About
Who is behind Semantic
A boutique data consultancy: senior expertise you speak to directly, with the execution capacity of a dedicated team behind it.
Pierre Sarkis
Founder & Principal
Pierre spent his career in data at Amazon, working across the US and Europe at the kind of scale where unreliable data is not an inconvenience but an operational risk. He founded Semantic to bring that standard to companies that want to be genuinely data-driven without hiring an army to get there.
A graduate of HEC Paris, he combines a technical data background with business management training. That mix shapes how Semantic works: technical decisions are made in business terms, and business decisions are made with data that holds up.
Since founding Semantic he has worked with data teams at companies including Pernod Ricard and Back Market, across Europe, the US and the Middle East. He is the counterpart on every engagement, and the person you speak to first.
- Previously
- Educated at
Why Semantic
A third option
Companies rarely have a data problem in the abstract. They have a specific, expensive one: a number two teams calculate differently, a pipeline nobody trusts before a board meeting, an AI initiative stalled because the data underneath it will not hold weight.
Large consulting organisations bring real capacity and a wide bench, but the senior person who scoped the work is not usually the one doing it. Freelance marketplaces bring capable individuals, but no structure behind them and no cover when one moves on. Both models work for some problems.
Semantic exists for the problems in between: complex enough to need real senior judgement, and substantial enough to need a team that can execute. The person who understands your problem is the person accountable for solving it, and there is a dedicated team behind them with the capacity to deliver it properly.
- Senior-led. The people who scope the work are involved in doing it.
- Embedded, not adjacent. We work in your tools, your stack and your rituals.
- A counterpart who challenges you, including when the answer is that you do not need us.
- Accountable for the outcome, with regular service reviews and continuity we own rather than pass to you.
The Team
A curated team, assembled around the problem
Semantic works with a vetted team of data specialists rather than a bench to be filled. Who joins an engagement depends on what the diagnosis found, and the specialists work alongside a senior lead rather than being handed the problem.
Data product
Framing the problem, defining the outcome, and keeping delivery pointed at it.
Analytics
Metric definitions, semantic layers, experimentation and the reporting people actually use.
Data engineering
Pipelines, modelling and platform work in the client stack.
Data quality
Testing, monitoring, reconciliation and incident response.
Data management
Ownership, glossaries, master data, lineage and access.
Working with us as a specialist
We take on experienced data professionals and exceptional earlier-career specialists, always paired with a senior lead.
Join the team