Director, Data Engineering (US)

Code and Theory•New York, NY

2d•$185,000 - $240,000

About The Position

Code and Theory is seeking a Technical Director to own the vision, architecture, and delivery of its data platform and the engineering organization behind it. The role sets technical direction for how the agency collects, models, and activates data to power analytics, predictive models, and generative AI across the agency and its clients. The ideal candidate is a product-minded technologist and credible hands-on architect who can translate business strategy into data and platform development and build teams deliberately alongside systems. The Technical Director has broad authority over technical strategy, standards, and staffing. The role partners with agency leadership, client stakeholders, and the Machine Learning team; contributes to budget and roadmap decisions; and defines the culture and craft of a world-class data organization. The position balances client-facing delivery with internal platform investment and oversees data governance, privacy, and security practices. Code and Theory is a digital-first creative agency founded in 2001, with teams distributed across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Its global network includes Kettle, Instrument, Left Field Labs, Create Group, Current, and TrueLogic. The network comprises nearly 2,000 people, with 50% engineers and 50% creative talent. The compensation range for this role is $185,000–$240,000; actual compensation depends on factors including skills, experience, budget, and location.

Requirements

10+ years in data engineering or adjacent disciplines.
3+ years leading teams or technical organizations.
A record of designing and scaling data platforms from the ground up.
Demonstrated ability to set technical strategy and tie it to measurable business outcomes, including prioritizing and funding competing initiatives.
Substantial work experience activating company data lakes into data-driven product backends.
Deep expertise in cloud data platforms and the judgment to choose among them.
Strong technical fluency in Python and SQL.
Substantial experience with AI-powered coding, agentic engineering, and AI-enabled workflows.
Proven ability to hire, mentor, and grow engineers and leads and establish standards and best practices.
Exceptional communication and influence, including the ability to work across technical levels in a 50/50 Tech/Creative organization and represent the data organization to senior leadership and clients.

Nice To Haves

Experience owning data governance, privacy compliance, and security programs.
Working knowledge of marketing data ecosystems such as GA4, advertising platforms, CRMs, and CDPs.
Experience integrating AI/ML capabilities into data pipelines and shipping GenAI applications to production.
Experience in an agency or consultancy environment, balancing client-facing delivery with internal platform investment.
Experience leading adoption of AI-powered coding, agentic engineering, and AI-enabled workflows across a team.

Responsibilities

Own the vision, architecture, and roadmap for Code and Theory’s data platform, setting technical strategy tied to measurable business outcomes.
Design and scale systems that collect, model, and activate data, turning data lakes into data-driven product backends for analytics, predictive models, and generative AI.
Partner with agency leadership, client stakeholders, and the Machine Learning team to translate business strategy into platform and data development.
Contribute to budget and roadmap decisions, prioritizing and funding competing initiatives.
Select and standardize cloud data platforms and tooling using strong technical judgment.
Remain hands-on as an architect and set engineering quality standards and best practices across Python, SQL, and modern data workflows.
Lead adoption of AI-powered coding, agentic engineering, and AI-enabled workflows across the engineering organization.
Hire, mentor, and grow engineers and leads, and shape the culture and craft of the data organization.
Represent the data organization to senior leadership and clients, communicating across technical and creative audiences.
Balance client-facing delivery with internal platform investment, and oversee data governance, privacy, and security practices.