Dir Data Engineering

UKG

About The Position

At UKG, the work you do matters. The code you ship, the decisions you make, and the care you show a customer all add up to real impact. Today, tens of millions of workers start and end their days with our workforce operating platform. Helping people get paid, grow in their careers, and shape the future of their industries. That’s what we do. We never stop learning. We never stop challenging the norm. We push for better, and we celebrate the wins along the way. Here, you’ll get flexibility that’s real, benefits you can count on, and a team that succeeds together. Because at UKG, your work matters—and so do you. The Director, Data Engineering will lead a core data engineering function within EDAO, responsible for building and scaling modern, cloud-native data pipelines and data products that power UKG’s enterprise analytics, Customer 360, CX Intelligence, GTM, and Finance insights. This leader will drive execution of the enterprise data platform strategy on GCP (BigQuery), ensure delivery excellence across ingestion, transformation, and modeling layers, and build a high-performing engineering team aligned to Simplify, Standardize, and Scale principles. This role balances hands-on architectural oversight, strong people leadership, and cross-functional partnership to deliver reliable, governed, and business-aligned data solutions.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in data engineering, data platform development, or analytics engineering.
3–5+ years leading teams and engineering managers.
Strong hands-on experience with:
GCP (BigQuery preferred)
Distributed data processing and orchestration
Enterprise-scale data modeling
Performance optimization and cost management
Experience modernizing or consolidating legacy data environments.
Strong communication skills and ability to work across technical and business stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Experience with data mesh or domain-driven data product models.
Exposure to ERP/CRM data ecosystems (D365, Salesforce, etc.).
Experience enabling Customer 360 or enterprise-wide metric standardization initiatives.
Familiarity with AI/ML-ready data pipelines.

Responsibilities

Data Engineering Execution & Platform Delivery
Lead the design, build, and optimization of scalable data pipelines on GCP (BigQuery ecosystem).
Ensure reliability, performance, and cost efficiency of enterprise data workloads.
Implement best practices for:
Data modeling and transformation
CI/CD for data pipelines
Observability and monitoring
Data quality validation and controls
Support consolidation of legacy data platforms into unified cloud architectures.
Data Products & Domain Alignment
Partner with business stakeholders (CX, GTM, Finance, Product) to translate requirements into robust, reusable data products.
Enable trusted, standardized metrics across enterprise reporting and Customer 360 initiatives.
Support executive-facing analytics platforms and curated insight experiences.
Drive clarity around ownership of domain-specific data products.
Governance, Security & Standards
Operationalize data governance practices in collaboration with architecture and security teams.
Ensure proper handling of sensitive data (PII, financial data) with role-based access and compliance controls.
Promote metric consistency and semantic standardization across teams.
People Leadership & Talent Development
Lead and develop a team of data engineers and technical leads.
Coach managers and senior engineers to elevate technical rigor and delivery discipline.
Foster a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement.
Partner with recruiting to attract top-tier cloud data engineering talent.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Work closely with Enterprise Architecture to align implementation with approved patterns.
Partner with Analytics Engineering, BI, and Data Science teams to ensure seamless downstream consumption.
Act as a trusted technical leader within EDAO for data engineering best practices.