Data and Analytics Lead

Wayne-Sanderson Farms; Oakwood (GA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayne-Sanderson Farms is seeking an IT Data & Analytics Lead to build a centralized analytics function blending business ownership with technical leadership. You will shape strategy, define metrics, and drive data-driven decisions across the organization.

You will lead analytics engineering, partner with stakeholders, and implement cloud data platforms while promoting data literacy and scalable data models.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in analytics, BI, or analytics engineering roles.
• 10+ years in relevant work experience.
• Experience with cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, Fabric).
• Strong SQL and data modeling experience.
• Familiarity with BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker).
• Experience in early-stage or building-from-scratch environments.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Define metrics, KPIs, and success measures with leadership.
• Own analytics roadmap, backlog, and project prioritization.
• Lead analytics engineering and build analytics-ready data models.
• Establish data quality checks, validation, and monitoring.
• Promote data literacy and enable self-service analytics across the org.

Skills

SQL

Data modeling

Analytics strategy

Stakeholder management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Systems

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Snowflake

Databricks

Microsoft Fabric

Tableau

Power BI

Looker

Fivetran

Airbyte

Git

CI/CD

Job description

Job Summary: The IT Data & Analytics Lead will help build a new centralized analytics function. This role blends business ownership with technical expertise, encompassing analytics outcomes and the design of scalable data models. You'll shape strategy, partner with stakeholders, and establish trusted data practices that drive meaningful metrics and business decisions.

Job Responsibilities

Analytics Strategy & Business Ownership

• Strong business acumen and ability to partner with business stakeholders and leadership to define key metrics, KPIs, and success measures
• Translate business problems into prioritized analytics initiatives and analytics outcomes
• Own and maintain the analytics roadmap, backlog, and prioritization of projects
• Communicate insights, tradeoffs, and data changes to senior stakeholders
• Establish and maintain a shared understanding of metrics, data standards, and ownership across the organization

Analytics Engineering & Technical Leadership

• Provide guidance and leadership to consultants during the implementation of the cloud data platform and development of analytics capabilities
• Support the design and building of analytics-ready data models and datasets
• Establish best practices for data modeling, metric definitions, and dataset design
• Review and contribute to analytics engineering code with a focus on correctness, performance, and maintainability
• Experience with BI and reporting tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker, etc.)
• Define and enforce metric definitions and analytic standards
• Implement data quality checks, validation tests, and monitoring
• Implement data quality checks, validation tests, and monitoring

Enablement & Scale

• Make self-service analytics easier and safer for analysts and business users
• Promote data literacy and drive adoption of data-driven decision-making across the organization
• Define and implement the analytics intake, prioritization, and delivery process
• Establish best practices to ensure consistency and trust in data, analytics, and reporting
• Establish standards for analytics development, testing, deployment, and documentation
• Create and maintain clear documentation of data sources, transformations, definitions, and logic

Experience:

• 10+ years in relevant work experience
• 5+ years in analytics, BI, or analytics engineering roles
• Experience with cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, Fabric, etc.)
• Strong SQL and data modeling experience
• Familiarity with BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker)
• Experience working in early-stage or building-from-scratch environments preferred
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Experience working in early-stage or building-from-scratch environments
• Familiarity with data ingestion tools (Fivetran, Airbyte, etc.) preferred
• Exposure to version control (Git) and CI/CD practices
• Experience with statistical modeling, predictive analytics, and machine learning to support advanced analytics initiatives
• Understanding of data warehousing concepts (fact/dimension models, etc.)
• Basic Python (nice to have, not required)
• Ability to translate ambiguous questions into structured analytics
• None. This is an individual contributor role

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Systems, or related field; Master's degree preferred.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is exposed to typical risks of injury in an office environment.
• Duties include a typical office setting, including extensive computer work, sitting or standing.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Must adhere to the company's Code of Conduct and all other policies.

Safety Requirements:

• Follows all departmental and company safety policies and programs.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Wayne-Sanderson does not discriminate based on race, creed, color, religion, gender (sex), sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, citizenship status, a person's veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law or executive order.