Director, Data Products & Engineering

This position is posted by Jobgether on behalf of a partner company. We are currently looking for a Director, Data Products & Engineering in United States.

This role is a senior technical leadership position focused on building and scaling data as a product within a modern, cloud-based data ecosystem. The Director will lead the development of high-impact data products that enable analytics, AI, and data-driven decision-making across a mission-driven education technology organization. Acting as both a hands-on technical leader and a strategic partner, this individual will translate business priorities into scalable, trusted, and reusable data assets. The role emphasizes a product-oriented mindset, ensuring data is not only engineered but also usable, discoverable, and aligned with real business outcomes. It also involves leading a team of data engineers and establishing strong delivery practices across multiple initiatives. This is a high-impact opportunity to shape data strategy, drive modernization, and enable a data mesh approach at scale.

• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of data products, from ideation and design through development, delivery, and continuous optimization.
• Establish and mature product-oriented data practices, including backlog management, prioritization frameworks, and iterative delivery cycles.
• Lead the design and delivery of scalable data products and platform capabilities on modern cloud data infrastructure (e.g., Databricks ecosystem).
• Guide data modeling, semantic layer development, and implementation of best practices for reusable and trusted data assets.
• Enable and support a data mesh approach by empowering domain teams to own and manage their data products effectively.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of data engineers, fostering strong execution, accountability, and technical excellence.
• Partner closely with cross-functional stakeholders to translate business needs into high-value data solutions.
• Drive adoption of modern engineering practices, including AI-assisted development and automation where applicable.
• Manage multiple concurrent initiatives while communicating progress, risks, and dependencies to stakeholders.
• Ensure data products deliver measurable impact, including improved accessibility, adoption, and time-to-insight.

Requirements:

• 8–12 years of experience in data engineering, data products, or software engineering roles.
• 3–5 years of experience leading technical teams and delivering complex data initiatives.
• Strong experience applying a product mindset to data, including prioritization, roadmap planning, and user-focused delivery.
• Experience with modern data platforms, data modeling, and scalable data architecture principles.
• Familiarity with data mesh or domain-oriented data ownership models is strongly preferred.
• Proven ability to lead and scale high-performing engineering teams.
• Experience collaborating with business stakeholders to translate requirements into data-driven solutions.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to bridge technical and non-technical audiences.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience in a related field.
• Experience with Databricks or similar modern data ecosystem tools is a plus.
• Exposure to AI-assisted development practices is highly valued.

Benefits:

• Competitive and mission-driven work environment within a growing education technology organization.
• Opportunity to lead and shape enterprise-wide data product strategy and architecture.
• Work with modern cloud-based data platforms and emerging AI-enabled engineering practices.
• Collaborative, cross-functional culture focused on impact, innovation, and scalability.
• Leadership role with direct influence on data strategy and organizational decision-making.
• Opportunity to build and scale a high-performing data engineering team.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion across the organization.
• Remote-friendly or flexible work arrangements depending on organizational policy.