Sr Manager, Data Platforms

First for a reason:

At First Student, we are a family of 60,000+ employees who take pride in safely transporting more than 5 million students and passengers to and from their destinations each day! Our family of brands include Transco, Total Transportation, Maggies Paratransit, and GVC II. Our employees are at the forefront of safety and innovation; they create and implement the most advanced training and technology the transportation industry has to offer.

As the IT Manager for Data Platforms, you will play a crucial role in advancing our organization’s ability to leverage data as an asset and key enabler for our digital transformation.  You will be responsible for a global team for stakeholders across the enterprise. This role requires a high degree of business engagement and tight alignment with enabling technology teams, including Data Platforms and Enterprise Applications, in a global delivery model.

Data Platform Management 

• Responsible for enabling all core data platform technologies and capabilities for consumption & contribution with enterprise applications, digital apps, reporting & analytics teams. 

• Leads global team of data engineers, developers, analysts, and IT SMEs who develop new platform capabilities and enhance existing for internal customers. 

• Leads the advancement of our next generation data platform and migration roadmap from legacy platforms. 

• Manages the health, availability, and maintainability of key data platforms within the enterprise including data warehouses, lakes, and including commercial off the shelf (COTS) and proprietary technologies. 

• Oversees and drives the data platform technology roadmap and mitigation of technical debt. 

• Leads Data Management domain practices and operating discipline including Master Data Management (MDM), Literacy, Lineage, and Security. 

• Serves as advisor and contributor to enterprise Data Governance framework. 

Data Management 

• Guides and enforces data governance rules to implement proper technical solutions aligned with enterprise standards. 

• Manages vendor and proprietary tooling enabling and enforcing data governance 

• Break/fix 

• Incident & Problem Mgmt 

Team Collaboration 

• Facilitates technical & engineering-based discussions. 

• Proactively removes roadblocks and impediments for team. 

Data Architecture 

• Collaborates with enterprise architecture on data, information, and technology governance including standards, principles, and strategies. 

• Leads evaluation and recommendations of new data capabilities and components within the architecture. 

• Collaborates and promotes data technology architecture strategy within the enterprise architecture framework. 

Product Management 

• Positions data platform as internal product, governs and manages as appropriate. 

• Establishes and manages a common demand & intake funnel, prioritizing new needs against strategic priorities. 

• Closely collaborate with customers of data platform to ensure functional/non-functional requirements are defined and agreed upon. 

• Collaborates with customers to gather feedback on improving data products. 

• Identify opportunities for improvement and cost savings. 

• Drives quality improvement/innovation initiatives aiming at improving operational excellence and cost efficiency 

Budget Management 

• Develop and manage the budget for IT Data Platforms. 

• Track expenses, engage procurement for contract negotiations, and seek cost-effective solutions. 

Project Management 

• Develop and manage the budget for IT Data Platforms. Track expenses, engage procurement for contract negotiations, and seek cost-effective solutions. 

Minimum Education: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, related field, or equivalent experience 

Minimum Experience: 

• 5+ years of IT management experience 

• 7+ years of IT experience developing and advancing Enterprise Reporting, Analytics, and BI capabilities 

• Expert knowledge of one or more IT Data Domains 

• Demonstrated management of one or more teams 

• Excellent leadership, project management, vendor management, and analytical skills. Ability to communicate at multiple levels within the organization (internal & external) 

• Experience managing budgets 

• Experience managing vendors and/or employees 

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate and resolve issues. Experience developing stakeholder relationships. 

• Experience with IT frameworks (ITIL, PRINCE 2, TQM, Six Sigma, SCRUM, etc.) 

• Passion for technology innovation with knowledge of industry best practices 

• Ability to understand business needs and translate them to IT activities 

In the state of Washington, all technician and driving positions, including but not limited to van drivers and any other position requiring employees to drive a company-owned vehicle, are considered safety-sensitive and are therefore subject to drug and alcohol testing, including cannabis.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status. First is also committed to providing a drug-free workplace. First will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance, and any other fair chance law. Philadelphia’s Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Ordinance Poster is at this link or upon request https://www.phila.gov/media/20210423160847/Fair-Chance-Hiring-law-poster.pdf.