Job Description
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About the Role
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is seeking an experienced and collaborative technology leader to serve as the Director of Data Engineering. Reporting to the Senior Director of Technology, this position is a key member of the Information Technology Services leadership team and provides strategic leadership and oversight for the agency's data engineering and analytics function, including enterprise data platform delivery and modernization initiatives.
The Director is responsible for ensuring the reliable, secure, and scalable delivery of data solutions that enable agency business operations and advance THECB's mission, strategic priorities, and service objectives. This position establishes the strategic direction for data engineering and analytics by developing goals, objectives, technical standards, procedures, engineering practices, and performance measures that promote reliable, highquality, and efficient delivery of data platforms and analytics capabilities across the agency.
Responsibilities include directing the delivery of enterprise data engineering, data integration, and analytics services; overseeing data platform and architecture planning, engineering standards, resource alignment, and continuous delivery improvement initiatives; and providing leadership for engineering governance, operational compliance, and organizational change.
Working collaboratively with ITS leadership, IT Operations, Product Engineering, Product Management, IT Service Delivery, the Project Management Office (PMO), agency stakeholders, and the agency's data governance function, the Director helps align data engineering priorities with business needs while ensuring consistent, efficient, and highquality delivery of data platforms and analytics capabilities across the agency.
This position supervises management and professional staff and exercises significant initiative and independent judgment while serving as a trusted advisor on data engineering, analytics, and data platform modernization.
Why Join Our Team
This is an exciting opportunity to help shape how data platforms and analytics capabilities are engineered, modernized, and delivered at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
As a member of the ITS leadership team, you'll play a critical role in advancing data platform modernization, strengthening data engineering practices, expanding trusted analytics capabilities, and building a highperforming team focused on delivering reliable, secure, and scalable data solutions.
In this role, you'll have the opportunity to:
Lead the evolution of data engineering, enterprise data platforms, and analytics delivery across the agency.
Build, mentor, and develop highperforming data engineers, analytics engineers, and managers while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Build and evolve the agency's enterprise data platform on modern cloud technologies, including Snowflake and Power BI.
Establish engineering standards, data architecture practices, and performance measures that improve data quality and reliability and support executive decisionmaking.
Strengthen the partnership between IT Operations, Product Engineering, Product Management, the PMO, and data governance to deliver integrated platforms and shared ownership of outcomes.
Make a lasting impact by helping technology enable the agency's mission of expanding educational opportunity and supporting higher education across Texas.
If you are passionate about developing people, building modern data platforms, turning data into trusted insight, and delivering data and analytics solutions that create measurable business value, we encourage you to apply.
General Description:
Performs highly advanced (seniorlevel) managerial work for the Information Technology Services (ITS) Division of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Serving as the Director of Data Engineering, this position provides strategic leadership and oversight for the agency's data engineering and analytics function, including enterprise data platform delivery and modernization initiatives. The position is responsible for ensuring the reliable, secure, and scalable delivery of data solutions that enable agency business operations and advance the agency's mission, strategic priorities, and service objectives.
Work involves establishing strategic plans, goals, and objectives for data engineering and analytics; developing technical standards, procedures, and engineering practices; and establishing priorities, performance measures, and evaluation tools to assess operational effectiveness, data quality, and data platform reliability.
Responsibilities include directing the delivery of enterprise data engineering, data integration, and analytics services; overseeing data platform and architecture planning, engineering standards, resource alignment, and continuous delivery improvement initiatives; and providing leadership for engineering governance, operational compliance, and organizational change. Collaborates with ITS leadership and agency stakeholders, including IT Operations, Product Engineering, Product Management, IT Service Delivery, the Project Management Office (PMO), and the agency's data governance function, to align data engineering priorities with business needs and ensure consistent, efficient, and highquality delivery of data platforms and analytics capabilities across the agency.
Supervises the work of others, including management and professional staff. Works under minimal supervision, with extensive latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. This position reports to the Senior Director of Technology. Performs other duties as assigned.
General Duties and Responsibilities:
Strategic People Leadership & Talent Strategy ¿ Leads managers, senior individual contributors, or a combination of both by setting leadership expectations, supporting performance management, and guiding workforce and succession planning. Develops leadership capability and subjectmatter expertise; aligns talent to strategic needs; and fosters a culture of accountability, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
Strategic Execution, Governance & Resource Alignment ¿ Defines and oversees execution of strategies within assigned domains by establishing goals, priorities, standards, and performance measures. Aligns budgets, staffing, and resources to objectives; ensures compliance and governance; and monitors organizational performance to achieve agency outcomes.
Enterprise Data Engineering & Platform Leadership ¿ Directs the design, development, and operation of the agency's enterprise data platforms, pipelines, and integration services that collect, transform, and deliver data for operational and analytical use. Establishes engineering standards and performance expectations to ensure data solutions are reliable, secure, scalable, and supportable in support of agency programs and missioncritical activities.
Data Architecture, Standards & Governance Implementation ¿ Establishes and maintains technical data architecture, data modeling, integration, and engineering standards, aligned with the agency's enterprise data strategy, that guide the design and evolution of agency data platforms. Implements the technical controls, such as data quality validation, lineage, metadata, access management, and retention, that put agency data governance policies into practice, in coordination with the agency's data governance function, to ensure data assets remain reliable, secure, and auditready.
Enterprise Analytics & Decision Support Enablement ¿ Directs the engineering and delivery of enterprise analytics, reporting, and decisionsupport capabilities, including curated data products, semantic models, dashboards, and selfservice tools. Ensures enterprise data assets are trusted, well documented, and readily usable to provide actionable insights that support operational management, performance measurement, and strategic decisionmaking across the agency.
Stakeholder Collaboration & Organizational Alignment ¿ Collaborates with agency leadership, IT teams, and business units to align data engineering priorities and platform investments with organizational needs. Partners with IT Operations, Product Engineering, Product Management, IT Service Delivery, and the PMO to deliver integrated platforms and services, and facilitates crossfunctional coordination to ensure data initiatives support agency programs, reporting needs, and mission outcomes.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Knowledge Skills or Abilities:
Knowledge of modern data architecture and engineering practices, including data warehousing, data lake and lakehouse designs, and batch and streaming pipelines.
Knowledge of enterprise data platform modernization strategies, including cloudbased, SaaS, managed data services, and commercial offtheshelf (COTS) solutions.
Knowledge of cloud data platforms and enterprise integration technologies, such as Snowflake, AWS, Azure, or comparable solutions.
Knowledge of enterprise analytics, business intelligence, and data visualization platforms and tools, such as Power BI or comparable solutions.
Knowledge of DataOps, productoriented delivery models, and Agile practices within enterprise environments.
Knowledge of data governance, data quality, security, and compliance practices, including metadata management, lineage, and data privacy requirements.
Skill in leading data engineering, integration, and analytics teams delivering across custombuilt, SaaS, and cloudnative data platforms.
Skill in aligning data architecture and engineering execution with the agency's data strategy, product strategy, and business priorities.
Skill in evaluating and guiding build versus buy decisions and platform selection within enterprise environments.
Skill in providing handson technical leadership, including guiding design, reviewing solutions, and supporting teams through complex challenges.
Skill in coaching and developing engineers and managers to improve technical capability and delivery practices.
Skill in translating business and analytical needs into reliable, welldocumented data products, pipelines, and reporting solutions.
Skill in collaborating effectively across IT Operations, Product Engineering, Product Management, IT Service Delivery, PMO, data governance, business, and executive stakeholders.
Ability to provide strategic direction for data engineering and analytics while remaining actively engaged in technical decisionmaking and delivery.
Ability to drive data platform modernization through adoption of cloudnative, SaaS, and managed data solutions where appropriate.
Ability to align data strategy, product strategy, business needs, and engineering execution into a single, integrated delivery model.
Ability to guide teams through transformation by reinforcing standards, demonstrating best practices, and improving engineering maturity.
Ability to balance priorities, capacity, and technical sequencing across a portfolio of work.
Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and nontechnical stakeholders, including executive leadership.
Ability to foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Required InOffice Days:
This position requires onsite work. The employee must be physically present in the office five (5) days per week.
This position is authorized for a hybrid telework schedule. Employees are required to work in the office two (2) days per week, with the remaining three days eligible for telework. Specific inoffice days may be determined by the department to meet business needs.
Military Crosswalk: https://hr.sao.texas.gov/Compensation/MilitaryCrosswalk/MOSC_ProgramManagement.pdf
Required Minimum Education and Experience:
Bachelor's degree from an accredited fouryear college or university with major coursework in computer science, information systems, computer engineering, or a related field.
Ten (10) years of progressively responsible professional experience in information technology, business operations, or a related field.
Six (6) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in information technology, including responsibility for leading technical teams.
Additional related work experience may substitute for the required education on a yearforyear basis.
Preferred Experience and Education:
Extensive experience leading enterprise data engineering, data platform, or analytics delivery functions in complex organizational environments.
Experience operating within a productoriented delivery model, including
