Director, Data Engineering

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
 

Pay Range: $185,500.00 - $333,900.00

Job Description

Job Profile Summary

The Director, Data Engineering will provide technical leadership, vision, direction, and mentoring for the software engineering team.  This individual will manage multiple teams which design, develop, and support data solutions to meet business requirements.  The Director, Data Engineering will deliver product and feature roadmaps and provide overall leadership and day-to-day management for a team of data engineering professionals. This role is crucial for enabling data driven decision making across the organization and ensuring the integrity and availability of our data assets. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in data management, cloud technologies, and team leadership.

Primary Responsibilities

• Meets business needs by managing the activities of data engineers consistently delivering quality solutions on-time, within budget, and scope.

•  Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define data requirements, establish data governance, and ensure data quality.

• Oversee the development of best practices for data engineering, including code reviews, testing and documentation.

• Evaluate and implement new data technologies and tools to improve data processing and analytical capabilities.

• Monitor system performance and data pipeline efficiency, identifying and addressing bottlenecks.

• Oversee the design and implementation of robust, scalable data pipelines and architectures to support data integration, storage and analysis.

• Ensure compliance with data privacy and security regulations, implementing measures to protect sensitive information.

• Drive strategic initiatves to leverage data as a key asset for business growth and innovation.Develops project plans, resource planning, scheduling, and managing development timelines.

• Builds and manages multi-disciplined data teams and oversees the development processes using industry best practices.

• Manages multiple tasks and responsibilities in high-pressure environments; excelling at pinpointing and resolving problems in early project stages to avoid cost/time expenses.

• Provides oversight and management of department expenses and budget planning.

• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities.  The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice.

Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Proficiency in data warehousing solutions, datalakes, ETL processes, and data modeling.

• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure) and big data technologies (Hadoop, Spark).

• Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, Java, or Scala, as well as proficiency with SQL.

• Experience with machine learning and data science practices.

• Familiarity with data visualization tools (Tableau, Power BI, ThoughtSpot).

• Knowledge of data privacy regulations.

• Experience with data governance frameworks.

• Experience with data observability tools such as Pantomath.

• Strong people and management skills to interact with staff, colleagues, cross-functional teams and third parties.

• Ability to drive a culture of quality and personal accountability through development and delivery teams.

• Demonstrates commitment to quality through the ability to translate complex technical requirements into functional solutions using best practices.

• Expert in vendor contract management and management of distributed engineering teams and resources.

• Experience in data architecture and making rational buy vs. build and interface decisions.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to work equally well in self-managed and team-based Agile/Scrum projects.

Education          

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field.

Experience

• 5+ years of data engineering or related experience.

• 3+ years of experience leading a team with at least 2 years at Senior Manager or director level.

Experience in lieu of education

An equivalent combination of training, experience, credentials, or accomplishments demonstrating the ability to perform the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements.

Preferred

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related field.

• 8+ total years of data engineering or related experience.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.