Director Data Engineering & Platforms

Alaska Airlines • Seatac, WA

1d

About The Position

The Director Data Engineering & Platforms is responsible for leading the strategy, delivery and governance of enterprise data services and platforms across Alaska Air Group. This role requires a visionary leader, someone that can navigate the complex data landscape, strike a balance between building foundation and taking risks to move fast, and ensure that our data is AI ready. We are going through an exciting journey of data modernization, and you will get to lead the transformation that is tied to customer loyalty, revenue, and operations efficiency. The team is comprised of a geographically distributed workforce, including employees and contractors. This role will partner with Business and Technology leaders to drive critical business outcomes while maintaining data products that are compliant with architectural standards.

Requirements

• 8 years of experience in data warehousing and data management.
• 5 years of leadership experience, with at least 2 of those years directly leading people.
• Bachelor’s degree with a focus in computer science, engineering, information systems or related field, or an additional two years of relevant training/experience in lieu of this degree.
• Proven experience designing and operating large-scale cloud-native data platforms.
• Experience with data governance, data quality, and enterprise data management frameworks.
• Demonstrated ownership of budget, vendor strategy and outcome-based management experience.
• Proven ability to manage and prioritize conflicting priorities from various business partners.
• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Minimum age of 18.
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S.

Nice To Haves

• Airline, transportation, or similar industry experience.
• Experience leading Databricks implementation and Lakehouse architecture.
• Familiarity with tools and practices for data management, CI/CD for data and analytics engineering.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the enterprise Data Services strategy, aligned with business objectives and technology roadmaps.
• Act as a trusted advisor on how modern data platforms, analytics, and AI can unlock business value.
• Serve as the primary owner of data services architecture patterns, integration standards, and platform capabilities.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture to ensure alignment between application and data architecture.
• Lead and mature the Data Architecture Council, ensuring consistent, high-quality architectural and data design decisions.
• Lead and scale high-performing data engineering teams responsible for ingestion, transformation, and orchestration of enterprise data.
• Drive modernization initiatives, including migration from legacy data platforms to Databricks and cloud-native technologies.
• Play a key role in defining and operationalizing data governance, including data quality, lineage, metadata, and stewardship.
• Ensure platforms are reliable, performant, secure, and cost-efficient.
• Foster an environment that is conducive to innovation, continuous improvement, collaborative teamwork, and delivery of quality solutions.
• Proactively attract, select, and retain strong performers and continually develop the team by setting clear objectives and providing coaching and meaningful feedback.
• Manage budgets, vendor relationships, and strategic technology partnerships.

Benefits

• Free stand-by travel privileges on Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines & Horizon Air with high priority status
• Select number of confirmed travel credits provided annually
• Comprehensive well-being programs including medical, dental and vision benefits
• Generous 401k match program
• Quarterly and annual bonus plans
• Generous holiday and paid time off

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director