Decision Engineer Jobs in Minnesota (NOW HIRING)

At Link Snacks, we show up hungry, roll up our sleeves, plaid or otherwise, and dive straight into the hard work. We don't hide from challenges; we hunt them down. We push harder, move faster, and take the kinds of big swings that built this business in the North Woods of Wisconsin four decades ago.

We're everyday people who deliver extraordinary results. Innovation, creativity, and urgency aren't buzzwords, they're expectations. And just like the real protein snacks we make across our global house of brands: Jack Link's, Lorissa's Organic Snacks, Golden Island, BiFi, Peperami and KOOEE! to name a few, there's nothing artificial about us. What you see is exactly what you get: humble, gritty, passionate people who show up every day ready to not just be a participate in the meat snack industry that the Link Family created, but to move faster, innovate harder and keep raising the bar so high, the rest of the world needs a ladder just to see it.

Dominating this space across the world takes a team. A team that runs together, succeeds together, and celebrates together. A team that's full of relentless energy and spirit that can only be fueled by one thing: a fist full of our delicious meat snacks.

Real Meat Protein. Real People. Real Results. THAT is Link Snacks.

We're looking for a hands-on player-coach to lead our Data Platform & Decision Support pillar.  This person owns both the analytics data platform and the delivery of decision-support products (primarily BI) - setting the direction and roadmap, directing the engineering work, and rolling up their sleeves to build alongside the team when it counts.

You'll lead a pod-based delivery team serving our Commercial and Supply Chain (SCOPs) domains, and partner closely with our Enterprise Architect and Senior Data Engineer to continuously improve the performance and usability of the platform.  You'll also help the team adopt AI and automation tooling to work faster and smarter - improving how we build, especially the analytics and insights layers that power decision support.

We operate with DevOps practices - CI/CD, automation, and continuous improvement across build, release, and run.  A dedicated Scrum Mater / Project Manager runs the team's Agile rituals, so you'll partner with them to steer delivery and clear blockers rather than run the ceremonies yourself.  Work is delivered through domain pods (Commercial & Finance, SCOPs, & IBP), a shared delivery pool, and managed-services partners.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Platform Leadership

• Own the analytics data platform - reliability, performance, usability, and cost.
• Set data engineering and modeling standards, with a strong emphasis on semantic / business-layer modeling.
• Partner with the Enterprise Architect and Senior Data Engineer to continuously evolve and improve the platform.

Product & Delivery Leadership

• Lead end-to-end analytics product delivery, primarily BI / decision support.
• Own the capability and product roadmap and steer agile delivery across the pods, partnering with the Scrum Master / PM who runs the rituals.
• Prioritize and balance demand across Senior POs, POs, Developers, and the shared delivery pool.

Hands-On (player-coach)

• Direct engineering work - and step in to support development and delivery when the team needs it.
• Design and review semantic / business-layer models and decision-support solutions personally when required.

AI & Automation Enablement

• Champion AI and automation tooling that improves how the team develops - especially the analytics and insights layers within BI that feed decision support.
• Bring, or build, practical prompt-engineering skills for both the delivery team and business stakeholders.
• Partner with the broader team's AI and Automation experts to help Product Owners adopt AI / automation tools for wireframing, scoping, and building solutions - a key future-state capability for the team.

Business Partnership

• Partner with Commercial and SCOPs stakeholders to translate business needs into products.
• Ensure products drive real decisions and are adopted by the business.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and grow the Product Owner and Developer team.
• Direct and coordinate managed-services partners to deliver to plan.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data / Analytics, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field or equivalent practical experience.
• 10 + years in data engineering, analytics, or data-platform delivery
• 33+ years of experience as a people manager, leading high-performing teams and overseeing end-to-end analytics product delivery.
• Strong data engineering background with deep expertise in semantic / business-layer modeling and decision support.
• Experience leading an analytics data platform e.g., Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, or Snowflake.
• Experience leading analytics product delivery, primarily BI.
• Product leadership experience - agile delivery and capability / product roadmaps.
• Experience leading teams of Product Owners and Developers.
• Comfortable both directing engineering and being hands-on when needed (player-coach).
• Strong business-facing experience in Commercial and/or SCOPs (supply chain operations & planning) - or a clear desire and aptitude to learn new business domains.
• Experience with - or a strong willingness to learn - AI and automation tooling that improves development, particularly across the analytics and insights layers within BI / decision support.
• Experience or genuine interest in prompt engineering for both technical teams and business stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications:

• CPG or comparable industry experience.
• Experience leading dotted-line / matrixed teams and managed-service delivery.
• Familiarity with modern BI (e.g., Power BI), semantic layers / dbt, and DataOps practices.
• Experience introducing AI-assisted development or automation tools to a delivery team (e.g., for wireframing, scoping, or accelerating build)
• Exposure to AI- and automation-adjacent delivery.

The starting salarie for this role is $175,000.00 - $195,000.00. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, location, and candidate skill set and experience. Base pay is just one component of Jack Link's Total Rewards package for Team Members. Other rewards may include annual incentive and program-specific awards. Jack Link's provides a variety of benefits to eligible Team Members, including medical, dental and vision benefits, life and disability insurance, 401k participation, paid holidays, and paid time off.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a Team Member to be successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job the Team Member is regularly required to sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The Team Member is occasionally required to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms. The Team Member must occasionally lift and/or more up to twenty-five pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those a Team Member encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. The work environment is a plant/office setting with varying degrees of temperatures and noise levels. Exposure to manufacturing equipment movement and wet/slippery floors. However, the vast amount of work is conducted in a climate-controlled office. Travel may be required.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER:
Link Snacks provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic that is protected by federal, state or local law.

E-VERIFY:
Link Snacks is participant in the federal E-Verify program to confirm the identity and employment authorization of all newly hired employees.  For information about the E-Verify program, please visit:  http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify/employees

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.