Senior Director, Data Strategy and Program Management

National Audubon Society•New York, NY

16h•$165,000 - $233,000•Hybrid

About The Position

In pursuit of Audubon's conservation mission, the Data & Technology team partners with programmatic and business teams across the organization to develop and deploy enterprise data systems and data-driven practices at the scale needed to achieve our ambitious goals. The Senior Director, Data Strategy and Program Management will play a key role in maturing the data and technology program at Audubon, collaborating with other data and technology leaders and cross-functional teams to design and implement enterprise data strategies, processes and strategic data products to align and strengthen how data assets and resources are utilized and managed across the organization. This role will partner with and support programmatic and business teams to identify and advance operational and strategic goals and build data maturity to enable efficient and effective data operations and strategically deploy data resources to enable robust, data-driven approaches to advancing Audubon’s mission and impact toward hemispheric level bird conservation. A successful candidate will have comfort and familiarity with a broad range of technical subject matter, as well as strengths in project management, change management, and communication among technical and non-technical stakeholders. The role requires excellence in relationship and people management, technical leadership to drive the design and implementation of a robust and maintainable data program including project and product management and planning processes, and vision for how to advance data maturity at Audubon across operational and programmatic needs including leveraging emerging data sources and technologies to bring efficiencies and drive greater impact toward Audubon’s mission and goals. This role does not directly manage day-to-day analytics delivery or data pipeline engineering; instead, it ensures those functions are aligned to an enterprise strategy, governed for long-term impact, and are properly leveraged for delivery of enterprise-level data products. This position reports to the Vice President of Data and Technology within the Audubon Technology team. This is a hybrid position based in Audubon’s New York City or Washington, DC offices. We will also consider remote candidates within the United States. Only applications submitted with a cover letter will be considered. Examples of initiatives that the position will support are: Track and report the scale and depth of Audubon’s hemispheric conservation efforts; share results and insights to support internal program management and external storytelling about our work and impact. Modernization of Audubon’s data and digital science products, such as the Christmas Bird Count, that engage with tens of thousands of supporters, bird lovers, and activists across the hemisphere. Collaborate with teams across Audubon to identify and act on opportunities to improve the quality, integrity and utility of our data and tools, and to collect, utilize and manage programmatic and operational data in new, innovative, and robust ways to achieve our ambitious goals.

Requirements

Master’s degree in Data Analytics/Data Science, Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or similar discipline.
10+ years of directly relevant work experience and 3+ years of leadership experience developing and managing data programs and strategies.
An equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.
Proven success as a data and technology leader.
Strong detail-oriented execution skills, including direct experience as an individual contributor and experience leading teams to move projects from conception to completion.
Demonstrated ability to manage teams of technical practitioners in a workplace environment is required.
Success in leading/sponsoring large data strategy, governance, and programmatic maturity initiatives in matrixed organizations.
Demonstrated experience applying technical coordination and project management best practices using tools such as Asana and Jira required.
Demonstrated experience working directly with data and product engineering teams and possessing a strong grasp of technical concepts such as system architecture, cloud technologies (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), ETL processes including use of data integrations and data services, and DevOps best practices.
Demonstrated experience utilizing modern data infrastructure tools such as cloud data warehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery, etc), data integration and orchestration tools (Fivetran, Airflow, dbt, etc), business intelligence tools (PowerBI, Sigma, etc), CRM systems (Salesforce, Everyaction, etc), and other enterprise data tools (such as Airtable) strongly preferred.
Demonstrated ability to communicate technical information to non-technical audiences.
Excellent collaboration skills, with the ability to understand and apply product needs and requirements from a diverse set of organizational stakeholders, and to communicate effectively with non-technical collaborators.
The ability to manage and maintain healthy vendor relationships, and the ability to seek and evaluate new high-quality vendors to supplement internal staff on a project-by-project basis.
Clear track record of success taking product ideas from concept to design to execution and linking objectives and outcomes to strategic goals.
Demonstrated experience preparing effective written materials, presentations, and other documentation and communication materials for internal and external audiences required.
Curiosity to stay on the cusp of software and product trends in non-profits and the greater tech industry.
Commitment to Audubon’s organizational values of care, collaboration, change, integrity, impact, and innovation.
Experience fostering inclusive and collaborative work environments is valued.

Nice To Haves

Experience transforming how data delivers business value and impact value in large, federated non-profit, government, or other environmental or social impact organization strongly preferred.
Experience in designing and deploying strategic data products or systems including knowledge management systems, impact measurement and management systems, decision support, or similar applications in conservation or other environmental or social issue spaces strongly preferred.
PMP or other relevant certification strongly preferred.
Coding ability in SQL, Python, R, and/or other programming languages for data analytics, data science and/or data engineering preferred.
Experience with geographic information systems (GIS), spatial data applications and data visualization preferred.
Experience in impact design, impact measurement, and evaluation methodologies and best practices in conservation or other related environmental or social impact sector preferred.
Experience with marketing and engagement technologies and approaches, including omnichannel marketing platforms, social media analytics tools, web analytics solutions, customer data platforms, voter files and other person level data acquisition and targeting tools, policy and advocacy tracking tools, or similar preferred.

Responsibilities

Define and lead Audubon’s data strategy and program management approach, in alignment with Audubon’s Strategic Plan and organizational priorities.
Develop and maintain data strategy and maturity roadmaps, capacity planning tools and standard operating procedures, ensuring alignment with organizational needs and priorities and technology best practices.
Act as the product owner of key strategic data products, working in collaboration with colleagues from across the Audubon data teams to ensure selection of appropriate technological approaches and tools and overseeing the product lifecycle in order to deliver high quality and efficient solutions to user-driven requirements and strategic priorities.
Lead end-to-end technical program and product lifecycles on complex multi-year, multi-stakeholder initiatives.
Advance organizational effectiveness through designing and implementing processes to enable strong and proactive management of data team resources, including work planning, project management and product management, balancing development and support requirements across Audubon’s data ecosystem and user communities including programmatic and business teams.
Lead Audubon’s data governance efforts, ensuring that Audubon's data practices adhere to security, privacy, and compliance standards, including data governance policies, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices; Implement and maintain safeguards to protect sensitive information, mitigate risks, and support a culture of data security awareness across the organization.
Support and collaborate with business data analysts and users across stakeholder teams toward broader adoption and continuous improvement of data tools and products to advance team level and organizational data maturity
Supervise and support data strategy team staff, providing mentorship, performance management, and professional development opportunities.
Proactively manage and facilitate strong, collaborative partnerships among technical teams and non-technical stakeholders across the Audubon network, as well as external partners, vendors and professional networks in the conservation and social impact space.
Manage contractors and vendors including software and professional services providers; participate in budget planning and tracking; collaborate with administrative staff and IT department to administer data analysis, analytics engineering, business intelligence and reporting tools and applications.
Prepare and deliver written and oral reports, visualizations, and presentations to executives, technical and non-technical staff, and external audiences.
Represent Audubon in professional forums, conferences, and external engagements to elevate the organization’s profile and thought leadership.
Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and inclusion within the data team and across the organization.
Maintain and foster culture of safety.
Other job-related duties as assigned.