Managing Director, Data Platform Engineering

The Data Platform Engineering leader is accountable for the strategy, engineering, delivery, reliability, adoption, and continuous evolution of the TIAA’s enterprise data platform and its foundational capabilities.

This executive will lead a global organization of 100+ employees and strategic partners responsible for creating a secure, governed, resilient, and self-service data platform that enables enterprise and federated teams to rapidly build, operate, discover, and consume trusted data products and AI-enabled solutions.  The role will oversee the platform engineering across platform solutions, data engineering tools and reliability, governance/security/privacy enablement, developer and business user experience, and AI-enabled platform engineering. The leader will establish clear capability ownership and drive the organization towards a scalable, capability and product-based platform model.
Key Responsibilities and Duties

Platform Strategy & Roadmap
Own the target-state architecture, engineering strategy, and multi-year roadmap for the enterprise data platform, aligning investments to business, Data, Analytics, Governance and AI priorities.

Platform Engineering & Modernization
Deliver scalable, modular, cloud-native platform capabilities and reusable engineering patterns that simplify architecture, reduce duplication, accelerate data-product delivery, and enable platform as a service for federated teams.

​​Governance, Security, Quality & Privacy by Design

Partner with Data Governance, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Risk, and Architecture to translate enterprise policies into automated, reusable platform controls covering access, quality, metadata, lineage, classification, privacy, and policy enforcement.

Reliability & Engineering Excellence

Establish engineering standards and automation across observability, infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD, testing, release management, resiliency, incident management, performance, and repeatable platform operations.

Developer & Business Experience
Drive adoption of self-service capabilities, the Enterprise Data Portal, data-product discovery, developer tooling, federation & onboarding, and common platform patterns that improve productivity and reduce friction for data producers and consumers.

AI-Enabled Engineering & Platform Innovation
Apply AI and GenAI across data engineering, governance, platform operations, developer experience, and the software development lifecycle while ensuring the platform provides the trusted data, metadata, semantic context, and services required for enterprise AI at scale.

Organizational Leadership & Talent
Lead and develop a high-performing global organization. Build a strong leadership bench, strengthen succession, grow critical engineering capabilities, and optimize the balance of internal talent and external partners.

Portfolio, Vendor & Platform Economics
Own investment prioritization, workforce strategy, vendor partnerships, technology rationalization, and platform economics while ensuring major initiatives are delivered with appropriate cost, quality, risk, and business outcomes.

Executive Partnership & Influence
Represent Data Platform Engineering in senior leadership forums, translating complex technology choices into business implications, investment decisions, risk trade-offs, and measurable enterprise outcomes.

Operations & Production Support Provides Tier 2 and Tier 3 engineering support, ensuring effective 24x7x365 support for assigned technology, including managing vendor escalations to resolve production issues and minimize business impact.

Educational Requirements

• University (Degree) Preferred

Work Experience

• 10+ Years Required

Physical Requirements

• Physical Requirements: Sedentary Work

Career Level
11PL

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Managing Director – Data Platform Engineering is accountable for the strategy, engineering, delivery, reliability, adoption, and continuous evolution of the TIAA’s enterprise data platform and its foundational capabilities. 

This executive will lead a global organization of 100+ employees and strategic partners responsible for creating a secure, governed, resilient, and self-service data platform that enables enterprise and federated teams to rapidly build, operate, discover, and consume trusted data products and AI-enabled solutions.  The role will oversee the platform engineering across platform solutions, data engineering tools and reliability, governance/security/privacy enablement, developer and business user experience, and AI-enabled platform engineering. The leader will establish clear capability ownership and drive the organization towards a scalable, capability and product-based platform model. 

This leader will partner closely with Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Data Governance, Privacy, Risk, Infrastructure, AI/ML business & technology organizations, and federated data teams to establish enterprise standards and make them easy to consume through reusable engineering patterns, automation, self-service capabilities, and policy driven controls. 

The role combines hands-on technical depth with strategic portfolio oversight, ensuring delivery excellence, 24x7x365 operational resilience, regulatory compliance, and innovation aligned with firm standards. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Platform Strategy & Roadmap 
Own the target-state architecture, engineering strategy, and multi-year roadmap for the enterprise data platform, aligning investments to business, Data, Analytics, Governance and AI priorities. 

Platform Engineering & Modernization 
Deliver scalable, modular, cloud-native platform capabilities and reusable engineering patterns that simplify architecture, reduce duplication, accelerate data-product delivery, and enable platform as a service for federated teams. 

Governance, Security, Quality & Privacy by Design 
Partner with Data Governance, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Risk, and Architecture to translate enterprise policies into automated, reusable platform controls covering access, quality, metadata, lineage, classification, privacy, and policy enforcement. 

Reliability & Engineering Excellence 
Establish engineering standards and automation across observability, infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD, testing, release management, resiliency, incident management, performance, and repeatable platform operations. 

Developer & Business Experience 
Drive adoption of self-service capabilities, the Enterprise Data Portal, data-product discovery, developer tooling, federation & onboarding, and common platform patterns that improve productivity and reduce friction for data producers and consumers. 

AI-Enabled Engineering & Platform Innovation 
Apply AI and GenAI across data engineering, governance, platform operations, developer experience, and the software development lifecycle while ensuring the platform provides the trusted data, metadata, semantic context, and services required for enterprise AI at scale. 

Organizational Leadership & Talent 
Lead and develop a high-performing global organization of 100+ employees and strategic partners. Build a strong leadership bench, strengthen succession, grow critical engineering capabilities, and optimize the balance of internal talent and external partners. 

Portfolio, Vendor & Platform Economics 
Own investment prioritization, workforce strategy, vendor partnerships, technology rationalization, and platform economics while ensuring major initiatives are delivered with appropriate cost, quality, risk, and business outcomes. 

Executive Partnership & Influence 
Represent Data Platform Engineering in senior leadership forums, translating complex technology choices into business implications, investment decisions, risk trade-offs, and measurable enterprise outcomes. 

Operations & Production Support 

Provides Tier 2 and Tier 3 engineering support, ensuring effective 24x7x365 support for assigned technology, including managing vendor escalations to resolve production issues and minimize business impact. 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• 10+ years of technology and data platform engineering experience
• 10+ years of experience as a senior technology leader, leading large, globally distributed engineering organizations
• 3+ years of AWS recent experience
• 3+ years of Snowflake recent experience
• Data governance experience

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• 12+ years of technology and data platform engineering experience
• Financial services industry experience
• University degree - Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline; advanced degree & certification(s) are a plus
• Demonstrated success building high-performing teams across employees, contractors, and strategic partners
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with demonstrated ability to collaborate across Technology, Architecture, Security, Risk, Business, and senior leadership to drive delivery excellence, organizational change, and innovation aligned with firm standards. 
• Proven experience defining and executing enterprise-scale data platform strategies, modernization programs, and technology transformations within large, complex organizations. Financial services or another highly regulated industry strongly preferred. 
• Strong technical understanding of cloud-native data architectures, modern data platforms, data products, distributed processing, enterprise integration, metadata, semantic layers, and modern data consumption patterns. 
• Strong understanding of platform engineering, infrastructure-as-code, DevSecOps, CI/CD, observability, reliability engineering, resiliency, automation, and enterprise production operations. 
• Demonstrated building and operationalization of AI, GenAI, and agentic technologies and their application across data engineering, platform operations, governance, developer productivity, and enterprise data consumption. 
• Demonstrated ability to operate technology platforms as enterprise products, with strong focus on customer experience, self-service, adoption, engineering productivity, reliability, and measurable business outcomes. 
• Strong understanding of cybersecurity, privacy, data governance, regulatory requirements, risk management, resiliency, and controls required to operate enterprise data platforms in a highly regulated environment. Experience in data governance tool engineering strongly preferred. 
• Demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate across senior business and technology leadership, Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Risk, Data Governance, Infrastructure, AI, and federated engineering organizations. 
• Proven ability to simplify complex technology environments and operating models, establish clear accountability, modernize engineering practices, and deliver measurable improvements in speed, quality, reliability, adoption, and cost. 

Anticipated Posting End Date:

Actual base salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, time in role, base salary of internal peers, prior performance, business sector, and geographic location.  In addition to base salary, the competitive compensation package may include, depending on the role, participation in an incentive program linked to performance (for example, annual discretionary incentive programs, non-annual sales incentive plans, or other non-annual incentive plans). 

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Company Overview

Every worker deserves a secure retirement. For more than 100 years, TIAA has delivered it for millions of people. Founded to help educators retire with dignity, today weʼre a market-leading retirement company fueled by world-class asset management. But weʼre not just another legacy financial services firm. Weʼre fighting harder than ever before for our clients and the many Americans who need us.

Our Culture of Impact

At TIAA, we're on a mission to build on our 100+ year legacy of delivering for our clients while evolving to meet tomorrow's challenges. We equip our associates with future-focused skills and AI tools that enable us to advance our mission. Together, we are fighting to ensure a more secure financial future for all and for generations to come. We are guided by our values: Champion Our People, Be Client Obsessed, Lead with Integrity, Own It, and Win As One. They influence every decision we make and how we work together to serve our clients every day. We thrive in a collaborative in-office environment where teams work across organizational boundaries with shared purpose, accelerating innovation and delivering meaningful results. Our workplace brings together TIAA and Nuveen's entrepreneurial spirit, where we work hard and work together to create lasting impact. Here, every associate can grow through meaningful learning experiences and development pathways—because when our people succeed, our impact on clients' lives grows stronger.

Benefits and Total Rewards

The organization is committed to making financial well-being possible for its clients, and is equally committed to the well-being of our associates. That’s why we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package designed to make a positive difference in the lives of our associates and their loved ones. Our benefits include a superior retirement program and highly competitive health, wellness and work life offerings that can help you achieve and maintain your best possible physical, emotional and financial well-being. To learn more about your benefits, please review our Benefits Summary.

Equal Opportunity

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. TIAA does not discriminate against any candidate or employee on the basis of age, race, color, national origin, sex, religion, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other legally protected status.

Our full EEO & Non-Discrimination statement is on our careers home page, and you can read more about your rights and view government notices here.

Accessibility Support

TIAA offers support for those who need assistance with our online application process to provide an equal employment opportunity to all job seekers, including individuals with disabilities. 

If you are a U.S. applicant and desire a reasonable accommodation to complete a job application please use one of the below options to contact our accessibility support team: 

Phone: (800) 842-2755

Email: [email protected]

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TIAA maintains a drug-free and smoke/free workplace.

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