Senior Engineering Manager - Data

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced, strategic, and visionary Senior Engineering Manager - Data to lead the long-term evolution, governance, and operations of Workiva’s multi-tenant data platform sub-function.

About the Role

This platform serves as the foundational bedrock underpinning our enterprise and customer-facing applications, operating at a global scale under the highest standards of security, compliance, and reliability. In this role, you will navigate highly ambiguous environments to shape the future of Workiva’s data ecosystem.

Strategic Leadership & Sub-Function Governance

• Develop, communicate, and execute the long-term strategic objectives for Workiva’s multi-tenant data platform sub-function, ensuring alignment with enterprise-wide objectives
• Partner closely with senior functional managers and establish exposure with Operational Leaders to align the platform with corporate compliance, security, and governance standards
• Exercise independent judgment to establish sub-function policies and practices that drive long-term engineering success and reduce system friction
• Formulate and deliver persuasive, data-backed recommendations to influence and inform decision-making at the Director and Senior Director levels
• Maintain a deep awareness of global nuances across your distributed US and European teams, adapting your messaging and leadership style to drive consistent execution

Platform Evolution & Mitigating Enterprise Risk

• Own the architectural direction, scaling, and continuous improvement of the platform’s ingestion, transformation, and serving layers across highly ambiguous technical landscapes
• Tackle complex, high-impact problems where data analysis requires evaluating intangible factors and balancing short- and long-term business trade-offs
• Accountable for sub-functional operational excellence, including cost transparency mechanisms, observability, and infrastructure optimizations that prevent critical operational delays
• Anticipate future enterprise scaling vectors to drive platform capabilities supporting advanced analytics, AI/ML pipelines, and external-facing data products

Multi-Team Building & Leadership Modeling

• Directly and indirectly manage a high-performing, distributed sub-function comprising multiple engineering squads, providing strong leadership examples for the broader organization
• Assume full people management responsibility for your sub-function, including workforce planning, hiring, talent retention, annual performance evaluations, and compensation reviews
• Foster an inclusive culture of accountability and high ownership where distributed engineering teams are empowered to solve systemic data problems

Execution & High-Impact Delivery

• Translate high-level enterprise strategy into actionable multi-team roadmaps, ensuring your direct-report managers are aligned on milestone delivery
• Ensure the continuous improvement of self-service capabilities that allow application teams to innovate rapidly and securely without bottlenecking on core data infrastructure
• Set and track rigorous sub-functional KPIs around platform adoption, resilience, system availability, and customer outcomes

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree with 8+ years of related engineering experience, OR Master’s degree with 6+ years, OR PhD with 4+ years of related experience
• Management Experience: 3+ years of direct people management experience, specifically including the supervisory experience of entry-level engineering managers and/or leading multiple concurrent engineering squads
• Scope: Demonstrated experience owning an engineering sub-function or multi-team domain in a high-growth, production-grade environment
• Preferred Qualifications: Proven track record of scaling distributed global engineering teams (US and EMEA), managing the complexities of varying time zones and cultural nuances; Deep technical expertise in modern data platform components: ingestion frameworks (e.g., DLT, Kafka), transformation tools (e.g., dbt), and enterprise serving layers (e.g., Snowflake); Strong capability to navigate high ambiguity and make metrics-driven decisions when faced with intangible or conflicting business factors; Exceptional persuasive communication and stakeholder management skills, with a track record of successfully influencing Director-level business and technical leaders; Full lifecycle people management experience, including handling performance corrections, organizational design, and compensation planning