Data Director

Kemin•Des Moines, IA

20h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Data defines Kemin’s enterprise data strategy and provides architectural direction, standards, and prioritization to enable analytics, business intelligence, and AI initiatives. Operating within a hybrid model, this role sets enterprise data architecture expectations and governance while closely partnering with IT teams responsible for execution and platform operations. The Director of Data aligns data priorities with business, Operations, R&D, Finance, etc. needs, restores trust in enterprise data, and ensures data investments translate into measurable business value. Join the Kemin Team and Transform Lives! We are a privately held, family-owned-and-operated global biotechnology company driven by curiosity and committed to transforming the quality of life for people, pets, and the planet. We create solutions that strengthen health and wellbeing, provide nutrition and immune support for pets and production animals, safeguard the planet’s natural resources, and protect the global food supply chain for generations to come. We supply over 500 specialty ingredients for various industries, including human and animal health and nutrition, pet food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, food technologies, crop technologies, textiles, biofuels, and animal vaccines. We employ 3,500 global employees and operations in 90 countries, including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Italy, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa, and the United States.

Requirements

Bachelors Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, or Analytics with 10+ years of related experience.
Strong executive communication skills; able to translate data strategy into business outcomes for non-technical leadership.
Background in manufacturing, life sciences, chemicals, CPG, or other R&D-intensive, data-complex environments.
Demonstrated success improving data quality, trust, and usability across fragmented systems and legacy platforms.
Experience partnering with IT architecture and engineering teams while setting enterprise data standards, priorities, and design expectations.
Strong understanding of modern data platforms (e.g., lakehouse architectures) and their role in enabling analytics and AI.
Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive alignment without direct authority.
Experience establishing or scaling data governance frameworks, stewardship models, or domain ownership structures.

Responsibilities

Establish the enterprise data strategy and target‑state architecture that supports analytics, AI, and decision‑making use cases.
Translate business, Operations, Finance, R&D, etc. priorities into clear data architecture and sequencing guidance.
Define what "analytics-ready" and “AI-ready” data means at Kemin and ensure alignment across teams.
Define and maintain data standards, patterns, and design principles for structured and unstructured data.
Provide functional leadership and architectural direction to data architecture resources operating within IT.
Chair or co‑chair architecture governance forums to review designs, resolve tradeoffs, and approve exceptions.
Define governance frameworks, roles, and accountability models aligned to high‑value data domains.
Set data quality thresholds and improvement priorities based on analytics and AI business needs.
Partner with IT and business data owners to remediate critical data quality issues and improve usability.
Define platform expectations and workload strategies (e.g., Databricks, Fabric) to support analytics and AI use cases.
Partner with IT to ensure platform decisions are aligned to data strategy rather than infrastructure convenience alone.
Ensure priority AI pilots and analytics initiatives are supported by appropriate data foundations and pipelines.
Partner with Finance to define ROI measurement frameworks and baseline metrics for data and AI investments.
Align stakeholders on priorities, trade offs, and sequencing when data quality or architecture constraints exist.
Communicate data strategy, progress, and risks clearly to senior leadership in business terms.

Benefits

Competitive salary
Uncapped bonus opportunities
401k match program
Generous paid vacation and holidays
Fitness reimbursement for the whole family
Access to an on-site fitness center
Restaurant offering seasonal fresh food options
Free fresh fruit in break areas
Opportunities for growth and development throughout your entire career
In-house learning platforms, offering thousands of training resources both live and online
Tuition reimbursement for external post-secondary pursuits
Paid time off for service
Partnerships with The World Food Programme and Habitat for Humanity
Local community initiatives