Manager, Data & Integration

Forrest T. Jones & Company•Kansas City, MO

About The Position

Forrest T. Jones & Company, Inc. and its affiliates provide insurance and related services, including life and health insurance plans, financial services, and customized insurance products. The Manager of Data & Integration leads and oversees the FAST Team (production support), Data Team, and Integration Team. The role is accountable for technology initiative delivery, operational support, and business solutions aligned with organizational priorities. It balances technical leadership, people management, and strategic alignment while promoting collaboration and adherence to enterprise development, integration, and project execution standards. The manager oversees team performance and delivery across projects, enhancements, and operational support; supports prioritization and resolves outstanding issues; and works with business and technology stakeholders to maintain data quality, governance, reliable integrations, and consistent delivery practices. The role also drives process improvement, communicates status and risks to senior leadership, and supports budgeting, vendor engagement, and contract oversight as needed.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience leading technical teams responsible for data, system integration, or enterprise technology solutions.
Working knowledge of enterprise data management, integration patterns, APIs, ETL/ELT processes, data quality, and modern data platforms.
5–7 years of hands-on software development experience in modern languages and frameworks.
2–4 years of experience with SQL Server, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), and SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).
2–4 years of Power BI experience.
Demonstrated ability to mentor peers, lead small initiatives, or act as a team lead.
Excellent communication skills with technical and non-technical audiences, including executive leadership.
General knowledge of SCRUM methodology.
Experience partnering with Product, QA, or Operations teams.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
Ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives while maintaining quality and meeting deadlines.
Ability to communicate clearly in meetings, writing, and presentations; engage stakeholders; manage expectations; and maintain transparency about risks, dependencies, and progress.
Practical, solution-oriented judgment when navigating technical and organizational challenges, and comfort making informed technical and operational decisions.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the insurance industry.

Responsibilities

Lead and oversee the FAST Team, Data Team, and Integration Team.
Manage data quality, integrity, standards, documentation, and governance in partnership with business and technology teams.
Lead integration, API, and data pipeline practices to promote reliability, documentation, monitoring, and adherence to enterprise standards.
Provide direct leadership and oversight for team members, collaborating with project managers, business analysts, and technical leads.
Ensure consistent, high-quality delivery of projects, enhancements, and operational support across assigned teams.
Confirm resources are assigned to tickets and projects according to priority, and encourage project manager and business analyst involvement as needed.
Attend relevant meetings to support collaboration among project managers, business analysts, QA, and developers, resolve issues, and deliver work on time.
Work with the Senior Manager of Project Delivery to resolve outstanding issues and prioritize projects and tickets; follow up as needed.
Research issues relating to the teams.
Work with Architecture, Infrastructure, and Application Administrators on Azure configuration issues affecting the teams and alignment with standards.
Enforce development, integration, and project delivery standards, including code quality, documentation, and testing practices.
Collaborate with Infrastructure on requests for new software and hardware.
Identify improvement opportunities and discuss next steps with the team.
Reduce technical debt, perform root-cause analysis for groups of similar tickets, and ensure ServiceNow tickets are routed to the correct team.
Provide senior leadership with regular status updates, risks, and performance metrics.
Support budgeting, vendor engagement, and contract oversight as needed.
Lead, mentor, and develop team members; manage performance through goal setting, coaching, feedback, and career development planning.
Ensure team members are appropriately cross-trained to reduce knowledge gaps.
Align team efforts with organizational goals and long-term technology strategy.
Drive standardization, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
Perform other related duties as assigned and required.