet expectations, the search may be reinitiated without an additional search fee, subject to the terms of the specific engagement.
Nationally Recognized Executive Search
Experience for Leadership Decisions That Matter.
Scion combines two decades of executive search experience, national market reach, dedicated retained search, proactive recruitment, and a record of successful leadership placements.
Our recruiting work and client service have received recognition from national business, staffing, and recruiting organizations.
Recognition & As Seen On
Forbes
ClearlyRated
Best of Staffing
Inc. 5000
Business Times
Business Journal
Chief Data Officer Search FAQs
Questions Employers Ask Before Starting a CDO Search.
Answers for CEOs, boards, investors, technology leaders, HR executives, and search committees considering a retained data leadership search.
A Chief Data Officer executive search firm helps an organization define, identify, recruit, assess, and hire senior data leadership. Scion's retained process includes discovery and role calibration, executive market mapping, targeted outreach to active and passive executives, assessment, finalist development, interview support, references, offer strategy, and closing.
Scion combines executive research, organizational mapping, referrals, networks, industry intelligence, and targeted direct outreach. Rather than relying only on applicants, the search team identifies relevant executives in target organizations and approaches them directly.
The ideal profile depends on the mandate, but common areas include enterprise data strategy, governance, quality, analytics, platforms and architecture, AI readiness, business-value creation, stakeholder influence, change leadership, organizational leadership, communication, and enterprise adoption.
A Chief Data Officer often owns enterprise data strategy, governance, quality, platforms, analytics, and data culture. A Chief Data & AI Officer generally has a broader mandate that connects those data foundations with enterprise AI strategy, governance, implementation, products, and adoption.
There is no single reporting structure that works for every organization. The appropriate model depends on the mandate, strategic importance of data, technology structure, company maturity, regulatory environment, AI strategy, and the authority the leader needs to influence the enterprise.
Yes. Organizations frequently enter discovery with a leadership need rather than a finalized title. Scion can help clarify the mandate, expected outcomes, reporting structure, functional scope, target experience, and leadership profile before executive outreach begins.
Yes. Scion conducts retained executive searches nationwide across the United States, including searches involving relocation, hybrid executives, distributed organizations, remote leadership, and companies operating across multiple markets.
Yes. Search protocols can be structured around confidentiality when discretion is important for an incumbent leader, succession plan, internal stakeholders, strategic initiative, or prospective candidates.
Searches can include Chief Data Officers, Chief Data & AI Officers, Chief AI Officers, Chief Analytics Officers, CIOs, CTOs, VPs of Data, Heads of Data, analytics executives, data engineering executives, data science leaders, machine learning executives, governance leaders, and related technology executives.
A CDO appointment can influence data governance, AI readiness, enterprise technology investment, operating decisions, analytics, regulatory risk, organizational culture, and transformation. Retained search creates dedicated accountability for mapping the market, recruiting passive executives, assessing candidates against a customized mandate, and managing the search through successful appointment.
Scion states that retained engagements include a service guarantee. In the rare event that a placement does not meet expectations, the search may be reinitiated without an additional search fee, subject to the terms and conditions of the specific engagement agreement.
Start a Chief Data Officer Search
Build the Search Around What Your Next Data Leader Must Accomplish.
Tell us about the organization, data environment, AI priorities, leadership structure, business objectives, challenges, and what success should look like. We will help define the mandate and map the executive market around it.