Rowan Barnes | Technical Data Specialist

About me

I help digital businesses turn raw data into reliable, scalable analytics platforms. Specialising in the full analytics stack — collection, modelling, experimentation, and reporting — I build systems that teams can trust and act on.

Currently leading the Analytical Engineering function at On the Beach, where I own the dimensional model, semantic layer, and core analytics datasets underpinning product and commercial decision-making.

Whether it's architecting a company's first experimentation platform, migrating legacy BI to a modern cloud stack, or improving data quality through robust tracking design, I thrive at the intersection of engineering rigour and analytical thinking.

Analytics Engineering Product Analytics A/B Experimentation Data Modelling Event Tracking GCP / BigQuery dbt / Dataform Team Leadership

Recent Highlights

Built a User Identity Map stitching anonymous sessions into a single canonical user ID, significantly improving end-to-end data quality
Created a real-time predictive performance dashboard that reduced analyst support time by ~100%
Designed and built the company experimentation platform, cutting experiment setup time by ~90%
Led migrations from Universal Analytics to GA4 and from client-side to server-side tracking
Architecting the modern dimensional model replacing legacy SQL Server / Power BI

Experience

On the Beach

Manchester, UK

2022 – Present

Analytical Engineering Manager

Dec 2025 – Present

Established and leads the Analytical Engineering function. Architecting the analytics data model and semantic layer underpinning product analytics and experimentation. Managing and mentoring a growing team, developing standards for data modelling, governance, and engineering best practices.

Senior Product Analyst

Jul 2022 – Dec 2025

Built the end-to-end product analytics platform in GCP — collection, modelling, experimentation, and reporting. Owned analytics for the holiday booking journey across multiple product teams, delivering dashboards, experimentation reporting, and product insights used by product, engineering, and commercial teams.

August

Melbourne & Manchester

2013 – 2022

Head of Insights / UK General Manager

Jun 2017 – Jun 2022

Led overall management of the UK office alongside analytics and insights responsibilities. Built and ran the analytics practice covering tag management, reporting, and data strategy for agency clients. Team of 3.

Head of Insights

Sept 2015 – Jun 2017

Built August's analytics and insights services from the ground up — analytics processes, tag management, client reporting, training, and sales. 2 direct reports.

SEO & Analytics Manager

Sept 2013 – Sept 2015

Established and grew the company's SEO and analytics offering. Managed campaigns and a team of 2–5.

ROI.com.au

Melbourne, Australia

2009 – 2013

Chief Solutions Architect

Oct 2012 – Jun 2013

Oversaw client strategy and performance company-wide. Designed and implemented strategies for enterprise clients; monitored industry updates and researched new tools.

SEO Manager

Jan 2011 – Sept 2012

Managed the company's largest team of 16 employees across 500 clients, driving SEO performance, client retention, and revenue growth.

CPS Flexible Ltd.

Leicester, UK

2004 – 2008

Technical Manager & Key Account Executive

2004 – 2008

Led pricing estimation for bespoke products and had complete ownership of IT systems. Built the company website and managed 40 customer accounts.