Executive deputy · CTO, CIO, COO, CDO, CISO

Senior executive capacity,
installed where
decisions are made.

Data Doers seconds your CTO, CIO, COO, CDO or CISO with an executive who has held the seat, or holds it while it is vacant. The mandate is explicit: set the course, arbitrate, deliver, and hand over to an autonomous team.

Speak with a partner Review the offering
Partners who have held equivalent executive roles Regulated industries: insurance, banking, financial services No leverage pyramid behind the name
The diagnosis

Executive committees rarely lack strategy. They lack execution capacity.

Three transformations, two live issues and a board to prepare: the executive carries the load alone. Advisors deliver decks. Programme managers wait for a decision. Nobody arbitrates.

The conventional engagement

Another report

  • A 120 page diagnostic, presented a quarter after the brief
  • A leveraged team of analysts behind a partner who is elsewhere
  • Recommendations that nobody holds the mandate to enforce
  • A programme that keeps slipping for the duration of the engagement
The Data Doers model

An executive who decides

  • A seasoned executive who sits in governance, arbitrates and is accountable to the executive committee
  • A first assessment at day 5, an unvarnished diagnostic at day 30
  • A short list of initiatives, each with a named owner and a date
  • An exit designed into the engagement letter, with a full handover file
The offering

Three products. One binding instrument: the engagement letter.

Each product has a written scope, defined deliverables and a planned exit. Nothing is committed before the situation is understood, and everything produced remains the property of your organisation.

Product 01Seat held

Deputy

The executive counterpart to the incumbent, seated in governance, who drives the transformation while the incumbent runs the business.

For a CTO, CIO, COO, CDO or CISO in post whose constraint is not vision but executive bandwidth. The deputy frames and carries the arbitrations, unblocks, recruits, renegotiates and aligns the executive committee.

CTO · CIOCOOCDOCISO
Discuss a Deputy mandate
  • What stays with you
  • Day 5 first assessment and day 30 360° diagnostic
  • 100 day plan ratified by the executive committee, owners named
  • Weekly commitment review, without embellishment
  • Full handover file at exit
Product 02Seat vacant

Executive Interim

The seat is vacant. The deputy holds it, with the delegation that comes with it, until the successor is in place.

Resignation, leave, dismissal, merger: the organisation expects a signal within the first week and the search will take months. The deputy holds the function, sits on the executive committee, then onboards the successor in tandem.

CTO · CIOCOOCDOCISO
Discuss an Executive Interim mandate
  • What stays with you
  • Protective decisions from day 0, governance maintained
  • Target trajectory and budget arbitrated with the executive committee
  • Successor profile defined, tandem handover
  • Documented rituals, autonomous team at exit
Product 03Fixed scope

Plan 100

A rapid diagnostic, then an arbitrated and costed plan presented to the executive committee: recruit, restructure, relaunch or stop.

The right entry point when the situation is not yet legible. Within 100 days the transformation has an owner, a course and a team able to hold it. The engagement then converts to Deputy or Executive Interim with the same partner.

TechnologyData · AIOperationsCyber
Discuss a Plan 100
  • What stays with you
  • 360° diagnostic presented to the executive committee
  • Scored initiative portfolio, prioritised debt register
  • 100 day plan: priorities, budget, organisation
  • Governance installed: committees, rituals, reporting
OptionAhead of decisions

Board Sparring

An operator's perspective for the chief executive, the board or the audit committee, before open questions become open issues.

Sessions on technology, data, AI and cyber: preparing difficult decisions, challenging a trajectory, asking the questions that matter. Compatible with each of the three products.

BoardAudit committeeChief executive
Discuss a sparring mandate
  • What stays with you
  • Session notes and written opinions on decisions
  • Question grid and indicators for the board
  • Trajectory review and written recommendations

We take the seat. We arbitrate. We hand over. Your organisation keeps everything. We leave.

The mandates

Five executive functions. A written mandate for each.

The deputy does not come to extend the status quo. An unvarnished diagnostic, a disciplined stop of what no longer serves, and decisions owned in front of the executive committee. Disruptive on method, strategic on direction, respectful of teams.

CTO · CIO

Technology and information systems

Regain control of a platform, a project portfolio and a technical debt that constrain the business. Arbitrate build versus buy, secure production, rationalise contracts, realign architecture with business priorities.

Target architectureScored portfolioDebt registerRun / build plan
COO

Operations

Convert daily firefighting into a legible operating model: processes, service levels, vendors, nearshore. Fewer heroes, more mechanics.

Target operating modelRACI matrixSourcing planOperations cockpit
CDO

Data and AI

Make data a governed asset and AI a measured lever: quality, catalogue, lineage, use cases, regulatory framework. Move from proof of concept to run without creating compliance debt.

Data and AI charterQuality controlsAI use case registerPlatform roadmap
CISO

Cyber and resilience

Give the executive committee a clear reading of cyber risk and a fundable resilience plan: governance, DORA and NIS2 requirements, security of AI usage, crisis readiness.

Risk mapRemediation planCrisis playbookCyber dashboard
BOARD

Board and audit committee

An operator's perspective to prepare difficult decisions, challenge a technology, data or AI trajectory, and track open risks with the right indicators.

Session notesSteering gridTrajectory reviewWritten opinions
When to engage us

Rarely at the right moment. Almost always under pressure.

If one of these situations describes yours, the first conversation is confidential and carries no obligation.

Executive at capacity

The CTO or COO carries three transformations, two live issues and the committee alone. The missing element is an executive counterpart who delivers.

Product 01 · Deputy Sudden departure

Resignation, leave, dismissal. The organisation expects a signal within the first week; the search will take months.

Product 02 · Executive Interim Programme off track

Budget consumed, milestones slipping, sponsors absent from steering committees. The need is an arbiter, not another report.

Product 03 · Plan 100 AI pivot

The executive committee expects use cases in production; data, governance and teams are not yet there. The need is a course and a framework.

Product 01 · Deputy CDO Regulator, audit, incident

Supervisory letter, DORA, NIS2, AI Act, an incident to explain to the board: resilience becomes an executive programme.

Product 01 · Deputy CISO Operating model to redesign

Tribes, squads, centre of excellence, nearshore: the target model exists on a slide, not yet in practice nor in budgets.

Product 03 · Plan 100
How the engagement runs

Five phases, five written deliverables, in 100 days.

Each phase closes with a document shared with the sponsor and the executive committee. By day 100 the transformation has an owner, a course and a team able to hold it.

  1. Day 0 → 501

    Taking the seat

    Individual interviews, access, first protective decisions. The deputy is introduced; the cadence of governance is set.

    First assessment
  2. Day 5 → 3002

    Diagnostic

    Facts, budgets, contracts, commitments, risks. An unvarnished reading, shared first with the executive being seconded.

    360° diagnostic
  3. Day 30 → 4503

    Arbitration

    Priorities, budget, organisation. Initiatives are stopped. A short list remains, each with a named owner and a date.

    100 day plan
  4. Day 45 → 9004

    Execution

    Running the committees, unblocking, recruiting, renegotiating, aligning the executive committee. The plan is measured weekly.

    Weekly review
  5. Day 90 → 10005

    Handover

    Team or successor coached in tandem, rituals documented, a clean exit announced from day one.

    Handover file
The film

Thirty seconds. Not one frame too many.

The Data Doers position in kinetic typography, rendered live in your browser.

Data Doers · 00:30
00:00 / 00:30
Questions

The questions we are asked first.

If yours is not here, a partner answers it directly.

Ask a partner

What is a deputy, concretely?
A seasoned executive who becomes the executive counterpart of a CTO, CIO, COO, CDO or CISO. He or she seconds the incumbent or holds the seat if vacant, drives the transformation, frames and carries the arbitrations, and is accountable to the executive committee. Neither an advisor who delivers a report, nor a programme manager.
Why describe the deputy as disruptive?
Because the deputy does not come to extend the status quo. An unvarnished diagnostic, a disciplined stop of what no longer serves, rapid arbitration and unpopular decisions owned in front of the executive committee. Disruptive on method, strategic on direction, respectful of teams.
Deputy or Executive Interim: what is the difference?
The Deputy works alongside an incumbent executive, seated in governance. The Executive Interim holds a vacant seat, with the delegation that comes with it. Plan 100 often settles the choice. The precise frame is set in the engagement letter, never before.
Who actually delivers the mandate?
A partner who has personally held equivalent executive roles. Where the mandate requires it, a small cell is mobilised: PMO, data analyst, cyber expert. There is no leverage pyramid behind the name.
Do you operate in regulated industries?
Yes, it is our natural terrain: insurance, banking, financial services. Solvency II, DORA, NIS2 and AI Act constraints are embedded in the diagnostic, not discovered at the end of the programme.
How is the exit managed?
It is designed into the engagement letter. We help define the successor profile or develop the team in place, work in tandem, then deliver a complete handover file.
How is a mandate framed?
Through a written engagement letter: function seconded, scope, expected arbitrations, deliverables and planned exit. Nothing is promised before the situation is understood. A non disclosure agreement can be signed ahead of any detailed exchange.
What happens after the first conversation?
A partner calls you back within 48 business hours for a confidential conversation. Where the situation warrants it, a written engagement letter is proposed. You are committed only once you sign it.
Speak with a partner

Describe the situation. A partner replies.

By email or WhatsApp. A reply within 48 business hours, a confidential conversation, and a written engagement letter before any commitment.

Email

Write to a partner

hello@datadoers.consultingDescribe the situation in a few lines. A partner replies personally.
WhatsApp

Message us on WhatsApp

Direct message, prompt reply, confidential exchange.
  • A partner replies within 48 business hours. No sales automation.
  • A non disclosure agreement can precede any detailed exchange.
  • No commitment before a written and signed engagement letter.