THECB - Director of Data Engineering (ITS)

Job Description

Your job application must be completely filled out. Resumes do not take the place of the requirement to include this information on the application

About the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) works to ensure that all Texans have access to highquality, affordable higher education opportunities that prepare students for successful careers and strengthen the state's workforce and economy. Through collaboration with colleges, universities, policymakers, and education partners across Texas, THECB advances initiatives that expand educational opportunity, promote student success, and support the future of higher education.

About Information Technology Services
The Information Technology Services (ITS) Division advances THECB's mission by delivering secure, reliable, and customerfocused technology services that enable agency staff to effectively serve Texas students, institutions, and communities.

Our organization is committed to operational excellence through modern technology, strong governance, strategic partnerships, and continuous improvement. We are modernizing how technology services are delivered by strengthening infrastructure and operational resilience, advancing cloudfirst and hybrid infrastructure, improving platform reliability and security, and building a culture centered on accountability, collaboration, innovation, and service excellence.

At THECB, we believe technology is more than infrastructure and support. It is a strategic business partner that enables our agency to better serve students, institutions, and the State of Texas.

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 is authorized for a hybrid telework schedule. Employees are required to work in the office two (2) days per week, with the remaining three (3) days eligible for telework. Specific inoffice days may be determined by the department to meet business needs.

Military Crosswalk: _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 collaboration with Product Management, Product Engineering, and portfolio or program management functions.
Demonstrated experience leading data platform modernization efforts, including transitioning legacy data warehouses and reporting environments toward cloudbased, softwareasaservice (SaaS), or cloudnative data platforms.
Experience establishing technology strategies that emphasize cloudfirst and configurable or commercial solutions, including build versus buy decisionmaking and platform evaluation.
Experience designing and delivering enterprise data pipelines, integration, and analytics solutions on cloud data platforms and analytics tools, particularly Snowflake and Power BI, including data quality and governance controls.
Demonstrated ability to lead and develop highperforming technical teams while managing crossfunctional initiatives across business, product, and engineering stakeholders.
Experience with organizational planning, including capacity management, resource alignment, and prioritization across a portfolio of work.
Experience in public sector or government technology environments.

Physical Requirements and/or Working Conditions:
Work is performed in a standard office environment and requires:
Regular, reliable, and punctual attendance at work.
Frequent use of personal computers, copiers, printers, telephones, and other standard office equipment.
Frequent sitting, with occasional standing, walking, and movement throughout the office.
Frequent interaction with agency leadership, staff, vendors, and external stakeholders.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet established deadlines in a fastpaced environment.

Workforce:
Must be able to:
Demonstrate a strong commitment to customer service and the agency's mission.
Provide strategic leadership that promotes collaboration, accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Build and maintain effective working relationships with agency leadership, staff, vendors, and external stakeholders.
Show flexibility and adaptability to changing priorities, assignments, and organizational needs, including working extended hours when necessary.
Adhere to the agency's internal management policies, procedures, and applicable federal and state requirements.
Contribute to the agency's strategic goals, organizational performance measures, and mission.

Application Requirements:
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is an Equal Opportunity Employer. A State of Texas application is required to apply. For more information on how to apply for this position, go to the Coordinating Board's employment opportunities website at

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board participates in EVerify for each new employees Form I9 to confirm work authorization. For questions, please call the HR Department at . For vocal and/or hearing assistance call 711.

Notes to Applicant:
If you require any reasonable accommodation for the interview process, please inform the hiring representative who calls to schedule your interview. This position has been designated as a security sensitive position. A criminal background investigation will be conducted on the final candidate for this position.

Your job application must be completely filled out. Your application must contain dates of employment, job titles, name of employer and a description of duties performed in a way that demonstrates you meet the minimum qualifications for the position for which you are applying. Resumes do not take the place of the requirement to include this information on the application. If this information is not submitted, your application may be rejected because it is incomplete.

Veterans Information: THECB is committed to hiring Veterans. To receive Veteran's Preference, a copy of the FORM DD214 member #4, must be attached when submitting your application.

AN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER: THECB does not discriminate on the basis, of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability in employment or the provision of services.

Job offer and continuation of employment with THECB is contingent upon:
Proof of education and experience listed on the application.
Eligibility/authorization to work in the U.S.
Satisfactory results from a preemployment criminal history background check.
Compliance with the Selective Service Law for males ages 1825. Please be advised that under Texas law, names and other information concerning applicants or nominees may be subject to disclosure upon request.

THECB does not allow dual employment with other state of Texas agencies or institutions.

Skills assessment may be conducted at time of interview.

Salary for this position will be commensurate with experience and qualifications.

No phone calls or emails, please. Due to the high volume of applications, we do not accept telephone calls and cannot reply to all email inquiries. Only candidates selected for interview will be contacted.