Director of Data

State of Oklahoma•Oklahoma City, OK

23h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Data is accountable for the State of Oklahoma’s enterprise data platform, ensuring it is secure, reliable, and cost-effective while modernizing it to meet agencies’ future needs. The position leads a small, hands-on team of database administrators, data engineers, and analytics professionals and serves as the primary technology partner to state agencies on storing, sharing, protecting, and using data. Success is measured by platform reliability, agency adoption and satisfaction, and the measurable value data creates for residents. The role oversees platform operations across on-premises and cloud database environments; develops and executes a multi-year modernization roadmap; and partners with agencies to deliver data and analytics services. It also supports data governance, security, privacy, regulatory compliance, team development, budgeting, cost recovery, and vendor management. The work is primarily in an office or hybrid environment, with occasional after-hours and weekend availability for critical incidents, maintenance windows, and major releases, and possible in-state travel to agency sites.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, or a related field; equivalent experience may substitute on a year-for-year basis.
At least 10 years of progressive experience in database administration, data engineering, data platforms, or analytics.
At least 5 years leading technical teams, including direct supervision of DBAs, engineers, or analysts.
Demonstrated experience operating enterprise database platforms in production at scale, including high availability, backup and recovery, and performance tuning.
Experience with cloud data services and hybrid on-premises/cloud environments.
Working knowledge of data security, privacy, and regulatory requirements for sensitive data.
Ability to obtain and maintain required background clearance, including CJIS fingerprint-based checks.
Occasional after-hours and weekend availability is required for critical incidents, maintenance windows, and major releases.
Some in-state travel to agency sites may be required.

Nice To Haves

Experience in state or local government, or another highly regulated environment such as healthcare, insurance, or financial services.
Experience delivering data platform modernization, cloud migration, or lakehouse implementation.
Familiarity with modern analytics and data tools such as Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Databricks, Snowflake, or comparable tools.
Experience establishing data governance, data sharing agreements, or data-for-AI readiness programs.
Experience with IT financial management, including chargeback or showback models.
Relevant certifications such as Microsoft Azure Data Engineer, Azure Database Administrator, CDMP, PMP, or ITIL.
Experience with GCP, Oracle, and Azure cloud data services.

Responsibilities

Own day-to-day operation, availability, performance, and capacity of on-premises and cloud data platform environments.
Establish and report service level objectives for availability, recovery time, recovery point, and query performance.
Direct backup, recovery, patching, upgrades, and disaster recovery practices, including regular disaster recovery testing.
Partner with the Service Operations Team on observability, alerting, incident command, and problem management.
Automate routine database administration, including provisioning, patching, monitoring, and access requests.
Develop and execute a multi-year platform roadmap covering consolidation, cloud migration, data integration, and enterprise analytics.
Evaluate and introduce capabilities such as lakehouse architecture, self-service analytics, real-time data sharing, and AI/ML-ready data where they provide agency value.
Rationalize the database and tooling portfolio to reduce licensing costs, technical debt, and end-of-support exposure.
Establish reference architectures and reusable patterns for agency onboarding.
Advise agency CIOs, program leaders, and data stewards, translating mission needs into data and analytics solutions.
Build and manage a service catalog with clear intake, prioritization, and onboarding processes.
Facilitate secure, lawful cross-agency data sharing through agreements and standardized integration patterns.
Lead analytics engagements that help agencies measure outcomes, improve operations, and support evidence-based policy decisions.
Run agency forums, roadmap reviews, and satisfaction feedback loops, and act on feedback.
Partner with security, privacy, and agency stakeholders to implement data classification, access control, encryption, and auditing standards.
Ensure platform compliance with applicable regulations, frameworks, privacy laws, and records retention schedules.
Support enterprise data governance, metadata management, data quality, and master data practices.
Ensure data used for AI and advanced analytics meets state AI governance and responsible-use requirements.
Lead, coach, and develop DBAs, data engineers, and analysts; set goals and hold the team accountable.
Build cross-training and skills development to reduce dependence on single points of knowledge.
Plan workforce needs, hire for future skills, and foster ownership, automation, and service to agencies.
Participate in agile planning and delivery, maintaining a transparent, prioritized backlog.
Develop and manage the platform budget, including licensing, cloud consumption, and contracted services.
Support cost recovery with accurate chargeback or billback models and transparent agency cost and usage reporting.
Manage vendor relationships, contracts, and performance, and lead procurement activities in accordance with state requirements.