Enterprise Data Manager

County of Orange • Santa Ana, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

OCERS is seeking an Enterprise Data Manager to lead its enterprise data strategy, governance, quality, architecture, and analytics capabilities. Reporting to the Director of Information Technology, this upper-management position is accountable for building and governing OCERS’ enterprise data estate and ensuring pension, member, employer, financial, and operational data is trusted, secure, accessible, and fit for business use. The manager will work with internal departments, participating employers, project teams, and implementation partners to ensure data supporting the Horizon Pension Administration System is accurate, timely, reconciled, and ready for pension administration. The role is intended to improve data quality at its source, reduce downstream corrections and manual work, and support accurate, efficient service to members.

The Enterprise Data Manager will establish a formal data stewardship program, partnering with business data owners and departmental stewards to define standards, maintain data quality, and build data literacy. The role oversees the Data Analyst classification and may manage additional analytical staff, contractors, and specialized service providers. It also manages data-related vendors and service agreements, staff performance and development, and the evaluation and responsible application of AI, automation, and machine learning.

The position leads enterprise data governance and quality programs; Horizon data readiness, migration, reconciliation, validation, and cutover activities; employer data standards and quality improvements; development and management of a centralized data estate using Microsoft Fabric or an equivalent cloud platform; and the lifecycle of reporting, dashboards, and governed semantic models. It ensures that platforms and practices meet applicable privacy, public records, retention, cybersecurity, audit, and Board policy requirements. Primary work is performed in an office environment, and local or out-of-area travel may be required.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Data Science, Computer Science, Business Analytics, Information Systems, Statistics, or a closely related field, and five years of progressively responsible professional experience in data analytics, business intelligence, data governance, data quality, or data engineering, including at least two years in a management, lead, or supervisory capacity responsible for a team or significant enterprise data initiative; OR seven years of progressively responsible experience in those fields, with a demonstrated record of independently leading enterprise-scale data initiatives, in lieu of the degree requirement.
• Enterprise data governance, stewardship, quality management, metadata, lineage, cataloging, and master and reference data practices.
• Ability to define measurable data quality standards and drive sustainable improvements at the source.
• Experience with large-scale system migration and reconciliation; ability to maintain traceability from source data through transformation, target loading, business validation, and formal acceptance.
• Experience with Microsoft Fabric or an equivalent enterprise data platform, such as Azure Synapse, Databricks, or Snowflake.
• Power BI experience, including semantic models, DAX, Power Query, workspace administration, security, and certified content deployment.
• SQL Server/T-SQL and relational database querying; ETL/ELT, API, and secure file-exchange patterns; and fit-for-purpose data modeling approaches.
• Ability to communicate complex technical and analytical concepts clearly to Board members, executives, managers, operational staff, employers, consultants, and vendors.
• Ability to translate member-service, employer-service, pension-administration, and executive needs into clear data priorities, controls, and analytical products.
• Ability to manage and develop staff, direct vendors, prioritize concurrent initiatives, exercise sound judgment, and maintain strict confidentiality and professionalism.
• Valid California Class C driver’s license or ability to arrange necessary and timely transportation for field travel; use of a personal vehicle may be required.
• Complete background investigation is required; a felony or misdemeanor conviction may be a disqualifying factor.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with defined-benefit pension administration, retirement benefits, public-sector payroll or employer reporting, or a similarly regulated financial-services environment.
• Demonstrated leadership of data migration, reconciliation, business validation, and cutover for a large-scale system implementation.
• Experience working with external data providers, employers, or payroll vendors to improve upstream data quality and implement sustainable data exchanges.
• Experience designing and operating formal data governance, stewardship, and data quality programs with measurable outcomes.
• Production experience with Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse, Databricks, or comparable platforms.
• Relevant certifications such as CDMP, Microsoft Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate, Power BI Data Analyst Associate, Azure Data Engineer Associate, Azure Solutions Architect, PMP, or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain an enterprise data strategy and prioritized roadmap aligned with OCERS’ strategic and business plans, the Horizon implementation, and member-service objectives.
• Develop and maintain the enterprise data governance framework, including ownership and stewardship, classification, access, retention, metadata, master and reference data, and data quality standards.
• Maintain a data catalog, business glossary, lineage, and authoritative-source designations.
• Lead data readiness, migration, reconciliation, and business validation activities for Horizon in partnership with business units, IT, project teams, and implementation partners.
• Establish data conversion governance, including source-to-target mappings, transformation rules, reconciliation methodologies, exception handling, audit evidence, and business acceptance criteria.
• Oversee data profiling, cleansing, mock conversions, parallel validation, cutover readiness, and post-production stabilization; coordinate formal sign-off by data owners and subject matter experts.
• Partner with Member Services and Employer Services & QA to improve employer reporting requirements, data standards, submission specifications, and validation rules.
• Work with participating employers and payroll providers to identify recurring data quality issues, determine root causes, and implement sustainable corrective actions.
• Drive data controls as close to the source as practical to prevent errors that lead to manual work, benefit-processing delays, or member-service impacts.
• Establish an enterprise data quality management program for critical pension, member, employer, financial, and operational data; define critical data elements, business rules, thresholds, exception ownership, escalation procedures, monitoring, and remediation plans.
• Design, build, and manage OCERS’ centralized enterprise data estate using Microsoft Fabric or an equivalent cloud-based platform.
• Develop and oversee data pipelines, ETL/ELT processes, APIs, and integration patterns connecting Horizon, legacy systems, financial and HR systems, and employer submissions.
• Monitor platform performance, capacity, reliability, and costs; direct specialized architecture and engineering vendors when needed.
• Own the lifecycle and prioritization of reporting and dashboards from requirements and design through testing, certification, deployment, and adoption.
• Develop or oversee Power BI dashboards and governed semantic models for the Board of Retirement, executive leadership, department directors, employers, and operational staff.
• Enable governed self-service analytics through curated datasets, role-appropriate access, and training.
• Design, launch, and continuously improve a formal data stewardship program across OCERS departments, including role definitions, onboarding, training, and escalation pathways.
• Build data literacy so managers and staff can interpret, validate, and appropriately use data in daily work and decision-making.
• Ensure data platforms, integrations, and stewardship practices comply with applicable privacy, public records, records-retention, cybersecurity, audit, and OCERS Board policy requirements.
• Partner with Information Security, Legal, and Internal Audit to classify sensitive data, implement least-privilege access, and maintain audit-ready evidence.
• Manage enterprise data team members, including performance, workload, training, professional development, and succession planning.
• Manage vendors and service agreements related to data conversion, Fabric, integration, governance, and analytics, including deliverables, acceptance criteria, and knowledge transfer.
• Evaluate and responsibly apply AI, automation, and machine learning to improve data quality, anomaly detection, forecasting, and productivity.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package
• Defined benefit pension plan with reciprocity with the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS)
• Deferred compensation 457 plan
• Up to an annual $10,000 Educational and Professional Reimbursement
• $3,500 taxable optional benefit plan
• Annual leave
• Flexible/hybrid work schedule

What This Job Offers

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