Data Career Coaching
The smartest person in the room isn't always the one who gets promoted.
I coach data professionals on the commercial, stakeholder and leadership skills that decide who gets listened to. Twenty-five years across Big 4, banking and fintech taught me exactly where this breaks down.
Selected mentor
One of four mentors on Mark Dexter's Data Talent Scout programme
Data Talent Scout places new hires into data roles paying £85k and above. I'm one of four mentors trusted to prepare candidates for that jump, which means the same coaching that helps someone move from Analyst to Manager is already being used to get people into senior roles from day one.
The real gap
You already know the SQL. The model. The dashboard.
What nobody taught you is how to get a room full of stakeholders to act on what you found. That isn't a technical skills gap. It's a coaching gap, and it's the reason technically brilliant people plateau at Analyst while less capable colleagues climb to Senior Manager and beyond. Commercial awareness, stakeholder influence, mental strength and leadership presence aren't personality traits you either have or don't. They're skills. I coach them the same way anyone coaches a skill: directly, practically, one person at a time.
How I help
Four things, coached properly
Commercial Awareness
Connect your analysis to what the business actually cares about, not just what the data shows.
Stakeholder Influence
Get buy-in in the room, not just agreement after the meeting has ended.
Mental Strength
Stop performance anxiety costing you the room before you've made your point.
Leadership Presence
Sound like the person already doing the next job up, before the promotion happens.
Why I do this
This isn't a career pivot. It's personal.
The first time I managed someone properly, I understood how much of their career and income sat in my hands. I took that seriously because I assumed I wouldn't be good at it. He stayed working for me for fifteen years, until we were both made redundant on the same day. He was never the most ambitious person on the team, and he didn't need to be. He grew steadily the whole time we worked together, learning from every conversation rather than chasing the next job title. Since we both left, he's told me he's inspired by what I'm doing now. Fifteen years is a long time to get something wrong. I'd like to think we mostly got it right.
Since then I've watched the same pattern repeat with dozens of technically excellent people. The moment they start asking what their work actually means for the business, not just whether it's correct, their trajectory changes. Watching that happen never gets boring or dull. It's the first time for that person, even if I've seen it ten or twenty times before.
There's a more personal reason too. Earlier in my career I worked for a manager I deeply respected and learned from constantly. I enjoyed that role enough that I would have done it without pay, if I could have afforded to. Later, I worked in a near-identical role for someone very different, a manager I couldn't communicate with. I stayed outwardly capable throughout, and inwardly I was in a dark place I didn't show anyone. I understood the cause well enough to know clinical support wasn't what I needed, so I found a mentor instead. Not everyone gets a manager worth learning from that way, and even the people who do can still benefit from someone whose only job is thinking about their growth, not the business's. That's most of the reason DataCareer.Coach exists.
Full disclosure
I don't just coach. I get coached.
Twenty-five years in corporate leadership didn't teach me how to build a coaching business. I recognised that gap early and did the thing I now ask clients to do: brought in outside help rather than guessing my way through it alone. These are some of the world class coaches I've worked with, who've influenced how I've built DataCareer.Coach.
Helped me strengthen my own self-confidence, the foundation everything else in this business sits on.
Helped me understand people more deeply, and refine the style, language and patterns that make coaching land.
Helped me develop the ability to sell, fair to say not a skill I was naturally strong at a couple of years ago.
Helped me understand and articulate value, and price my services at a fair point.
Helped me understand the importance of building both a personal brand and a business brand, and how the two need to work together.
See it in practice
Same data. Different room.
This is the exact shift I coach. The insight doesn't change. The way you put it in front of a stakeholder does.
Ready when you are
A straight conversation about where you're stuck, and whether I can help.
01 · Commercial Awareness
When it's missing, you build the perfect model nobody funds.
You can see the pattern in the data. What's missing is the line from that pattern to revenue, cost, or risk in language the business already uses. I work with you 1-2-1 on framing findings the way a P&L owner hears them, before you present anything.
02 · Stakeholder Influence
When it's missing, good ideas die quietly in someone else's inbox.
Being right isn't the same as being heard. I coach what happens before the meeting: who needs to hear it first, and how to ask for the decision directly instead of hoping it arrives.
03 · Mental Strength
When it's missing, the anxiety gets there before you do.
Plenty of technically excellent people go quiet under pressure, qualify every point with "it might be this" or "it could be that," or avoid the room entirely. This is coachable. I draw on behavioural science and 25 years watching senior rooms operate to build composure that holds under real scrutiny, not just in rehearsal.
04 · Leadership Presence
When it's missing, you get skipped for the job you're already doing.
Presence isn't volume. It's clarity, ownership, and the willingness to have a point of view. I coach this the same practical way: real scenarios from your actual work, rebuilt until the instinct is yours, not a script.
Multiple pay rises, totalling 40% over three years
"James goes above and beyond in his coaching and mentorship of more junior team members. I felt extremely comfortable being up-front, open, and honest, which fostered a great working relationship and enabled us to work more effectively as a team."
Brandon Kinson
Senior Business Intelligence (BI) Developer, Lloyds Banking Group · LinkedIn Recommendation
Turned an interview rejection into a promotion
"I am hugely grateful for James taking the time to take a personal interest in me, something that gave me confidence and encouragement at a point where I could be feeling a little flat… I have since been promoted to a new role."
Keith Holland
Data, Audit and Reconciliation Project Lead · LinkedIn Recommendation
Feedback that stuck, delivered by a calm, analytical mind
"James was my line manager for a period a few years ago. I found him to be really supportive, and challenged my thinking, offering honest feedback that stuck and was actionable. He has a calm, analytical approach to problems which would give the team a sense of confidence, and his investment in my development felt personal & not performative."
Paul Griffiths
Google Review · ★★★★★
Thinking more deeply, deciding faster
"James has been an exceptional mentor during one of the most important stages of my career. Whether he is helping me navigate a difficult situation or challenging me to see beyond the obvious, he consistently helps me think more deeply and act more decisively. I couldn't recommend him more highly!"
Mark de Kiewit
Lead Data Architect, Associate Director · Google Review · ★★★★★
Feedback that's actionable, not just kind
"He provides constructive feedback that is both encouraging and actionable. His dedication to mentoring and his genuine care make him an inspiring leader."
Xiaoxia Guo
Senior BI & Data Analyst · Google Review · ★★★★★
The mentor she keeps coming back to
"James is not just kind and understanding while providing his feedback but also upfront and honest, making him a truly go-to Mentor and Guide. I always look forward to his inspiring mentorship because there is so much to learn from him."
Kanchan Adabala
HR Systems & Data Analyst · LinkedIn Recommendation
Your outcome starts with a conversation.
Series
From Smart but Stuck to Trusted Advisor
An 8-week LinkedIn series on the exact skills that move you from doing the analysis to being trusted with the decision.
Press
AI will replace the top industry jobs
Featured in MSN and Business Cheshire on what AI actually changes for data careers, and what it doesn't.
Podcast
Data Talent Scout, with Mark Dexter
My episode is live. Listen to the full conversation on Spotify.
Prefer a conversation to more reading?
Book a Career Check-In
A Career Check-In isn't a sales call. It's a straight conversation about where you're stuck, and whether I can help.
Thirty minutes. No slides, no pitch. Just a clear read on your situation and, if it's useful, what I'd do next.
Tell me where you're stuck
The room you're not getting into, the promotion that's stalled, the influence you're missing.
I'll tell you what I actually think
What I think is actually going on, based on 25 years on both sides of this exact table.
You decide the next step
No pressure. If it makes sense for me to coach you, I'll say so. If it doesn't, I'll say that too.
Before you book
Questions people ask before their Career Check-In
Most people don't learn to drive without an instructor. Not because they couldn't work it out alone eventually, but because a professional gets you there faster and helps you avoid picking up habits that take just as long to unlearn later. Career progression works the same way. You can work out commercial awareness and stakeholder influence through years of trial and error, most people do. A coach just compresses that timeline, and stops you learning the wrong lessons from the wrong experiences along the way.
Coaching. I work with you on how you communicate, influence and lead, not on unpacking your past. If something comes up that needs a different kind of support, I'll say so directly.
People get overlooked for the same handful of reasons wherever they work. I've watched that pattern from inside Big 4 consulting, banking and fintech, and it repeats. Not knowing your organisation is an advantage, not a gap: I have no internal politics to protect and no vested interest in the answer, so you get an honest read rather than a diplomatic one. And picking up a new organisation fast is its own skill. At KPMG I learned to walk into unfamiliar businesses and ask the right questions within days. As Deputy Chair of Governors I did the same in education, a sector I'd never worked in, and still got to the right questions quickly. That's exactly what I do with yours.
No. Most people book a Career Check-In before they've worked out what's actually stuck, not after. That's usually the first thing I help you figure out.
No. I work with Data Analysts through to experienced professionals, and as one of four mentors on Mark Dexter's Data Talent Scout programme, I also prepare candidates stepping into new roles paying £85k and above. The skills matter earlier than most people expect, and they compound the sooner you build them.
The Check-In itself won't. It's an independent, honest and objective assessment of where you stand. If it makes sense for me to coach you afterwards, I'll arrange a separate session to walk through what that looks like, and you decide, with no pressure attached. There are a few different ways I can support you depending on your budget, how personalised you want the support to be, and how quickly you're looking to see results.
That's normal, and it's exactly what the call is for. Bring the frustration even if you can't yet name the cause. Naming it accurately is usually most of the work.
Your manager has a stake in how you perform for them. I don't. That gives you a more honest read, and 25 years on both sides of the table to back it up.
1. Introduction
Roodee Coaching & Consulting ("we," "us," "our"), trading as DataCareer.Coach, is committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our services.
We are registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number 00014057270. Our registered contact for data matters is James Matthews, reachable at [email protected].
2. The Information We Collect
We collect the following personal information when you sign up for or engage with our services:
- Name
- Email address
- Phone number
- Responses to any surveys or intake forms you complete, which enable us to provide tailored support
We do not collect sensitive personal data such as dates of birth, home addresses, or financial details directly. Where payment is taken, this is handled entirely by Stripe, Inc., whose own privacy policy applies to that transaction.
3. Lawful Basis for Processing
We process your personal data on the following legal bases under UK GDPR (and equivalent international frameworks):
- Contract performance — to deliver the services you have signed up for
- Legitimate interests — to improve our services and communicate with you about relevant developments
- Consent — for marketing communications, which you may withdraw at any time
4. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Deliver and administer the coaching and mentoring services you have engaged with
- Communicate with you about your membership, sessions, and related matters
- Send you marketing communications where you have consented, or where we have a legitimate interest in doing so
- Understand which channels are driving engagement with our services (for example, through unique tracking tags in URLs)
- Improve the quality and relevance of what we offer
5. Third-Party Service Providers
We use a small number of trusted third-party platforms to operate our services. Each acts as a data processor on our behalf and is bound by their own privacy and security obligations:
- MyInstantBusiness (myinstantbusiness.com) — our CRM system, used to manage client relationships and communications
- Stripe, Inc. — payment processing
- Skool — community platform hosting; users are additionally subject to Skool's own terms and privacy policy upon joining
We do not sell or rent your personal information to any third party, under any circumstances.
6. Cookies and Tracking
We do not operate independent cookie tracking on our services. Where cookies or tracking technologies are used by the third-party platforms listed above (including Skool and Stripe), these are governed by their respective privacy policies. We may use unique URL parameters to understand which channels are driving traffic to our services; this does not involve the collection of additional personal data.
7. Data Retention
We retain your personal data for as long as you remain an active client or community member, and for a period of three years thereafter, unless you request earlier deletion or a longer retention period is required by law.
8. Your Rights
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- The right to access the personal information we hold about you
- The right to request correction of inaccurate information
- The right to request deletion of your personal information
- The right to withdraw consent for marketing communications at any time
- The right to data portability
- The right to lodge a complaint with your relevant supervisory authority
UK and EU residents (including residents of the Republic of Ireland) have rights under UK GDPR and EU GDPR respectively, including the right to lodge a complaint with their relevant supervisory authority. UK residents may contact the ICO at ico.org.uk; Irish and other EU residents may contact their national Data Protection Authority — in Ireland, this is the Data Protection Commission at dataprotection.ie.
California residents have additional rights under the CCPA, including the right to know what data is collected and to opt out of its sale (we do not sell data).
Australian and New Zealand residents have rights under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 respectively, and may direct complaints to the relevant national commissioner.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us directly using the details below.
9. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. No method of transmission over the internet is entirely without risk, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal obligations. We will notify you of material changes by email or by posting the updated policy on our website. Continued use of our services following notification constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.
11. Contact
For any questions, requests, or concerns regarding this policy or your personal data:
Roodee Coaching & Consulting t/a DataCareer.Coach
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 7897 033449