Senior Director, Data & Workforce Insights Systems

Northwestern Mutual•Milwaukee, WI

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

About the Job: Lead the strategy for the People Function’s data architecture, reporting ecosystem, analytics capabilities, and insights products. This role is responsible for building and governing a stable, modern data foundation that enables high-quality reporting, decision-grade insights, and future-forward analytics across HR. Oversees data engineering, reporting platforms, data science (light modeling), and people analytics consulting, ensuring that workforce data is reliable, secure, accessible, and aligned with strategic needs. Partners closely with Workforce Systems, Digital Experience, AI Strategy, Enablement Architecture, HR Service Delivery, and enterprise technology teams to deliver a unified strategy and trustworthy data ecosystem. What You'll Do: Lead the strategy, governance, and technical direction for HR’s workforce data ecosystem. Oversee data engineering for HR analytics, including data structures, transformations, pipelines, and data quality mechanisms. Partner with Workforce Systems and IT to ensure reliable data flows, clear definitions, and strong stewardship practices. Establish data governance frameworks, metadata standards, and master data alignment across HR. Ensure readiness of data environments to support AI, digital workflows, and advanced reporting. Own HR’s reporting ecosystem, including dashboards, scorecards, data products, and standardized reporting suites. Establish and maintain UX, usability, and visualization standards across reporting assets. Design self-service reporting patterns that increase reliability and reduce manual effort. Oversee release management, version control, and lifecycle governance for reporting and data products. Partner with Digital Experience to integrate reporting into HR’s digital channels and front-end platforms. Lead the people analytics team responsible for descriptive, diagnostic, and early predictive insights. Oversee the development of workforce analytics products, including mobility, attrition, capability, and experience insights. Guide data science efforts (e.g., predictive attrition, clustering, or trend identification) to support strategic workforce decisions. Ensure insights are accessible, accurate, and actionable for HR leadership, BHR partners, and business leaders. Partner with the Insights Design & Storytelling discipline to package insights for executive audiences. Lead a multidisciplinary technical and analytical team; ensure clarity of roles, strong performance, and long-term capability building. Oversee data quality management, issue resolution, documentation, and process rigor across all data systems. Implement strong testing, validation, audit, and monitoring processes for data and reporting assets. Develop a multi-year roadmap for advancing workforce analytics, data products, insights capabilities, and decision-support frameworks. Evaluate emerging tools and opportunities to enhance HR’s data maturity and alignment with enterprise analytics strategy. Support AI and workflow automation initiatives by defining data requirements, lineage, availability, and governance constraints. What Experience You'll Bring: Minimum of 10 years in people analytics, data engineering, business intelligence, or workforce data systems leadership. Minimum of 5 years of people leadership

Requirements

Minimum of 10 years in people analytics, data engineering, business intelligence, or workforce data systems leadership.
Minimum of 5 years of people leadership
Experience leading multidisciplinary data teams across engineering, reporting, analytics, and data science.
Strong fluency in HR data structures (Workday preferred), reporting platforms (Tableau, PowerBI, etc.), and analytics ecosystems.
Demonstrated success modernizing data architecture, reporting environments, and data governance.
Ability to translate business needs into data solutions and decision frameworks.
Strong partnership skills across HR, IT, analytics, and enterprise technology teams.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to distill complex data concepts for executive audiences.

Nice To Haves

Experience in large, complex organizations with multiple data stakeholders preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the strategy, governance, and technical direction for HR’s workforce data ecosystem.
Oversee data engineering for HR analytics, including data structures, transformations, pipelines, and data quality mechanisms.
Partner with Workforce Systems and IT to ensure reliable data flows, clear definitions, and strong stewardship practices.
Establish data governance frameworks, metadata standards, and master data alignment across HR.
Ensure readiness of data environments to support AI, digital workflows, and advanced reporting.
Own HR’s reporting ecosystem, including dashboards, scorecards, data products, and standardized reporting suites.
Establish and maintain UX, usability, and visualization standards across reporting assets.
Design self-service reporting patterns that increase reliability and reduce manual effort.
Oversee release management, version control, and lifecycle governance for reporting and data products.
Partner with Digital Experience to integrate reporting into HR’s digital channels and front-end platforms.
Lead the people analytics team responsible for descriptive, diagnostic, and early predictive insights.
Oversee the development of workforce analytics products, including mobility, attrition, capability, and experience insights.
Guide data science efforts (e.g., predictive attrition, clustering, or trend identification) to support strategic workforce decisions.
Ensure insights are accessible, accurate, and actionable for HR leadership, BHR partners, and business leaders.
Partner with the Insights Design & Storytelling discipline to package insights for executive audiences.
Lead a multidisciplinary technical and analytical team; ensure clarity of roles, strong performance, and long-term capability building.
Oversee data quality management, issue resolution, documentation, and process rigor across all data systems.
Implement strong testing, validation, audit, and monitoring processes for data and reporting assets.
Develop a multi-year roadmap for advancing workforce analytics, data products, insights capabilities, and decision-support frameworks.
Evaluate emerging tools and opportunities to enhance HR’s data maturity and alignment with enterprise analytics strategy.
Support AI and workflow automation initiatives by defining data requirements, lineage, availability, and governance constraints.