professional quants, please confirm!

"I have been asked to look into sourcing data......." ".....I believe that this is more a ploy to get me to source data!" lol

Doesn't sound too promising for your career goals IMO...

Ken, initially it does come across as being a backward step, but there could be mitigating factors. Can you add a bit more context? What type of company is it, where does your current team sit relative to the money, vs where the data team sits. How important is the head of the data team vs the head of your current team, how stable is the company, how political is it, that sort of thing. These are all factors to consider. If you're in a company where it's stable and it's a rite of passage for everyone to do that job, then you have little to lose. If there's any chance that you could end up being stuck, or sidelined from your ultimate goal, then you can politely decline, but you'd also have to look at your prospects if the company is rigid about what they want people to do. I think depending on where you end up, having strong data skills is not a bad thing at all, eg for hedge fund roles where you are required to be an all rounder, but you have to strive to align it to your goals. Another possibility is using it as an opportunity to negotiate for more training and sponsorship. You could ask that they sponsor you to do a part-time masters or CQF (and make sure to have it in writing by email in no unclear terms, not as a vague, spoken promise). Their response will give you the clearest indication of whether or not this has the long term potential to evolve into what you want.

I am being told that the above role would be beneficial for my career for becoming more quantitative.Who is telling you this ?I find it very unlikely, and you are absolutely right to not believe it.Actually, not only do I think that this is not part of any useful quant career progression, I don't see it as good for any sort of career.nyasha is right that it might be better than it looks.However, a factor to include in your analysis is that the person who told you it's a good career move is probably a cynical liar, not good if its your future boss....unless...If your current job is really shit such as local government, data entry, office cleaning or working for the FSA, then it might be worth looking at.