CDO — Global Professional Services practice (based Continental Europe)

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Professional Services on a senior CDO leadership mandate anchored in Continental Europe.

This is a country CEO / MD-class mandate with board- and headquarters-facing accountability for strategy execution, regulatory relationships, and brand in-market.

The client values executives who build repeatable operating mechanisms, not heroic firefighting that resets every quarter.

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Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Boutique vs Big firm differentiation — as large firms commoditise, boutique advisors need leaders who can sharply define and defend a differentiated positioning
• Geographic spine: Primary hub Continental Europe with reporting lines into global / regional matrix partners.
• Organisation stage: Recent leadership turnover created ambiguity on priorities; you will need to re-establish a crisp enterprise storyline.
• Stakeholders: Key interfaces include headquarters strategy, regional risk and legal, local regulators (where material), and anchor channel partners.
• Secondary lens: Practice building leadership — finding partners who can build new service lines or geographic practices from scratch, requiring entrepreneurial instinct within a structured partnership environment

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The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Metric definitions: Single dictionary for revenue, margin, and funnel stages — end spreadsheet wars.
2. Experimentation culture: A/B and causal methods where decisions are still made on anecdotes.
3. Real-time vs. batch: Deliberate architecture for latency needs — avoid real-time for everything.
4. Data literacy: Executive training so leaders ask better questions of models and dashboards.
5. M&A data integration: Fast, clean combination of customer and product data post-close.
6. Board analytics: Fewer charts, clearer narrative on what changed and why.

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Responsibilities (representative)

• Reduce regulatory and audit pain on data lineage, privacy, and retention.
• Monetise or operationalise data assets where ethically and legally sound.
• Hire and retain data science and engineering talent in competitive markets.
• Align metrics definitions across finance, operations, and commercial teams.
• Lead MDM and reference data programmes where fragmentation blocks decisions.

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Leadership profile

• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Trusted metrics: Examples where data changed capital or operating decisions in Professional Services.
• Geographic muscle: Deep experience leading in or from Continental Europe with credible local stakeholder judgment.

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Team & culture

Expect some fatigue from prior change programmes. Your success depends on simpler priorities, fewer initiatives, and leaders who model accountability. Culture is how decisions get made when spreadsheets disagree — you set that tone.

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Success measures (examples)

• Value creation: EBITDA / cash trajectory vs. owner or board case — especially under stress scenarios.
• Execution: On-time delivery of named transformation milestones; reduction in repeat incidents or audit findings.
• Leadership: External hires and internal promotions that stick; reduction in key-person concentration.
• Innovation: Launched offers or capabilities that move the needle on differentiation, not pilots that stall.

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First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Map cash, covenant, and customer concentration risks before announcing initiatives.
• Days 30–60: Align owners and board on a 12-month value story — financial and non-financial.
• Days 60–90: Launch two quick operational fixes that build credibility with frontline managers.
• Deep-dive on talent — who is load-bearing, who is blocking, where external hire is mandatory.
• Socialise a simple KPI tree so every function sees how their metrics roll up.

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Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: Executive committee, functional peers, shared services leads, and programme PMOs.
• External: Key suppliers, technology partners, and joint-venture boards where applicable.
• Board / owners: Expect deep dives on risk, liquidity, talent, and transformation — slides light, substance heavy.

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Travel & mobility

Multi-hub rhythm — plan for weekly or bi-weekly cross-border travel during integration or transformation peaks.

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Compensation

Package aligned to CDO benchmarks in Professional Services — typically fixed, variable, benefits, and mobility where applicable. Structure detailed at shortlist.

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Application process

Gladwin International is managing this search confidentially. Shortlisted candidates will engage in structured conversations with the firm’s partners before client introduction. Please apply through the careers portal with a concise note on why this geography, sector, and remit fit your trajectory.

We review every submission personally; unsolicited outreach to the end client is discouraged and may disqualify candidacy.

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Reference: professional-services · CDO · Continental Europe · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors