Senior Director, Data Engineering

Summary

Join phData, a leading AI-forward engineering company, as a Senior Director of Data Engineering. This challenging, high-profile role requires a versatile skillset, including technical expertise, coding proficiency, and strong communication. You will act as the technical leader for strategic clients, building trusted relationships and driving growth. Responsibilities include developing technology roadmaps, leading client events, and ensuring successful project delivery. The ideal candidate possesses extensive experience in data and AI/ML platforms, consulting leadership, and cloud platforms. phData offers a remote-first work environment, competitive compensation, excellent benefits, and professional development opportunities.

Requirements

• BA/BS in computer science, engineering, business, operations, or related fields preferred
• Must have demonstrated experience leading highly technical engineering teams or serving as the chief architect in a complex, hands-on technical environment
• Travel up to 35% (client-dependent)
• 10+ years of hands-on experience delivering complex data or AI/ML platforms in production environments
• 3+ years in a consulting leadership role with direct client ownership and revenue accountability
• Deep technical expertise in cloud platforms (Snowflake, AWS, Azure, GCP), modern data stacks, and MLOps tools
• Proven success growing enterprise accounts and building executive-level relationships
• Strong architectural and implementation skills in Python, SQL, dbt, and modern infrastructure tooling
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills with a strong sense of presence and clarity under pressure
• Willingness to travel for customer meetings, QBRs, and key events when necessary

Responsibilities

• Act as the executive-level technical leader for a set of strategic clients, operating like the account’s CTO: owning technology direction, technical stakeholder relationships, and strategic alignment
• Build trusted relationships with technical and business stakeholders through 1:1s, on-site visits, and active engagement across initiatives
• Lead key client events (e.g., QBRs, Innovation Days, workshops) and contribute content that connects strategic goals with technical execution
• Develop and maintain a technology strategy and roadmap tailored to the client’s goals, providing hands-on architectural guidance when needed
• Partner closely with the account team to drive growth by collaborating on strategy and opportunity creation
• Write and guide scopes, proposals, and pricing estimates. Enable other leaders to do the same using phData’s processes and templates
• Create and present clear deliverables (e.g. architecture diagrams, enablement docs, POVs) that drive alignment from execs to practitioners
• Help the client operationalize data and AI projects—ensuring ideas move from prototype to production with measurable business impact
• Act as the ultimate owner of technical success for the client
• Resolve technical and strategic escalations across delivery and act as a point of accountability for both phData and the client
• Hold delivery quality to a high standard, onboard new team members effectively, and continuously identify areas for improvement
• Track and report KPIs that demonstrate client success and business value; use data to inform strategy and improve delivery
• Meet minimum billable utilization requirements within book of business
• Educate internal teams on successful delivery patterns and contribute to phData’s internal playbooks, QBR content, and sales collaboration
• Cultivate and manage relationships with key technology partners

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in a technical, data, or business-related discipline
• Experience leading delivery within a scaled services or consulting firm
• Proficiency in partner ecosystem collaboration (especially Snowflake, AWS, dbt)
• Hands-on experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and cloud-native AI/ML tools
• Demonstrated thought leadership (e.g., blogs, speaking, open source) is a plus

Benefits

• Remote-First Work Environment
• Casual, award-winning small-business work environment
• Collaborative culture that prizes autonomy, creativity, and transparency
• Competitive comp, excellent benefits, 4 weeks PTO plan plus 10 Holidays (and other cool perks)
• Accelerated learning and professional development through advanced training and certifications