Director, Data Products and Engineering

Job Description

Lead and elevate the Data Products & Engineering organization at Starz, driving innovation and shaping the company’s data strategy. This role requires a visionary leader who combines deep expertise in technical architecture and software development with strong strategic leadership and product innovation. The ideal candidate will define and deliver cutting-edge data products and advanced analytics solutions that unlock business value, enhance customer experiences, and power data-driven decision-making across the enterprise.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Data Architecture – Assess current Starz Data Architecture vs Business Requirements and identify gaps and key areas to improve, consolidate, and simplify in current environment
• Data Platform & Analytics – Develop and maintain key data repositories and feeds to provide the required data to support Starz Business Intelligence & Analysis capabilities.  Streamline process of getting the data to the right place at the right time
• Partnering with the Digital Platforms team to enhance the data collection and analytics strategy to meet the needs of the Starz business for operational and marketing data.
• Collaborating with internal marketing teams to provide the necessary data capabilities to support consumer-marketing efforts
• Data Strategy – In partnership with key business stakeholders, lead and define the Starz strategy for utilizing data as a strategic asset for the company.
• AI/ML Initiatives - Build scalable AI/ML-powered platforms, evaluate emerging AI technologies, frameworks, and tools, ensuring the company remains at the forefront of innovation.
• Oversee the architecture and scaling of data platforms, lakes, and pipelines that power real-time insights 
• Drive best practices for data governance, quality, and security, ensuring trust and compliance across all business units.
• Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and operational excellence.

Qualifications:

• 15+ years leading the development and delivery of digital software and data products.  Ability to bridge between business strategy and technology capabilities
• Experience utilizing data as a strategic asset for a business.  Specifically, experience utilizing data to help grow a B2C business and a B2B2C business.  Delivering value utilizing modern data analysis techniques
• Ability to partner with internal business stakeholders, outside partners and vendors, and technology development teams to define and drive a corporate data strategy
• Ability to assess and optimize the performance of engineering teams.  Make sure that we have the right skills, structure, and processes to deliver on our business objectives
• Experience leading architecture and security functions in a digital online product environment
• Experience with Cloud engineering, deployments, and operations.
• Experience with product operations, service monitoring, and management as well as incident response
• Experience with data, video streaming, mobile apps, web, and digital content technologies
• Experience implementing cutting-edge machine learning and generative AI solutions
• Proven track record delivering AI-powered products and scaling data-driven platforms.
• Background in hands-on software development in an agile environment
• Ability to translate complex technical issues for business and executive audiences
• Exceptional leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.

Education / Work Experience Requirements

• BS degree (MS preferred)
• Experience in media driven businesses

Data Products Technology Knowledge (or other/similar)

• Cloud Technologies: AWS
• Data Warehousing: ETL/ELT 
• Data Architectures: Data Lakes
• Database Systems: SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Snowflake or Redshift (Aurora, DynamoDB, PostgreSQL, Redis)
• Orchestration:  SSIS, Matillion, Informatica, AWS Glue (or equivalents)
• Data Modeling: Relational and Star schemas understanding
• Languages: C#, Python, JSON, XML, YAML, Typescript, Linux shell scripting
• Data Processing: Snowpipes, Spark, Spark Streaming, Kafka, Kinesis, Pandas, Airflow

Compensation

$190,000 - $220,000

About STARZ

STARZ (NASDAQ: STRZ) is the leading premium entertainment destination for women and underrepresented audiences, and home to some of the most popular franchises and series on television. STARZ offers a robust programming mix for discerning adult audiences, including boundary-breaking originals and an expansive lineup of blockbuster movies, and is embodied by its brand positioning “We’re All Adults Here.” Complementary to any platform or service, STARZ is available across a wide range of digital OTT platforms and multichannel video distributors and is a bundling partner of choice. STARZ is powered by an industry-leading advanced technology, data analytics and digital infrastructure and the highly rated and first-of-its-kind STARZ app.

Our Benefits

• Full Coverage – Medical, Vision, and Dental
• Annual discretionary bonus and merit increase
• Work/Life Balance – generous sick days, vacation days, holidays, and wellness days
• 401(k) company matching
• Tuition Reimbursement (up to graduate degree)

 

EEO Statement

Starz is an equal employment opportunity employer. All employees and applicants are evaluated on the basis of their qualifications, consistent with applicable state and federal laws. In addition, Starz will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. Starz will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and federal law.