Key Details:

Location: Dublin, Limerick or Cork

Contract: Full-time, permanent

Salary: €105,041 – €133,335 (starting at the first point of the scale)

Closing date: Thursday 15 October 2026 at 3pm

Reports to: Director of Data, Insights and Economics

Failte Ireland_Head of Data Economics_Application Form.docx

Fáilte Ireland's Corporate Strategy 2026–2029 places data and evidence at the core of how the organisation plans, invests in and grows Irish tourism. To deliver this ambition, Fáilte Ireland has established a new Directorate — Data, Insights and Economic Services — bringing together six divisions responsible for data, insight and economic analysis across the organisation. Five of these divisions continue existing functions under revised remits; Data Economics is an entirely new division, created to lead the organisation's data strategy, standards and capability. 

This is a significant and rare opportunity: the successful candidate will establish Data Economics from the ground up, shaping its team, standards and culture, and defining how Fáilte Ireland's data underpins tourism policy, investment and enterprise decisions for years to come.

Role Purpose 

The Head of Data Economics is a senior leadership role, responsible for setting the strategic direction, standards and capability that put data at the centre of decision-making across Fáilte Ireland. The role leads the development and implementation of Fáilte Ireland's data strategy, establishing and leading the organisation's Tourism Data Office — the central hub that owns the standards, architecture, systems and tools that turn the organisation's data into a trusted foundation for tourism insight, policy and investment decisions. 

The directorates five other divisions generate deep domain data and analysis across their own areas of expertise. The Head of Data Economics owns the data strategy, standards and data integrity that connect this into a single, coherent evidence base, ensuring every division and stakeholder across the organisation can find, trust and act on it. 

Enabling every part of the organisation to access, interpret and act on evidence with confidence is a shared responsibility across the Directorate's leadership team; the Head of Data Economics leads this by providing the underlying data, standards and tools that make it possible for every division. 

Delivering this strategy draws on a range of analytical, technical and digital capability, including the application of AI to drive efficiency, insource analytical work that would otherwise be contracted externally, and build modern, self-service data tools. AI is one of several capabilities this role applies in service of the data strategy: the role's primary focus is data leadership across the organisation. 

In time the team will lead the establishment of a Tourism Futures Lab — Ireland's tourism equivalent of Bord Bia's Thinking House. Rather than a research project that sits on a shelf, it will be a living hub giving destinations, clients and policymakers direct access to global trends, foresight and scenario modelling that no single organisation could build or afford alone. Delivered in partnership with academia, EU initiatives and other research bodies, the Lab will let the whole tourism system see further ahead, test what's coming, and attract the private investment needed to act on it. 

Key Responsibilities:

Tourism Data Office (TDO) 

• Establish and lead a permanent Tourism Data Office within Fáilte Ireland as the organisation's central data hub, bringing tourism data together across Fáilte Ireland and partner organisations. 
• Own the standards for data quality, governance, ethics and release calendars that the TDO runs on, holding every division to a single, trusted way of working with data. 
• Build shared data capability across the tourism ecosystem, and develop clear, plain-English “explain the insight” narratives that make data and analysis usable by policymakers, destination teams, SMEs and non-specialist colleagues. 

Data Strategy & Standards Leadership 

• Lead the development and implementation of Fáilte Ireland's data strategy, setting the direction for how data is captured, governed, connected and used across the organisation. 
• Own data integrity across the organisation — the definitive authority on the data standards and quality that every division works to. 
• Lead the development and implementation of data standards and processes that give every division a common, trusted way of working with data. 
• Partner closely with the other five divisions and other data sources in the organisation — who own the deep domain data and analysis in their areas — so the strategy, standards and tools this role leads are built around what they actually need to turn their own data into decisions. 

Data Architecture & Centralisation 

• Design and lead the build of a secure, scalable core tourism data architecture that centralises data from across Fáilte Ireland and partner organisations into a single, shareable evidence base. 
• Apply the organisation's data standards and quality controls consistently across the architecture, reducing duplication and enabling a single shared evidence base for national, regional and enterprise-level decisions. 
• Ensure sensitive data is protected while enabling broad, role-appropriate access — the aim is more people across the organisation using the data, not fewer. 

Data Tools to Deliver the Strategy 

• Develop the data tools — dashboards, calculators, AI-assisted query tools — that deliver the data strategy in practice for both internal teams and external industry/SME stakeholders. 
• Build self-service products that put data and insight directly into stakeholders' hands, reducing reliance on bespoke, one-off analytical requests. 
• Continuously identify where recurring demand for data or analysis signals the need for a new self-service tool. 

Economic Impact, Modelling & Forecasting 

• Maintain and refresh tourism economic impact measurement tools and sharing mechanisms. 
• Develop analytical tools that showcase tourism's economic contribution, test policy and investment choices, and provide early warning signals on future performance. 
• Build economic modelling and forecasting frameworks that help the organisation understand how tourism value flows through the economy and what is likely to happen next. 

Applying AI to Strengthen Delivery 

• Apply AI to drive efficiency in day-to-day data management and analysis — data cleaning, reconciliation, reporting and routine modelling — and to insource analytical work currently contracted externally, delivering measurable budget savings. 
• Lead Fáilte Ireland's AI strategy and adoption roadmap as it relates to data and analysis, including chairing the internal AI Steering Group, so the organisation applies AI consistently and responsibly in support of the data strategy. 

Tourism Futures Lab 

• Develop and lead a Tourism Futures Lab in partnership with academia, EU initiatives and other research bodies. 
• Advance applied foresight, scenario modelling and long-term tourism system analysis. 
• Support advanced tourism investment modelling to attract and inform private investment. 
• Scan global trends and structural shifts affecting tourism demand, supply, investment and competitiveness. 

Resource Management 

• Establish, inspire, lead and develop the Data Economics team to deliver agreed objectives, fostering high performance, collaboration and accountability through effective coaching, mentoring and performance reviews in line with Fáilte Ireland policy. 

Governance & Reporting 

• Ensure strong governance across all Data Economics activity, complying with Fáilte Ireland policies on planning, procurement, budgets and reporting, with tight control of team expenditure within agreed budgets. 
• Act as an active member of the Leadership Team, providing timely status updates, insights and risk escalation to the Director and Executive colleagues, and systematically reviewing progress against plans and KPIs. 
• Provide strategic leadership and oversight across the Division, ensuring effective project and risk management, robust financial governance, compliance with State Aid requirements, and adherence to public spending obligations and public financial procedures. 

Skills and Competencies Required 

• A strong track record of leading the development and implementation of organisation-wide data strategy, including data governance and responsibility for setting the direction and requirements for data architecture. 
• Demonstrable experience of turning complex data and evidence into strategic insight and recommendations, with clear examples of their impact on organisational, policy or investment decisions. 
• Demonstrable experience of leading, commissioning or quality-assuring economic modelling, forecasting and applied economic analysis to inform strategic decision-making. 
• Strong knowledge of research design and advanced quantitative and qualitative methods, with experience of setting analytical direction and assuring the quality and relevance of research and analysis. 
• Demonstrable experience of establishing and maintaining organisational standards for data governance, ethics, integrity and quality assurance. 
• The ability to translate complex analysis into clear, plain-English implications and recommendations for non-specialist stakeholders, and to lead the development and implementation of tools that make insight accessible and actionable. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrable experience of advising and influencing Executive, policy and industry stakeholders. 
• Proven senior people-leadership experience, with the ability to establish, lead and develop a new multidisciplinary team and organisational function. 
• A practical understanding of AI and automation, with demonstrable experience of leading their responsible organisational adoption to strengthen data management, analysis and efficiency. 
• Strong attention to detail and analytical rigour. 

Relevant Fáilte Ireland Competencies 

• Strategic Thinking 
• Decision Making 
• Inspire and Engage 
• Embracing Innovation 

Annual Leave & Blended Working

Annual Leave: This role offers 29 days of annual leave per annum .

Blended Working

We do not ask for addresses as part of the application process, however it is the responsibility of the candidate to acknowledge the base location of the role. The successful candidate must regularly work from and attend the base office location of the role.

Please note: Remote working from outside the State is not permitted other than in exceptional circumstances. As this role is within the Irish public service, the post-holder must carry out a minimum of 80% of their working time within the State (Republic of Ireland). Candidates who reside in Northern Ireland must be able to meet this requirement.

Selection Process

Shortlisting will be based on applications and the selection process may involve two competency based interviews. A panel of successful candidates may be formed following the selection process.

Interview Attendance Requirement

Candidates must be available to attend an in-person interview at the location and date specified by Fáilte Ireland. Please note that the location of the interview may vary from the base location of the role.

Salary and Benefits

€105,041 - €133,335 *

*This role will be filled in line with Public Pay Policy at Point 1 of the relevant Salary Scale unless the successful candidate is appointed from an existing public sector role.

Further details on the benefits on offer can be found in the Why Work with Fáilte Ireland? | Fáilte Ireland · Failte Ireland

How to Apply

Conscia will be managing all aspects of the recruitment process on behalf of Fáilte Ireland On this page, you can click on and download the Application form.

Applications for this role are ONLY accepted on submission of a completed Application Form, available to download directly above. You can also submit your completed Application Form by clicking "Apply for Job". Please note that CVs and Cover Letters should not be submitted. No enquiries or canvassing may be made to Fáilte Ireland. 

The closing date for completed applications is Thursday, 15th October 2026 at 3pm (Irish time) .

Applications will not be accepted after this deadline. Late applications will be ineligible for consideration. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have allowed sufficient time for transmission of your application.

An acknowledgment email will be issued in respect of all applications received (this email will acknowledge receipt and it will not confirm eligibility or otherwise). If an applicant does not receive an acknowledgment email within two working days of the date of submission, the applicant should contact failte@consciatalent.com to ensure the application has been received.

Failte Ireland_Head of Data Economics_Application Form.docx