Data Platform Lead

Data Platform Lead
Location: Prefer Richmond, VA; but will consider candidates in: Charlotte, NC; Pittsburgh, PA; Houston, TX; Austin, TX; Dallas, TX
*Must be authorized to work in the US without sponsorship ()
Schedule: Hybrid (3 Days In Office / 2 Remote; Tuesday & Wednesday Required In Office)
Type: Full-Time
Overview
Client is seeking a Data Platform Lead to own and oversee the firm's enterprise Data Lakehouse platform. This role serves as the primary liaison between business stakeholders, technology teams, vendors, and leadership to ensure the platform effectively supports reporting, analytics, business intelligence, and emerging AI initiatives.
This is a unique opportunity for someone who combines strong data platform knowledge with excellent communication, documentation, stakeholder management, and leadership skills. While technical expertise is important, this position is focused more on platform ownership and business partnership than day-to-day hands-on engineering.
The Data Platform Lead will provide both technical and functional leadership, helping shape the firm's data strategy while ensuring the ongoing operational health, growth, and adoption of the platform.
Key Responsibilities
Platform Ownership & Governance

• Own the overall operation, roadmap, enhancement, and lifecycle management of the firm's Data Lakehouse platform.
• Establish priorities and ensure platform initiatives align with business objectives, data strategy, and technology standards.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for all platform-related initiatives, enhancements, issues, and vendor interactions.
• Develop and maintain platform governance, standards, processes, and best practices.

Business Partnership

• Partner with business leaders, attorneys, and operational stakeholders to understand business processes, reporting needs, analytics requirements, and integration opportunities.
• Translate business requirements into actionable platform capabilities and data solutions.
• Communicate platform capabilities, priorities, and roadmap to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Drive adoption and awareness of the platform across the organization.

Data Management & Operations

• Oversee the integration of data from enterprise applications and approved external sources.
• Ensure data is properly validated, reconciled, and available to support:
  • Reporting and business intelligence
  • Advanced analytics
  • Predictive insights
  • Artificial intelligence initiatives
• Monitor platform operations, data quality, and data integration processes.
• Investigate data discrepancies, integration failures, connectivity issues, and other operational concerns.
• Coordinate issue resolution among internal teams, source system owners, and vendors.
• Establish data validation and reconciliation processes to ensure reporting accuracy and reliability.

Vendor & Technology Coordination

• Manage the relationship with the Data Lakehouse platform vendor.
• Coordinate support activities, escalations, enhancements, implementations, and roadmap discussions.
• Lead platform upgrades, releases, configuration changes, and testing efforts.
• Collaborate with Information Security, Infrastructure, Architecture, and Development teams to maintain platform stability, security, and compliance.

Leadership & Documentation

• Maintain comprehensive documentation including:
  • Data flows
  • Integration architecture
  • Operational procedures
  • Support processes
  • Vendor escalation procedures
  • Platform dependencies
• Provide guidance and direction to project teams supporting Data Lakehouse initiatives.
• Promote consistent practices related to development, integrations, testing, security, documentation, and operations.
• Stay informed on emerging technologies related to cloud data platforms, analytics, automation, and artificial intelligence.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience supporting, administering, managing, or owning enterprise data, analytics, application, or business-critical technology platforms.
• Experience with enterprise data platforms, data integration, data pipelines, or business intelligence environments.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure and Databricks.
• Working knowledge of SQL, including the ability to:
  • Query data
  • Reconcile source and target data
  • Validate data loads
  • Investigate discrepancies
  • Troubleshoot data issues
• Understanding of:
  • Data integration concepts
  • ETL/ELT processes
  • Incremental data loading
  • Scheduling and dependencies
  • Error handling
  • Data validation
• Experience managing technology vendors and third-party support relationships.
• Strong experience gathering business requirements and translating them into technical solutions.
• Demonstrated success leading cross-functional initiatives without direct people-management responsibility.
• Experience with platform operations, release management, incident resolution, documentation, and production support.
• Understanding of data security, access controls, and confidential data handling.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, written, verbal, and presentation skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Entegrata or a similar enterprise Data Lakehouse platform.
• Strong understanding of Databricks-based environments.
• Experience with Microsoft Fabric, Entra ID, or related Azure technologies.
• Experience with Power BI or enterprise reporting and business intelligence platforms.
• Knowledge of:
  • Data governance
  • Data lineage
  • Data quality
  • Data architecture
  • Dimensional modeling
• Experience supporting analytics, AI, or advanced reporting initiatives.
• Background within legal, professional services, consulting, healthcare, financial services, or other data-intensive industries.
• Experience supporting audits, security reviews, technology risk assessments, or client security questionnaires.
• Relevant Azure, cloud, analytics, or data platform certifications.

Ideal Candidate
The successful candidate will be:

• Highly personable and professional
• Comfortable interacting with executives, firm leadership, and technical teams
• An excellent communicator and relationship builder
• Strong in documentation and process management
• Skilled at bringing stakeholders together and driving initiatives forward
• Able to translate technical concepts into business language
• Experienced in platform ownership rather than solely hands-on engineering

Ideal backgrounds include:

• Data Platform Lead
• Data Product Owner
• Analytics Platform Manager
• Data Governance Lead
• Enterprise Data Manager
• Data Operations Manager
• Databricks Administrator
• BI Platform Manager
• Data Program Manager

Key technologies: Databricks, Azure, Entegrata, Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, SQL.
Most important qualities: Platform ownership, stakeholder engagement, communication, documentation, vendor management, business-facing leadership, and the ability to bridge business and technology teams.
#DICE