Fractional data leadership · St. Louis & remote

Senior data leadership, without the full‑time hire.

I help growing companies turn scattered, untrusted data into governed, automated reporting their leaders actually use — from strategy and governance to dashboards and the pipelines behind them.

Book a free 30-min consult See services

15+ years leading data functions across the US, Europe, Latin America and India

Where I've led data work
  • Centene ~10 yrs
  • Bayer contract
  • Wellpath contract
  • Citigroup
  • Global specialty manufacturer current
Sound familiar?

Your data should be an asset. Right now it's a part-time job.

Most growing companies don't need a full-time data executive yet. They do need someone senior to fix what's slowing them down.

Reports built by hand

Someone loses hours every week copying data between systems to produce the same report.

Numbers nobody trusts

Finance, sales and operations each bring a different number to the same meeting.

Data scattered everywhere

ERP, CRM and spreadsheets that don't talk to each other, with no clear owner for any of it.

No data roadmap

Tools get bought and dashboards get built, but nothing ties them to what the business needs.

Services

Clear scope. Senior expertise. Results you own.

Start with an ongoing retainer or a fixed-price project. Every engagement ends with documented work your team can run without me.

Monthly retainer

Fractional Head of Data

An experienced data executive on your leadership team for a few hours a week. I set the strategy, stand up governance, guide your analysts and vendors, and make sure leadership gets numbers it can act on.

Talk about a retainer
  • Data strategy and priorities tied to business goals
  • Data governance: ownership, definitions, quality, access
  • Guidance for your analysts, engineers and BI vendors
  • Executive KPI reporting and leadership-team advising
  • Tool and vendor selection, contracts and cost review
  • Monthly roadmap check-ins and progress reporting
Fixed price

Data Governance Assessment

A structured review of how your data is owned, defined, secured and trusted, with a clear plan to fix it.

  • Current-state review and maturity scorecard
  • Data ownership, quality and compliance gaps
  • Prioritized 90-day roadmap
  • Readout with your leadership team
Scope an assessment
Fixed price

BI & Dashboard Builds

Executive and operational dashboards in Power BI, Tableau or DOMO, built on a clean data model that refreshes itself.

  • KPI definitions agreed up front
  • Data model and automated refresh
  • Custom reporting for your goals
  • Training and handoff docs
Plan a dashboard
Fixed price

ETL & Automation Cleanup

Replace fragile, manual data processes with reliable, monitored pipelines, and give your team its time back.

  • Audit of manual and breaking processes
  • ETL pipeline setup or rebuild
  • Data validation and cleansing
  • Monitoring so issues surface early
Automate a process
Fixed price

Data Strategy & Roadmap

A practical 12-month plan for your data: what to fix first, what platform fits your scale, and what it will take to get there.

  • Business goals mapped to data needs
  • Data warehouse and platform recommendations (Snowflake, Azure, AWS, BigQuery)
  • Phased roadmap with budget and staffing options
Build your roadmap
How we work

Simple from the first call

  • Free 30-minute consult to understand your goals and whether I'm the right fit
  • A written proposal with a fixed price or monthly retainer, so there are no surprises
  • Delivery and handoff: documented, tested work your team owns
Start with a free call
Results

Proven at enterprise scale

Results from my leadership roles in healthcare, agriculture and global manufacturing. The same playbook, sized for your business.

$12.6Min cost savings from an enterprise data strategy that automated manual processesHealthcare
280Khours of manual work automatedHealthcare
$5Mgross margin growth driven by KPI dashboards for global product linesGlobal manufacturing
20%better forecast accuracy after a new SQL Server and Azure data platformGlobal manufacturing
35%more data accessibility for global teams through a governance frameworkAgriculture
40+U.S. health plans brought under centralized data governanceHealthcare
25%lower reporting latency after implementing warehouse governanceHealthcare
20+states covered by Medicare and ACA regulatory reporting I ledHealthcare

Figures come from Nicholas's employed and contract leadership roles, not from Clearbit Analytics client engagements.

Nicholas Johnson, founder of Clearbit Analytics
Nicholas Johnson Founder, Clearbit Analytics LLC
St. Louis area, Missouri
Connect on LinkedIn
Partners LandShark Consulting Group
About

Hi, I'm Nicholas. I make data dependable.

I've spent 15+ years building and leading data functions, from hands-on ETL development to running global data governance and analytics for a multinational manufacturer.

Today I'm Head of Data at a global specialty chemicals manufacturer, leading data governance and analytics across the U.S., Mexico, France, Germany, the Netherlands, India and more. I lead a small team and advise a 10-member executive leadership team on how data should drive the business. Before that, I spent about ten years at Centene, growing from data analyst to Senior Manager of Data Analytics & Reporting, where the enterprise data strategy I directed automated roughly 280,000 hours of manual work.

I started Clearbit Analytics in 2025 to bring that same enterprise-grade discipline to companies that need senior data leadership without hiring a full-time executive. You work with me directly, not a junior team.

15+ yrsdata leadership experience
6+countries supported in my current role
10executives advised on data

Experience

  1. 2024 – Present

    Global Director, Data Governance & Analytics

    Global specialty chemicals manufacturer. Enterprise governance (Informatica), SQL Server/Azure platform integrated with SAP and Salesforce, DOMO and Power BI dashboards.

  2. 2023 – 2024 · Contract

    Senior Manager, Data Architecture & ETL — Bayer

    Informatica governance framework for teams in North America, Europe and Asia; cloud ETL on AWS, Azure and Snowflake feeding Tableau and Power BI.

  3. 2022 – 2023 · Contract

    Senior Data Analyst / ETL Developer — Wellpath

    Collibra-based governance for 40+ U.S. health plans; Snowflake and Azure pipelines for Power BI, DOMO and Salesforce reporting.

  4. 2012 – 2022

    Data Analyst → Senior Manager, Data Analytics & Reporting — Centene

    Built a centralized data warehouse with Informatica ETL, led Medicare and ACA regulatory reporting across 20+ states, and directed the automation strategy behind $12.6M in savings.

  5. 2011 – 2012

    Reporting & Data Analyst — Citigroup

    Designed specialized databases and a reporting data mart.

Power BITableauDOMOSnowflakeAzureAWSGoogle BigQuerySQL ServerTeradataInformaticaCollibraSSIS / SSRSSAPSalesforceR
Get started

Let's talk about your data

Book a free 30-minute consultation or send a note. Either way, you'll hear from me directly.

Free 30-minute consultation

We'll talk through your goals, whether that's governance, dashboards, automation or warehousing, and figure out the best path forward. No pitch deck, no obligation.

  • Your current data setup and pain points
  • Where quick wins and bigger opportunities are
  • Whether a retainer or fixed-price project fits
Book a free consult

Draft note: booking calendar appears here once your Cal.com username is added in assets/js/main.js (CAL_LINK). Until then, this button scrolls to the contact form.

Send a message

[email protected] (636) 389-3900
I'll only use your details to reply.