Head of Data & AI Platform Engineering — Remote

Blackbaud; United States; Remote; USD 134,000 - 174,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Remote‑flexible workforce

401(k) with employer match

Paid time off

Job summary

Blackbaud is seeking an Engineering Manager, Data & AI Platform to lead teams delivering a scalable, secure enterprise data and AI platform powering analytics and ML across the nonprofit sector.

You will manage engineers across modern data infrastructure, drive strategy, and partner with Architecture, Governance, and Security to ensure trust and Responsible AI standards while aligning with cost and performance goals.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in software, data, or platform engineering.
• 3+ years of experience managing and developing data engineering teams.
• Hands-on experience with modern data platforms, cloud data lakes/lakehouses, distributed processing, streaming, APIs
• Strong understanding of platform engineering principles and operating production systems at scale.
• Proven ability to lead through ambiguity and influence without authority.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve core Data & AI platform capabilities, including ingestion, transformation, lakehouse architecture, feature services, and AI/ML enablement layers.
• Drive platform decisions aligned with Blackbaud’s Unified Data & AI Platform Strategy (modularity, interoperability, AI‑first design).
• Partner with Architecture, Governance, and Security to ensure the platform meets trust, compliance, and Responsible AI standards.
• Balance build vs. buy decisions, prioritizing core competencies while reducing operational complexity.
• Lead teams to deliver high‑impact platform initiatives aligned to AOP priorities (legacy modernization, cloud migration, cost optimization, agent enablement).
• Ensure platform reliability through operational excellence, including monitoring, incident management, and performance optimization.
• Establish clear roadmaps, milestones, and success metrics for platform initiatives.
• Hire, mentor, and grow high‑performing platform engineers across geographies.
• Provide regular feedback, coaching, and career development aligned with Blackbaud’s people strategy.
• Ensure every team member has clear goals, an active IDP, and opportunities to grow in modern Data & AI skills.
• Collaborate closely with Product, Data Science, Analytics, and Product Engineering teams to ensure the platform accelerates—not blocks—delivery.
• Influence standards and best practices across the Data Intelligence COE.

Skills

Software engineering

Data engineering

Platform engineering

.NET

Azure

Databricks

ADO

Tools

Azure

Databricks

.NET

ADO

Job description

Blackbaud is seeking an Engineering Manager, Data & AI Platform to lead teams delivering a scalable, secure enterprise data and AI platform powering analytics and ML across the nonprofit sector.

You will manage engineers across modern data infrastructure, drive strategy, and partner with Architecture, Governance, and Security to ensure trust and Responsible AI standards while aligning with cost and performance goals.