Data Practice Lead

Role overview This role builds, leads, and grows the data practice of an applied AI engineering firm from the ground up, serving as a player-coach who sets technical direction, owns the business, and develops the team. It is a senior leadership position accountable for revenue, profitability, client outcomes, and team development across data strategy, modern data architecture, AI-ready platforms, business intelligence, and data engineering.

Responsibilities

- Act as the senior data authority in front of client CTOs, CIOs, and heads of data, leading pursuit work where data is the primary offering.

- Develop strategic points of view on where the data market is headed and champion internal and external thought leadership.

- Build and lead a high-performing team of data consultants, engineers, BI leads, and data scientists, setting technical standards and career pathways.

- Own the practice P&L, driving toward a $5M revenue target in the first twelve months with accountability for revenue, chargeability, and gross margin.

- Define service lines, target industries, pricing logic, and the operating model in partnership with the commercial team.

- Partner with sales and client teams to identify, develop, and expand strategic accounts, and lead presales solutioning and proposal work.

- Manage the firm's Databricks relationship and adjacent data partnerships, converting partnership status into pipeline and joint delivery.

Requirements

- 10+ years of progressive experience in data and analytics, with at least 3 years at director, principal, or practice-lead level within professional services or technology consulting.

- Demonstrated track record building or scaling a data practice, including ownership of P&L and go-to-market strategy.

- Proven experience solutioning and delivering complex engagements across data engineering, analytics, cloud migration, and AI/ML readiness.

- Deep expertise in Databricks, Snowflake, and/or AWS (Redshift/S3), with hands-on fluency in modern Data Lake and Lakehouse patterns.

- Strong communication, leadership, and influence skills, with comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving client environments.

- Industry certifications such as Certified Data Engineer - Associate are a plus.

Nice to have

- Background spanning consulting, enterprise architecture, or both, with the ability to operate as a player-coach.

Benefits and work setup

- Salary range of $200,000-$300,000 USD plus a bonus program.

- Comprehensive benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance, and 401(k).

- USA remote role with 35-40% travel; conditional offer subject to background check.