Senior Director, Data Strategy & Platform Modernization

Toptal; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Part time

Job summary

Toptal is seeking a visionary Senior Director, Head of Data to drive the enterprise data strategy, platforms, governance, and data products. You will set multi-year direction for data engineering, governance, and activation as a core business capability.

In this leader-of-leaders role, you will advise C-suite executives across Technology, Product, Actuarial, Finance, and Operations, building a domain-oriented data ecosystem with real-time capabilities and AI readiness.

Qualifications

• 12+ years leading data/analytics or technology teams, with 7+ years in people leadership.
• Experience owning enterprise data strategy in a regulated industry (insurance/financial services).
• Proven track record in large-scale data platform modernization and governance frameworks.
• Experience managing data product portfolios and enterprise data councils.
• Advanced degree preferred (MS/PhD) in a technical discipline.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute multi-year enterprise data strategy, roadmap, and operating model.
• Direct target state for data platforms including cloud ingestion, CDC/streaming, and semantic models.
• Lead governance across data products, privacy, lineage, quality, and SLA discipline.
• Build and lead a high-performing data organization spanning engineering, modeling, governance, and analytics enablement.
• Manage budget, vendor relations, and technology partner performance.

Skills

Executive leadership

Data strategy

Data governance

Cloud data platforms

Data mesh

AWS

Snowflake

Kafka/MSK

API enablement

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science / Data Science / Engineering

Tools

Snowflake

Redshift

PostgreSQL

dbt

Kafka/MSK

Job description

Toptal is seeking a visionary Senior Director, Head of Data to drive the enterprise data strategy, platforms, governance, and data products. You will set multi-year direction for data engineering, governance, and activation as a core business capability.

In this leader-of-leaders role, you will advise C-suite executives across Technology, Product, Actuarial, Finance, and Operations, building a domain-oriented data ecosystem with real-time capabilities and AI readiness.