DescriptionThe Opportunity
The Data Quality & Observability Lead is a director level role within Ookla's Chief Data & Analytics Office responsible for building and leading the enterprise data quality framework, monitoring capabilities, and observability practices that ensure data used across analytics, AI/ML, and products is accurate, trustworthy, and fit for purpose. This role reports directly to the VP of Data Governance & Strategy.
This leader will define quality standards, operate data observability tooling, partner with data engineering and governance teams to embed quality into pipelines, and drive a culture of shared accountability for data health across the organization.
This position operates in a hybrid work environment and includes approximately 25% travel to support stakeholder engagement, quality program execution, and team collaboration.
Key Responsibilities
- Design and implement Ookla's enterprise data quality framework, including rules, standards, measurement practices, and ownership accountability.
- Build and operate a data observability capability to monitor data health, freshness, volume, schema changes, and pipeline reliability.
- Partner with data engineering, analytics engineering, and governance teams to embed quality checks and SLAs across data pipelines and data products.
- Define and track data quality KPIs and metrics; communicate status, trends, and risk to
stakeholders and leadership.
- Lead root cause analysis and remediation for data quality incidents across the data ecosystem.
- Champion a data-as-a-product mindset, ensuring data quality is a shared organizational accountability across business and technology teams.
- Evaluate, implement, and manage data quality and observability tooling in partnership with
engineering and architecture.
- Manage and develop the Data Quality Analyst function and support cross-functional data steward networks.
Job Qualifications
Required Knowledge, Skills and Attributes
- Deep expertise in data quality frameworks, data observability, data monitoring, and data reliability practices.
- Strong understanding of data pipelines, data warehousing, transformation tools, and modern data stack components.
- Experience designing and deploying enterprise data quality programs, including rules engines, profiling, and remediation workflows.
- Familiarity with data observability platforms and data quality tooling such as Monte Carlo, Great Expectations, Soda, or dbt tests.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence without direct authority.
- Ability to translate data quality concepts and metrics into business-relevant language for executive audiences.
- Strategic mindset with the ability to balance governance rigor, delivery speed, and business enablement.
Required Education and/or Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Management, Engineering, Analytics, or a related field.
- Advanced degree preferred.
- 10+ years of experience in data quality, data engineering, analytics engineering, or related data disciplines.
- 3+ years of leadership experience managing data quality programs, teams, or governance
functions.
- Experience implementing data observability and quality monitoring capabilities at enterprise
scale.
- Relevant certifications in data management, data quality, cloud platforms, or related disciplines are preferred.
Compensation Range
Ookla provides a range for the base pay. Factors that may be used to determine your actual pay may include your specific job related knowledge, skills, experience, and geographic location. The salary compensation for this role is $140,000 - $220,000. Individual pay within the compensation range for this business unit specific role is determined based on a variety of factors including experience, scope of the role, capabilities to perform the role, education and training, as well as business and company performance.
