Burning Studios

What We Build

Data leadership and hands-on craft. Strategy and implementation from the same team.

Fractional CDO

Strategic data leadership for organizations that need an executive voice setting direction — without the full-time C-suite commitment. We help define data strategy, build governance, align initiatives to business outcomes, and make sure the organization develops the muscle to sustain it all. This isn't advice from the sidelines. We embed with your leadership team, roll up our sleeves, and do the work — from setting the roadmap to coaching the people who'll own it after we're gone.

Key Deliverables

  • Data strategy and multi-year roadmap tied to business objectives
  • Governance framework design and rollout
  • Data maturity assessment and gap analysis
  • Board-level and executive communications
  • Team hiring, org design, and mentorship
  • Vendor evaluation and platform decisions

Ideal For

Companies without a CDO or VP of Data who need direction now. Organizations where data investment isn't translating to impact. Leadership teams gearing up for AI/ML that need the data foundation first. Companies navigating compliance, security, or regulatory complexity.

Engagement Model

Monthly retainer (10-20 hours/month)

Data Culture

The hardest part of becoming data-driven isn't building the platform. It's changing how people make decisions. We help organizations move from "we have data" to "we actually use it" — by building the habits, trust, and shared practices that make evidence-based thinking the default at every level. This is organizational craft — not a training program. We assess how decisions really get made, design stewardship models that distribute data ownership, and build literacy programs that meet people where they are. The goal is a culture where reaching for data feels natural, not mandated.

Key Deliverables

  • Data maturity assessment (stakeholder interviews + benchmarking)
  • Data literacy program design and rollout
  • Stewardship network creation (distributed ownership)
  • Decision frameworks (when to use data, what "good enough" looks like)
  • Adoption metrics and cultural KPIs
  • Executive coaching on data-informed leadership

Ideal For

Organizations that invested in tools but aren't seeing adoption. Teams frustrated by "we have the data but nobody trusts it." Companies where gut feel still drives most decisions. Organizations preparing for self-service analytics rollouts.

Engagement Model

Project-based (3-6 months typical)

Data Platforms

Modern data architecture built for the whole organization, not just the data team. We design and build on Databricks, Azure, and cloud-native technologies — pipelines, catalogs, quality monitoring, and self-service access layers that put trusted data in the hands of every decision maker. We've led enterprise transformations that cut time-to-insight by 60% and reduced costs by 40%. That experience means we build right-sized architectures — sophisticated where it matters, pragmatic everywhere else.

Key Deliverables

  • Data architecture design and documentation
  • Databricks/Azure lakehouse implementation
  • ETL/ELT pipeline development and orchestration
  • Data catalog and lineage setup
  • Self-service analytics layer design
  • Cost optimization and performance tuning
  • Knowledge transfer and team enablement

Ideal For

Organizations modernizing legacy data warehouses. Companies scaling past spreadsheets and ad-hoc SQL. Teams building their first enterprise data platform. Organizations needing independent architecture review.

Engagement Model

Project-based (8-16 weeks typical)

Governance & Quality

Governance that people actually follow — because it's woven into how they already work, not imposed as a separate bureaucracy. We design ownership models, quality standards, and security practices that make trusted data the norm rather than the exception. Data quality isn't a technical problem. It's a shared practice. We build the accountability structures, monitoring, and cultural expectations that make "who owns this data?" a question with a clear answer everywhere in the organization.

Key Deliverables

  • Governance framework and policy documentation
  • Data quality metrics, monitoring, and alerting
  • Ownership and stewardship model design
  • Security and access control architecture
  • Compliance mapping (GDPR, CCPA, industry-specific)
  • Quality remediation roadmap
  • Tool selection and implementation

Ideal For

Organizations with trust issues ("nobody believes the numbers"). Companies facing regulatory or compliance requirements. Teams with no formal data ownership or quality standards. Organizations preparing for audits or due diligence.

Engagement Model

Fixed-scope engagement (4-8 weeks) or ongoing retainer

Not Sure Where to Start?

Most organizations need a mix. We usually start with a data maturity conversation — a focused look at where you are, where the gaps are, and what to build first. No pitch, just a clear-eyed diagnostic.

Schedule a Conversation