Head of Data Platform Engineering

Kestra • Austin, TX

12d

About The Position

Kestra Holdings offers industry-leading wealth management platforms for independent wealth management professionals nationwide. Kestra is dedicated to empowering independent financial professionals—including traditional and hybrid RIAs—to grow their businesses and deliver exceptional client service. We combine advanced business management technology with personalized consulting to provide unmatched scale, efficiency, and support. Our advisor-focused culture is built on innovation and advocacy, enabling advisors to offer comprehensive securities and investment advisory solutions to their clients. Lead with Purpose. Partner with Impact. We are looking for a Director of Data Engineering to lead the strategic vision and execution of our enterprise data platform. This is a leadership role focused on building a world-class data engineering organization, modernizing our data ecosystem, and enabling advanced analytics and AI capabilities across the enterprise.

Requirements

• 12+ years in data engineering and platform architecture, with 5+ years in leadership roles.
• Proven success in building and scaling enterprise data platforms on Azure and Databricks.
• Strong understanding of data governance, security, and compliance frameworks.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Nice To Haves

• Exposure to Snowflake, MDM platforms, and streaming architectures.
• Experience in financial or regulated industries.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the enterprise data engineering roadmap aligned with business objectives.
• Establish best practices for architecture, governance, and operational excellence.
• Drive adoption of modern data platforms and cloud-native solutions across the organization. records and support ongoing regulatory needs.
• Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing data engineering team.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Develop career paths and training programs to grow technical and leadership capabilities.
• Oversee modernization of the Azure-based data ecosystem and Databricks Lakehouse platform.
• Ensure reliability, scalability, and compliance across all data pipelines and workflows.
• Champion data governance, security, and regulatory compliance for sensitive datasets.
• Partner with business leaders, data scientists, and technology teams to deliver impactful solutions.
• Communicate complex technical concepts in business terms to influence executive decision-making.
• Act as a trusted advisor for data strategy and platform architecture.
• Guide architecture for Databricks Lakehouse, Delta Lake, and Unity Catalog.
• Ensure best practices for ETL/ELT frameworks, orchestration, and CI/CD automation.
• Drive data governance, lineage, and metadata management initiatives.

Benefits

• Competitive pay and benefits with a large employer (over 1600 employees nationwide)
• 401(k), health insurance, and a competitive benefits package
• Work in a supportive, collaborative environment committed to professional excellence
• Help clients navigate meaningful financial decisions with confidence
• Opportunities for training, development, and long-term growth within the firm
• Tuition reimbursement for qualified expenses

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees