Senior Manager, Data Operations

About the position

The Senior Manager, Data Operations will be a key leader in MP Materials' data journey, responsible for overseeing the operations and evolution of our enterprise data platform, including Microsoft Fabric, SQL Server, and Power BI. This role will bridge the gap between IT infrastructure and business intelligence by ensuring the reliability, scalability, and availability of high-quality data to support enterprise reporting and analytics. The ideal candidate is a highly capable technical contributor who thrives in both execution and strategy. You'll work closely with functional stakeholders, analysts, IT system administrators, and external consultants to support data acquisition, transformation, and usage across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development, integration, and maintenance of the enterprise data environment spanning Microsoft Fabric, SQL Service, Synapse, SAP Datasphere, and Power Platform.
• Maintain and continuously mature the infrastructure, tools, and technologies supporting the enterprise data ecosystem, ensuring reliability, scalability, and alignment with evolving business needs.
• Design, implement, and manage end-to-end data pipelines and architectures for structured and unstructured data, ensuring scalability and high performance.
• Develop robust data models and transformations to support analytics across platforms such as Power BI, Tableau, and other business intelligence tools.
• Ingest and harmonize data from enterprise systems including SAP (Finance, Maintenance), Aveva PI (industrial data historian), LIMS, and Excel-based datasets.
• Establish and maintain data quality standards, metadata management, data governance, and lineage practices.
• Serve as subject matter expert for Microsoft data technologies, BI platforms, and enterprise data architecture.
• Work with business units to understand analytics needs and deliver usable datasets and insights.
• Stay current on emerging trends in AI, machine learning, and data science to guide future platform capabilities and adoption.
• Support training, enablement, and best practices for business analysts using Power BI and other data tools.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in enterprise data management, analytics, or solution architecture, with increasing responsibility.
• Strong understanding of Microsoft Azure Data Fabric, Power BI, SQL Services, SAP Datasphere, and modern data warehousing concepts.
• Hands-on experience with data modeling, ETL/ELT pipelines, and source system integration.
• Familiarity with industrial control system data (e.g., Aveva PI) and ERP data (e.g., SAP S/4HANA or ECC) preferred.
• Strong project management, stakeholder engagement, and communication skills.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to balance short-term delivery with long-term platform growth.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience working in a manufacturing, mining, or industrial environment.
• Exposure to LIMS, sustainability reporting, and operational KPIs.
• Certifications in Azure, Power BI, or data engineering.
• Background in enterprise architecture or application modernization is a plus.