Director of Data

State of Oklahoma; Oklahoma; Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The State of Oklahoma seeks a Director of Data within the 090 Office of Management and Enterprise Services. This role leads a small team responsible for the enterprise data platform, coordinating production database operations, data engineering, and analytics services across agencies.

As a senior leader, you will drive multi-year modernization, cloud migration, and governance initiatives while partnering with agency leadership to deliver measurable value from data assets for residents.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in a related field.
• 10+ years in database administration, data engineering, or analytics.
• 5+ years leading technical teams with accountability for results.
• Experience operating enterprise databases at scale in production.
• Cloud data services experience (GCP/Azure preferred) and hybrid environments.
• Knowledge of data security, privacy, and regulatory requirements.

Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day operation, availability, performance, and capacity of the state data platform.
• Establish and report on SLAs for availability, RTO, RPO, and query performance.
• Lead backup, recovery, patching, upgrade, and DR testing.
• Partner with Service Operations for observability and incident management.
• Drive automation of routine database administration tasks.
• Develop multi-year roadmap for cloud migration and modern data integration.
• Stand up and manage a data governance and analytics platform for agencies.
• Engage with agency CIOs and data stewards to translate missions into data solutions.

Skills

Leadership experience

Database administration

Data engineering

Analytics & BI

Cloud data services

Security & compliance

Background clearance CJIS

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Science / Information Systems / Data Science or related field

Tools

GCP

Azure

Oracle

SQL Server

PostgreSQL

Job description

Agency

090 OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND ENTERPRISE SERV

Job Posting Title

Director of Data

Supervisory Organization

IS-AppDev

Job Posting End Date

Refer to the date listed at the top of this posting, if available. Continuous if date is blank.

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the posting end date above.

Full/Part-Time

Full time

Job Type

Regular

Job Description

Director of Data

State Data Platform, Database Administration & Analytics

Position Summary

The Director of Data is the accountable leader for the state's enterprise data platform — keeping it secure, reliable, and cost-effective today while modernizing it for what agencies will need tomorrow. This role leads a small, hands‑on team of database administrators, data engineers, and analytics professionals, and serves as the primary technology partner to state agencies on how they store, share, protect, and use data to deliver on their missions.

The ideal candidate is equally comfortable running production database operations, setting a multi-year platform roadmap, and sitting across the table from agency leadership to turn program goals into data solutions. Success in this role is measured by platform reliability, agency adoption and satisfaction, and the measurable value data creates for the residents the state serves.

Key Responsibilities

• Platform Operations & Reliability
• Own the day-to-day operation, availability, performance, and capacity of the state data platform, including on-premises and cloud database environments (e.g., SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, GCP, and Azure data services).
• Establish and report on service level objectives for availability, recovery time (RTO), recovery point (RPO), and query performance.
• Direct backup, recovery, patching, upgrade, and disaster recovery practices; ensure DR is tested on a defined cadence.
• Partner with the Service Operations Team on observability, alerting, incident command, and problem management so data services follow the same operational standards as the rest of the enterprise.
• Drive automation of routine database administration — provisioning, patching, monitoring, and access requests — to reduce toil and manual risk.
• Platform Innovation & Modernization
• Develop and execute a multi-year roadmap for the state data platform, including database consolidation, cloud migration, modern data integration, and a governed enterprise analytics environment.
• Evaluate and introduce modern capabilities — data lakehouse architecture, self‑service analytics, real‑time data sharing, and AI/ML‑ready data — where they create clear agency value.
• Rationalize the database and tooling portfolio to reduce licensing cost, technical debt, and end-of-support exposure.
• Establish reference architectures and reusable patterns so agencies can onboard faster and more consistently.
• Agency Partnership & Data Services
• Serve as the trusted data advisor to agency CIOs, program leaders, and data stewards; understand agency missions and translate them into data and analytics solutions.
• Build and manage a service catalog for data platform services, with clear intake, prioritization, and onboarding processes.
• Facilitate secure, lawful cross‑agency data sharing through data sharing agreements and standardized integration patterns.
• Lead analytics engagements that help agencies measure program outcomes, improve operations, and support evidence‑based policy decisions.
• Run regular agency forums, roadmap reviews, and satisfaction feedback loops; act on what is heard.
• Data Governance, Security & Compliance
• Partner with the Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Privacy Officer, and agency data stewards to implement data classification, access control, encryption, and auditing standards.
• Ensure platform compliance with applicable regulations and frameworks, including CJIS, IRS Publication 1075, HIPAA, FERPA, SSA data exchange requirements, state privacy law, and records retention schedules.
• Support enterprise data governance, metadata management, data quality, and master data practices.
• Ensure data used for AI and advanced analytics meets the state's AI governance and responsible‑use requirements.
• Team Leadership & Talent Development
• Lead, coach, and develop a small team of DBAs, data engineers, and analysts; set clear goals and hold the team accountable for results.
• Build cross‑training and skills development so the team is resilient, not dependent on single points of knowledge.
• Plan workforce needs, hire for future skills, and foster a culture of ownership, automation, and service to agencies.
• Participate in agile planning and delivery practices, maintaining a transparent, prioritized backlog of platform and agency work.
• Financial & Vendor Management
• Develop and manage the data platform budget, including licensing, cloud consumption, and contracted services.
• Support cost recovery through accurate chargeback/billback models for data platform services; provide agencies with transparent cost and usage reporting.
• Manage vendor relationships, contracts, and performance; lead procurement activities in alignment with state requirements.

Team Scope

Function

Database Administration

Operation, performance, security, backup/recovery, and upgrade of production and non-production database environments.

Data Engineering & Integration

Pipelines, integration, cross‑agency data exchange, and platform automation.

Data & Analytics

Reporting, dashboards, analytics engagements, and enablement of agency self-service.

First-Year Success Measures

Area

Indicator of Success

Reliability

Defined SLOs published and met for critical data services; DR tested and documented.

Roadmap

Board‑ready multi-year data platform roadmap approved and first phase delivered.

Agency Partnership

Service catalog launched; agency satisfaction baseline established and improving.

Cost

Licensing and consumption rationalized; transparent chargeback reporting in place.

Team

Cross‑training plan in place; no single points of failure on critical systems.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, or a related field; equivalent experience may substitute on a year-for-year basis.
• Ten (10) or more years of progressive experience in database administration, data engineering, data platforms, or analytics.
• Five (5) or more years leading technical teams, including direct supervision of DBAs, engineers, or analysts.
• Demonstrated experience operating enterprise database platforms in production at scale, including high availability, backup/recovery, and performance tuning.
• Experience with cloud data services (GCP, Oracle, and Azure strongly preferred) and hybrid on-premises/cloud environments.
• Working knowledge of data security, privacy, and regulatory requirements for sensitive data.
• Ability to obtain and maintain any required background clearance, including CJIS fingerprint-based checks.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in state or local government, or other highly regulated environments (healthcare, insurance, financial services).
• Experience delivering a data platform modernization, cloud migration, or lakehouse implementation.
• Familiarity with modern analytics and data tooling (e.g., Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Databricks, Snowflake, or comparable).
• Experience establishing data governance, data sharing agreements, or data-for-AI readiness programs.
• Experience with IT financial management, including chargeback/showback models.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., Microsoft Azure Data Engineer, Azure Database Administrator, CDMP, PMP, ITIL).

Core Competencies

• Customer & Mission Focus: Builds trust with agency leaders and represents their needs inside IT.
• Operational & Strategic Thinking: Balances today's operational demands with a clear, practical vision for the future.
• Communication: Explains complex data topics plainly to executives, program staff, and technologists.
• Judgment: Makes sound decisions about risk, security, and compliance without slowing the mission.
• Team Leadership: Develops people, delegates well, and creates accountability.

Working Conditions

Primarily office/hybrid environment. Occasional after-hours and weekend availability is required to support critical incidents, maintenance windows, and major releases. Some in‑state travel to agency sites may be required.

Equal Opportunity Employment

The State of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of genetic information, race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, or disability.

Current active State of Oklahoma employees must apply for open positions internally through the Workday Jobs Hub.