Hiring Framework

A 3-Stage Data Maturity Model

Use this to determine which role to hire first, and when to add the other.

Stage 1

Data Chaos

Spreadsheets, siloes, manual exports

No single source of truth. Data is fragmented across CRM, ERP, web analytics, and payment systems that do not communicate with each other.

Hire: Data Engineer first
Stage 2

Data Foundation

Basic warehouse, some pipelines, a BI tool

Data is usable but not always trusted. Analysts still spend significant time wrangling files rather than generating insight.

Hire: Data Engineer to consolidate
Stage 3

Data Intelligence

Governed, self-serve, ready for prediction

Questions shift from "what happened?" to "what will happen?" The business is ready to extract forward-looking value from its data.

Hire: Data Scientist now
Typical time to visible ROI
Data Engineer
3–6 months
Data Scientist
6–12 months