Director of Data Operations

MGM Resorts International•Las Vegas, NV

1d•Onsite

About The Position

MGM Resorts International is seeking a strategic, proactive, and highly analytical Director of Data Operations to lead the operational health, performance, and continuous improvement of our enterprise data platforms. In this critical leadership role, you will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day data operations, driving team and platform productivity, and executing strategies to reduce technology debt across our data ecosystem. The ideal candidate will bridge the gap between technical operations and business impact, demonstrating a strong technical foundation in modern data architectures alongside the ability to communicate operational complexities in clear, non-technical terms to business stakeholders.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, Business Analytics, or a related field (or equivalent work experience) Required
10+ Years of Prior Relevant Experience in data operations, data engineering, or IT platform management, with at least 3+ years in a leadership or director-level capacity Required
Technical Skills: Strong hands-on knowledge and experience with modern cloud data architectures (Azure preferred) and Databricks Required
Incident & Problem Management: Proven track record of managing structured incident management frameworks, reducing incident rates, and executing successful escalation procedures Required
Communication: Exceptional ability to communicate complex technical operational issues in clear, business-friendly, non-technical terms to senior business leaders Required

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary point of escalation for high-priority operational incidents, ensuring rapid, structured coordination and swift resolution.
Lead post-incident reviews and root-cause analysis (RCA) to identify systemic problems, transitioning the operations team from reactive firefighting to proactive prevention.
Define, monitor, and report on operational Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) focused on system stability, incident trends, and recovery times.
Translate complex technical system statuses, operational issues, and platform roadmaps into clear, non technical language tailored for business leaders and VPs.
Act as the trusted operational partner to business stakeholders, ensuring they are kept informed of data platform health, system availability, and the business impact of major incidents.
Coordinate cross-functional communication during critical operational windows, ensuring aligned expectations between IT-Development and business units.
Drive continuous process and workflow improvements to significantly boost operational productivity and reduce manual overhead for the engineering and operations teams. Streamline critical operational workflows and processes, to optimize business performance and overall efficiency.
Implement intelligent automation strategies to replace manual interventions, ensuring a scalable and highly resilient data infrastructure. Partner with Data Engineering and Architecture teams to identify, prioritize, and systematically reduce technical debt across the data ecosystem.
Manage the strategic, low-risk decommissioning of legacy systems (e.g., legacy ETL tools and associated environments) while ensuring seamless transitions to modern platforms.
Lead the operational health of enterprise data platforms and pipelines, including proactive monitoring and workload automation (e.g., Control-M).
Collaborate with Data Compliance and Governance teams to enforce robust data governance standards, lineage, and access controls.
Leverage enterprise data governance tools to manage data quality, metadata cataloging, and security protocols across cloud platforms.
Manage relationships with strategic vendors, evaluate technology proposals, and provide key commercial and technical recommendations.
Mentor, develop, and lead a high-performing, customer centric data operations team.