Data Director

Kemin Industries; Des Moines (IA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Wellness & fitness benefits

Career development

Learning platform access

Community service opportunities

Job summary

Kemin Industries seeks a Director of Data to define and lead the enterprise data strategy, architecture, and governance. Success requires partnering with IT and business units to translate data investments into measurable value across analytics, AI, and BI initiatives.

In a hybrid work environment, you will steer platform choices (Databricks, Fabric) and set standards for data quality, trust, and usability across global operations, R&D, and finance.

Qualifications

• Education and experience: Bachelor's degree in data-related field with 10+ years of related experience.
• Strong executive communication skills; able to translate data strategy into business outcomes for non-technical leadership.
• Background in manufacturing, life sciences, chemicals, CPG, or other data-intensive environments.
• Demonstrated success improving data quality, trust, and usability across fragmented systems and legacy platforms.
• Experience partnering with IT architecture and engineering teams while setting enterprise data standards, priorities, and design expectations.
• Strong understanding of modern data platforms and their role in enabling analytics and AI.

Responsibilities

• Establish the enterprise data strategy and target-state architecture that supports analytics, AI, and decision-making use cases.
• Translate business priorities into clear data architecture and sequencing guidance.
• Define what analytics-ready and AI-ready data means and ensure alignment across teams.
• Define and maintain data standards, patterns, and design principles for structured and unstructured data.
• Chair or co-chair architecture governance forums to review designs and approve exceptions.
• Partner with IT to ensure platform decisions align with data strategy.

Skills

Executive communication

Data strategy

Stakeholder alignment

Leadership

Data governance

Modern data platforms

Platform knowledge (Databricks, Fabric

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, or Analytics

Tools

Databricks

Fabric

Job description

Overview The Director of Data defines Kemin’s enterprise data strategy and provides architectural direction, standards, and prioritization to enable analytics, business intelligence, and AI initiatives. Operating within a hybrid model, this role sets enterprise data architecture expectations and governance while closely partnering with IT teams responsible for execution and platform operations. The Director of Data aligns data priorities with business, Operations, R&D, Finance, etc. needs, restores trust in enterprise data, and ensures data investments translate into measurable business value.

Overview The Director of Data defines Kemin’s enterprise data strategy and provides architectural direction, standards, and prioritization to enable analytics, business intelligence, and AI initiatives. Operating within a hybrid model, this role sets enterprise data architecture expectations and governance while closely partnering with IT teams responsible for execution and platform operations. The Director of Data aligns data priorities with business, Operations, R&D, Finance, etc. needs, restores trust in enterprise data, and ensures data investments translate into measurable business value.

Join the Kemin Team and Transform Lives!

We are a privately held, family‑owned‑and‑operated global biotechnology company driven by curiosity and committed to transforming the quality of life for people, pets, and the planet.

We create solutions that strengthen health and wellbeing, provide nutrition and immune support for pets and production animals, safeguard the planet’s natural resources, and protect the global food supply chain for generations to come.

We supply over 500 specialty ingredients for various industries, including human and animal health and nutrition, pet food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, food technologies, crop technologies, textiles, biofuels, and animal vaccines.

We employ 3,500 global employees and operations in 90 countries, including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Italy, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa, and the United States.

Benefits

• Competitive Financial Package : Enjoy a rewarding salary, uncapped bonus opportunities, a 401k match program, and generous paid vacation and holidays.
• Health and Wellness Support : Stay fit and healthy with our fitness reimbursement for the whole family, access to an on‑site fitness center, a restaurant offering seasonal fresh food options, and free fresh fruit in break areas.
• Career Development and Advancement : Unlock your potential with opportunities for growth and development throughout your entire career.
• Continued Learning Opportunities : Grow your skills with our in‑house learning platforms, offering thousands of training resources both live and online, and take advantage of tuition reimbursement for external post‑secondary pursuits.
• Service Opportunities : Make a positive impact with paid time off for service, partnerships with The World Food Programme and Habitat for Humanity, and local community initiatives.

Responsibilities

Enterprise Data Strategy & Direction

• Establish the enterprise data strategy and target‑state architecture that supports analytics, AI, and decision‑making use cases.
• Translate business, Operations, Finance, R&D, etc. priorities into clear data architecture and sequencing guidance.
• Define what "analytics‑ready" and “AI‑ready” data means at Kemin and ensure alignment across teams.

Data Standards & Oversight

• Define and maintain data standards, patterns, and design principles for structured and unstructured data.
• Provide functional leadership and architectural direction to data architecture resources operating within IT.
• Chair or co‑chair architecture governance forums to review designs, resolve tradeoffs, and approve exceptions.

Data Governance, Quality & Trust Enablement

• Define governance frameworks, roles, and accountability models aligned to high‑value data domains.
• Set data quality thresholds and improvement priorities based on analytics and AI business needs.
• Partner with IT and business data owners to remediate critical data quality issues and improve usability.

Data Analytics and Data Engineering

• Define platform expectations and workload strategies (e.g., Databricks, Fabric) to support analytics and AI use cases.
• Partner with IT to ensure platform decisions are aligned to data strategy rather than infrastructure convenience alone.
• Ensure priority AI pilots and analytics initiatives are supported by appropriate data foundations and pipelines.

Cross Functional Leadership & Development

• Partner with Finance to define ROI measurement frameworks and baseline metrics for data and AI investments.
• Align stakeholders on priorities, trade offs, and sequencing when data quality or architecture constraints exist.
• Communicate data strategy, progress, and risks clearly to senior leadership in business terms.

Qualifications

• Education and Experience:
• Bachelors Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, or Analytics with 10+ years of related experience.
• Strong executive communication skills; able to translate data strategy into business outcomes for non‑technical leadership.
• Background in manufacturing, life sciences, chemicals, CPG, or other R&D‑intensive, data‑complex environments.
• Demonstrated success improving data quality, trust, and usability across fragmented systems and legacy platforms.
• Experience partnering with IT architecture and engineering teams while setting enterprise data standards, priorities, and design expectations.
• Strong understanding of modern data platforms (e.g., lakehouse architectures) and their role in enabling analytics and AI.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive alignment without direct authority.
• Experience establishing or scaling data governance frameworks, stewardship models, or domain ownership structures.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, creed/religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship or immigration status (where applicable), sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy/childbirth/breastfeeding or related conditions, age (40+), disability (including the use of a service animal), genetic information, marital status, familial or caregiver status, military or veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence, reproductive health decision‑making, and any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. We also prohibit retaliation for raising concerns or participating in an EEO process. Applicants who need a reasonable accommodation to apply or interview can email [e-mail] . A post‑offer background check and drug screen is required. Additional pre‑employment requirements may be necessary based on position. Kemin is a drug‑free and tobacco‑free campus.