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Director Data Jobs in Columbus, OH (NOW HIRING)

Highlights for Children

Data Architect

Columbus, OH · On-site

$59.50 - $76.50/hr

Director, Data Solutions & Architecture Position Summary The Data Architect is responsible for designing, documenting, governing, and implementing data architecture for Highlights' Microsoft Fabric ...

Highlights for Children

Data Architect

Columbus, OH · On-site

$61.50 - $79.25/hr

Director, Data Solutions & Architecture Position Summary The Data Architect is responsible for designing, documenting, governing, and implementing data architecture for Highlights' Microsoft Fabric ...

ABB

Data Center COE Project Management Leader

OH · Remote

$119K - $190.40K/yr

Director, Data Center Services Center of Excellence __ This role leads the performance, quality, and continuous improvement of field service operations, ensuring customers receive safe, reliable, and ...

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Director Data information

See Columbus, OH salary details

$50.2K

$124.1K

$193.2K

How much do director data jobs pay per year?

As of May 28, 2026, the average yearly pay for director data in Columbus, OH is $124,143.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $90,800.00 and $157,900.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Director of Data, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Director of Data, you need deep expertise in data management, analytics, and strategy, supported by an advanced degree in a quantitative field and substantial leadership experience. Proficiency with data platforms (such as SQL, Hadoop, and cloud services), data governance frameworks, and often certifications like CDMP or cloud certifications is expected. Exceptional communication, strategic thinking, and team leadership skills distinguish top performers in this role. These skills ensure effective data-driven decision-making, alignment with business goals, and successful leadership of cross-functional data teams.

How does a Director of Data typically collaborate with other departments to drive business objectives?

A Director of Data regularly partners with teams such as marketing, product, finance, and operations to ensure data-driven decision-making across the organization. They help translate business goals into data initiatives, oversee the collection and analysis of relevant data, and present actionable insights to stakeholders. Strong cross-functional collaboration is essential, as the Director often leads data governance initiatives and aligns data strategy with company-wide objectives. This role requires both technical expertise and effective communication skills to bridge gaps between technical teams and non-technical departments.

What does a Director of Data do?

A Director of Data oversees an organization's data strategy, ensuring the effective collection, management, and use of data across departments. They lead data teams, set data governance policies, and work to align data initiatives with business goals. Their role includes managing data architecture, ensuring data quality and security, and supporting data-driven decision making. Directors of Data often collaborate with executives and IT teams to drive innovation and improve business outcomes through analytics and data insights.

What is the difference between Director Data vs Data Analyst?

AspectDirector DataData Analyst
Required CredentialsBachelor's or Master’s in Data Science, Computer Science, or related field; often leadership experienceBachelor's degree in related field; certifications like Microsoft Data Analyst or Tableau often preferred
Work EnvironmentStrategic leadership, overseeing data teams, and setting data policiesData collection, analysis, reporting, and visualization tasks
Employer & Industry UsageUsed in large corporations, tech firms, and data-driven organizationsCommon across various industries including finance, marketing, and healthcare

The main difference between a Director Data and a Data Analyst lies in their scope and responsibilities. The Director Data focuses on strategic leadership, managing data teams, and setting organizational data policies. In contrast, the Data Analyst handles data collection, analysis, and reporting to support business decisions. Both roles require strong analytical skills, but the Director Data typically has more experience and a broader leadership role.

What are the most commonly searched types of Data jobs in Columbus, OH? The most popular types of Data jobs in Columbus, OH are:
What are popular job titles related to Director Data jobs in Columbus, OH? For Director Data jobs in Columbus, OH, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What job categories do people searching Director Data jobs in Columbus, OH look for? The top searched job categories for Director Data jobs in Columbus, OH are:
What cities near Columbus, OH are hiring for Director Data jobs? Cities near Columbus, OH with the most Director Data job openings:
Director Data jobs near you
Infographic showing various Director Data job openings in Columbus, OH as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Internship, 1% As Needed, 81% Full Time, 14% Part Time, 1% Temporary, and 2% Contract. Highlights an 93% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 5% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $124,143 per year, or $59.7 per hour.
Director, Data Platforms

Director, Data Platforms

Highlights for Children

Columbus, OH • On-site

Other

This job post has expired today. Applications are no longer accepted.

Job description

Director of Data Platforms
Highlights for Children is advancing a major digital and data transformation to enhance customer engagement, inspire innovation, and accelerate decision-making across the enterprise removing our dependency on the highly customized current system. The Director of Data Platforms will be the strategic and technical leader responsible for evolving our enterprise data platform into a modern, scalable, AI-ready ecosystem built on Microsoft Fabric and Azure. They will be accountable for delivering platform capabilities on time, on target, and on budget, establishing a culture of execution excellence and measurable outcomes.
Reporting to the SVP of IT, the Director of Data Platforms will guide a multidisciplinary team of engineers and architects, from the internal team and vendor partners. They will operate the data platform as a product, delivering reliable, governed, high-quality data capabilities that empower business teams, enable personalization and analytics, support digital product experiences, and unlock new value for the organization.
This role blends strategic partnership with hands-on expertise. We're looking for a hands-on leader who will work closely with stakeholders driving phased migrations with parallel legacy run, rigorous testing, and zero-disruption standards. They will shape platform direction, drive engineering excellence, steward governance practices, and champion a modern data culture across Highlights.
Key Responsibilities
Data Platform Strategy & Leadership
  • Co-develop and execute the enterprise data platform strategy in partnership with the SVP of IT and cross-functional business leaders.
  • Operate the data platform with a product mindset, owning the platform roadmap, backlog, release plans, and service quality.
  • Align platform capabilities with business priorities, enabling measurable impact tied to customer engagement, revenue opportunities, cost optimization, and innovation.
  • Champion responsible and ethical data use, ensuring the platform supports privacy, compliance, and trustworthy AI outcomes.
  • Ensure platform design supports Highlights' unified customer and household data needs, including cross-product identity resolution, metadata-rich lineage, and trustworthy personalization across channels.
Platform Modernization & Engineering Excellence
  • Lead the modernization and continuous enhancement of Highlights' enterprise data platform using Microsoft Fabric, Azure, and modern engineering patterns.
  • Oversee platform services that support scalable ELT/ETL pipelines, orchestration frameworks, real-time/event-driven data flows, semantic modeling, and reusable data products.
  • Architect and deliver platform features that support AI/ML workloads, including model pipelines, feature stores, vectorized data storage, and AI-ready data access patterns.
  • Drive reliability, observability, data quality, performance, and SLAs through modern DataOps and Site Reliability Engineering practices.
  • Lead risk-assessed, zero-data-loss migrations from legacy systems using automated testing, dual-run validation, and lineage auditability ensuring uninterrupted operations for our subscription, eCommerce, and multi-channel customer experiences.
  • Oversee the integration and unification of multi-source customer/household data (buyer, parent, child, educator) to support cross-channel engagement, subscription optimization, and personalization.
Platform-Enabled Data Governance & Quality
  • Advance enterprise data governance by integrating stewardship, ownership, metadata, and data quality controls directly into platform capabilities.
  • Implement automated governance and quality tooling-metadata services, lineage, cataloging, profiling, quality checks to create trustworthy, certified data products.
  • Ensure metadata, lineage, and household-level identity are embedded into the platform to support trustworthy decision-making and personalized customer experiences across Highlights' brands.
Cross-Functional Partnership & Influence
  • Be a strategic partner with Product, Marketing, Operations, Analytics, Finance, and Enterprise Applications to translate business needs into platform capabilities.
  • Work closely with the Director of Analytics to ensure seamless integration between the data platform and analytics/reporting ecosystems.
  • Communicate platform direction, progress, risks, and value clearly to executive stakeholders-translating complex technical concepts into business outcomes.
  • Build and leverage a strong internal and external professional network-including vendor partners, industry practitioners, and Microsoft ecosystem peers-to accelerate problem-solving and strengthen platform maturity.
Leadership, People, and Team Development
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary data platform team including data engineers, platform engineers, and data architects.
  • Provide hiring authority and budget ownership to shape a high-performing, scalable team aligned with transformation goals.
  • Serve as a change agent, fostering a data-driven mindset, challenging legacy processes, and driving adoption of modern engineering and governance practices.
  • Maintain a hands-on role when necessary-supporting architecture decisions, troubleshooting complex platform issues, and guiding strategic proofs of concept.
Required Qualifications
Technical Expertise
  • Proven experience modernizing enterprise data platforms using Microsoft Fabric and Azure cloud services.
  • Strong data architecture background with expertise across data modeling, platform patterns, governance tooling, and large-scale data systems.
  • Hands-on experience with ELT/ETL pipelines, orchestration, event-driven architectures, APIs, and real-time data flows.
  • Experience enabling ML engineering and data science teams through platform capabilities such as feature stores, model pipelines, and AI-ready data patterns.
  • Deep understanding of data governance frameworks, metadata management, data quality automation, and responsible data practices.
  • Familiarity with observability, monitoring, and reliability practices for data platforms.
  • Track record of owning platform security posture, including proactive risk identification, mitigation planning, incident response readiness, and security-by-design practices in partnership with Information Security.
  • Demonstrated ability to integrate identity, lineage, and metadata to support unified buyer/user/household data and personalized multi-channel customer experiences.
Leadership & Business Skills
  • Demonstrated success leading data engineering or data platform teams in a modernizing IT environment.
  • Ability to connect technical platform decisions to business outcomes and KPIs.
  • Strong communication, storytelling, and influence skills-comfortable engaging with both executives and technical teams.
  • Experience managing vendors, leveraging your professional network, evaluating emerging technologies, and optimizing platform spend and performance.
  • Ability to activate external networks: industry experts, vendors, peer communities-to accelerate learning curves and enhance platform quality.
Preferred Experience
  • Consumer, subscription-based, publishing, or digital product environments.
  • Background in customer engagement, personalization, or content-driven data use cases.
Expected Outcomes (First 12-18 Months)
  • A modern, scalable enterprise data platform is fully operational on Microsoft Fabric, replacing fragmented legacy components and serving as the foundation for the future.
  • Seamless legacy-to-Fabric migration achieved with zero data loss, no service disruptions, and ≥99.9% data accuracy, supported by automated testing, dual-run validation, and robust observability
  • Platform reliability, performance, and cost transparency materially improved, with clearly defined SLAs/SLOs, proactive monitoring, and predictable operating costs aligned to business usage.
  • Enterprise data governance embedded directly into the platform, including metadata, lineage, quality controls, and stewardship-resulting in trusted, certified data products used confidently across the organization enabling subscription optimization by turning subscriber data into a trusted, actionable asset-powering pricing, retention, personalization, and growth decisions at scale.
  • Unified, cross-channel customer and household data models established, enabling consistent reporting, trustworthy personalization, and improved subscription and engagement insights.
  • AI- and analytics-ready data capabilities delivered, supporting responsible experimentation, automation, and future ML use cases without compromising security or privacy.
  • Reusable data products and real-time data capabilities adopted by business teams, reducing manual reporting effort and accelerating decision-making across the enterprise.
  • A high-performing data platform team in place, operating with strong engineering discipline, clear ownership, effective vendor partnerships, and a culture of execution delivering outcomes on time, on target, and on budget that has clear impact on the IT team and business performance
  • Strong cross-functional trust and adoption achieved, with business partners viewing the data platform as a reliable, strategic asset rather than a bottleneck.
  • Operational customer 360 and unified household identity models enabling cross-channel personalization and subscription optimization.
  • You've built strong relationships with peers and stakeholders, resulting in strong adoption of modern data platform practices across IT and business teams.

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