Director, Financial Data Operations and Delivery

Berkley•Urbandale, IA

About The Position

This position supports the Corporate Financial Data and Analysis function by designing, maintaining, and modernizing the finance data architecture, reporting platforms, and analytical environments used by Corporate Finance, operating units, actuarial, information technology, and other enterprise stakeholders. It provides technical and functional support for Oracle Essbase, Oracle Analytics Server, PeopleSoft financial data, Vena, BDW, ledger-related processes, data warehouse integrations, and financial reporting data flows. The role supports recurring production processes; troubleshoots data and reporting issues; maintains and enhances Essbase cubes and related jobs; assists with ledger and financial close data validation; and partners with business and technology teams to improve the reliability, scalability, and transparency of finance data. It also supports modernization efforts to migrate and refactor finance data processes into expanded AI-enabled analytics and exception handling, strengthen data governance, and reduce manual effort across financial reporting, reconciliations, data calls, and close-related activities. The position translates finance and accounting requirements into technical solutions; develops and maintains reports, databases, scripts, queries, integrations, and ETL/ELT processes; supports production operations; assists with system upgrades and platform transitions; and communicates with internal business users, technology partners, vendors, and operating unit stakeholders. It provides strategic and technical leadership for the Financial Data and Analysis team and business partners, establishing priorities and accountability for production support, financial data architecture, reporting platforms, data quality, and modernization. It also leads, coaches, and develops team members, building capabilities in Databricks, AI-enabled analytics, automation, and modern lake house technologies.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent; preferably in actuarial science, math, or computer science.
12–15+ years of experience in finance data architecture, data engineering, business intelligence, financial reporting systems, data warehousing, analytics, or related technical support roles.
Strong SQL experience, preferably with Microsoft SQL Server and enterprise financial data warehouse environments.
Experience leading or managing a team.
Experience developing, maintaining, or supporting ETL/ELT processes, data integrations, data pipelines, batch jobs, and production data workflows.
Experience with Oracle Essbase, Oracle Analytics Server, Smart View, financial reporting cubes, dimensional structures, metadata, and cube refresh or maintenance processes.
Experience supporting finance, accounting, ledger, close, planning, budgeting, reconciliation, allocation, or statutory reporting processes.
Strong project management, organizational, prioritization, and planning skills, including managing competing demands, recurring production responsibilities, and modernization initiatives.
Ability to understand complex finance, accounting, actuarial, and insurance reporting requirements and translate them into effective data and technology solutions.
Strong analytical, critical-thinking, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills, including diagnosing root causes across data, process, system, and business-rule issues.
Ability to work effectively across Corporate Finance, operating units, actuarial, technology, data governance, vendor, and support teams.
Strong communication skills, including explaining technical issues to business users, documenting support procedures, and summarizing risks, dependencies, and recommended actions.
Commitment to data quality, control, auditability, documentation, supportability, and customer service.
Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, and provide leadership in ambiguous or evolving technical and business environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Databricks, lake house architecture, Unity Catalog, Databricks SQL, notebooks, workflow orchestration, APIs, or cloud-based data modernization.
Familiarity with AI-enabled analytics, semantic layers, metadata management, business definitions, exception detection, automation, and self-service finance reporting.
Working knowledge of financial data, general ledger structures, chart fields, accounting hierarchies, month-end close processes, and downstream reporting dependencies.
Multi-line property and casualty insurance experience.

Responsibilities

Design, develop, maintain, and support finance data architecture, data warehouse structures, ETL/ELT processes, scripts, queries, reports, dashboards, cubes, and analytical environments.
Support Databricks modernization by identifying legacy finance processes to migrate, refactoring data jobs, validating results between legacy and Databricks environments, supporting workflow orchestration, and establishing scalable data processing patterns.
Assist with transitioning legacy SQL Server, DataStage, SSIS, OAS, Essbase, and other processes toward Databricks and modern lake house architecture where appropriate.
Support AI and automation initiatives by preparing trusted finance data, defining business rules, identifying exception-handling opportunities, improving metadata and semantic definitions, and enabling self-service analytics, AI-assisted inquiry, and governed data access.
Provide production support for Oracle Essbase, Oracle Analytics Server, PeopleSoft warehouse data, Vena integrations, BDW reporting processes, and related financial reporting platforms.
Monitor recurring finance data processes, including nightly and monthly cube refreshes, data loads, job failures, close-related processing, and system-generated exception messages; investigate issues and coordinate resolution.
Maintain, troubleshoot, and enhance Essbase cubes and reporting structures, including PeopleSoft company cubes, BDW cubes, Schedule P, Schedule F, corporate dashboard, auditing, and allocation use cases.
Support ledger and financial close processes, including hierarchy maintenance, new general ledger accounts, close error monitoring, PeopleSoft data validation, month-end close reporting, balancing, reconciliation, and downstream reporting impacts.
Partner with Corporate Finance, operating units, actuarial teams, and technology teams to define requirements, resolve data issues, validate results, and implement reporting and data integration improvements.
Document processes, data flows, system dependencies, controls, validations, support procedures, and modernization changes.
Provide technical analysis and support for finance data requests, including historical general ledger data, BDW validation, premium, loss, producer, expense, reinsurance, allocation, and other financial or operational datasets.
Assist with ServiceNow requests, security access, user support, Smart View and reporting access, data availability questions, and troubleshooting for finance reporting users.
Participate in system maintenance, upgrades, disaster recovery planning, server migrations, platform testing, and production deployments for finance data and reporting systems.
Apply sound development and support practices, including code review, testing, documentation, version control, issue tracking, deployment coordination, and communication of risks, dependencies, and downstream impacts.
Provide strategic and technical leadership for the Financial Data and Analysis team and business partners; establish priorities and accountability across production support, data architecture, reporting platforms, data quality, and modernization initiatives.
Lead, coach, and develop team members by providing technical direction and promoting disciplined practices for testing, documentation, controls, issue resolution, and change management; build capabilities in Databricks, AI-enabled analytics, automation, and modern lake house technologies.