Senior Director, Data Science

Montrose Environmental Group • San Diego, CA

19h • $200,000 - $235,000

About The Position

Montrose is on a mission to protect the planet and public health using science, data, and technology at scale. We work at the intersection of environmental intelligence, regulatory insight, and advanced digital platforms, helping our customers make smarter, faster decisions that genuinely matter. This is not compliance theater or greenwashing. This is real-world environmental impact, backed by serious data, real customers, and a scale that matters. If you want to build a modern data and AI platform from the ground up; and see it directly enable environmental outcomes at enterprise scale, this is that role. The Senior Director of Data Science & Data Platform owns the strategy, architecture, and execution of Montrose’s enterprise data and AI platform. This role is responsible for building a modern Snowflake-based data platform on Azure, transforming legacy .NET and Microsoft SQL systems into a scalable, cloud-native ecosystem designed to support analytics, AI, and automation. This is not a “dashboards-only” data role. This is foundational platform work with real downstream impact: powering analytics, regulatory insight, operational optimization, and AI-driven systems that materially change how work gets done. You will design the platform for today’s reporting and analytics needs while deliberately preparing for what comes next: Snowflake Data Cloud integrations with Salesforce and Workday, enterprise-grade AI tooling, and high-impact AI-driven operational use cases. This is a hands-on architectural leadership role with a clear mandate: establish strong foundations, make opinionated decisions, reduce legacy drag, and deliver a first AI use case that justifies the broader data and AI investment. You will start lean, initially hiring a data engineer, but grow the function through a mix of strong leadership and leveraging of nearshore resources in Latin America.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in data engineering, analytics, or data platforms
• 4+ years in senior technical leadership or architecture roles
• Deep hands-on experience with Snowflake and cloud data platforms
• Proven success modernizing legacy data stacks (.NET, MS SQL Server)
• Strong experience with dbt, Fivetran, or comparable tools
• Experience evaluating BI and enterprise AI / LLM platforms
• Strong understanding of data modeling, governance, and analytics engineering
• Demonstrated ability to deliver AI use cases with measurable business impact
• Strong communication skills across technical and executive audiences

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Abacus or similar enterprise AI platforms
• Familiarity with Azure-native analytics and AI services
• Experience operating nearshore or distributed teams in Latin America
• Experience building AI-enabled operational platforms
• Exposure to regulated or data-intensive enterprise environments

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end architecture and roadmap for Montrose’s enterprise data and AI platform on Snowflake (Azure)
• Lead the transition from legacy .NET and MS SQL–based data environments to modern cloud-native data patterns
• Define and enforce standards for data ingestion, transformation, modeling, analytics, and AI enablement
• Establish modern ELT pipelines using dbt, Fivetran, and/or appropriate Azure-native equivalents
• Design the platform to be Data Cloud–ready, supporting future integrations with Salesforce Snowflake Data Cloud and Workday Snowflake Data Cloud
• Lead the evaluation, selection, and implementation of enterprise BI and analytics tooling
• Lead the evaluation and adoption of enterprise AI / LLM platforms (e.g., Abacus or comparable solutions)
• Design and deliver an initial AI-driven use case that automates and materially improves testing, monitoring, and remediation workflows
• Ensure the initial AI use case delivers measurable efficiency, reliability, or cost improvements that justify capital investment
• Establish analytics-ready and AI-ready data models
• Define data and AI governance practices including security, access control, lineage, and cost management
• Serve as the senior technical authority for data, analytics, and AI platform decisions
• Partner with IT, Engineering, Operations, Finance, and executive leadership
• Build and lead the data organization, starting with a senior data engineer
• Leverage a nearshore delivery model utilizing Latin American talent
• Mentor engineers and analysts, setting expectations for rigor, documentation, and measurable outcomes

Benefits

• Mentorship and professional development resources to advance your career
• Direct exposure to our industry’s leading experts who are solving the world’s toughest environmental challenges
• An entrepreneurial environment where you can learn, thrive and collaborate with talented colleagues
• Competitive compensation package: annual salary ranging from $200,000 - $235,000, commensurate with accomplishments, performance, credentials and geography
• Competitive medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage
• 401k with a competitive 4% employer match
• Progressive vacation policies, company holidays and paid parental leave benefits to ensure work/life balance
• A financial assistance program that supports peers in need, known as the Montrose Foundation
• Access to a student loan planning tool to optimize your student loan payoff plans and compare student loan rates with lenders

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed