Vice President, Data & Analytics

Hillenbrand; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 250,000 - 450,000; Full time

Job summary

Hillenbrand seeks a Vice President, Data & Analytics to spearhead the company's data strategy, governance, enterprise data warehouse, BI, and AI efforts. This executive role combines strategic leadership with hands-on platform work, guiding a global team to treat data and AI as strategic assets driving informed decisions and growth.

You will partner with stakeholders, shape architecture, oversee governance, and drive cost management while ensuring data quality and measurable business impact.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in data-related field or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of analytics, BI, and data administration experience preferred.
• Expertise in data governance, architecture, BI platforms, and cloud data technologies.

Responsibilities

• Provide executive leadership for data strategy, governance, and AI initiatives.
• Lead a global team, set operating model, and manage delivery priorities.
• Partner with stakeholders to align data programs with business goals.

Skills

Executive leadership

Databricks

Data governance

Data architecture

Dimensional modeling

AI/ML strategy

Education

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

Tools

Databricks

Delta Lake

Unity Catalog

Job description

The Vice President, Data & Analytics provides executive leadership for the organization's data strategy, data governance, enterprise data warehouse, business intelligence, and AI initiatives - and is a true player-coach: an executive who sets direction and builds the team while remaining hands‑on in the platform working alongside the team they lead. This role ensures that data and AI are treated as strategic assets, enabling informed decision-making, operational excellence, and business growth.

Work You'll Do:

Leadership & strategy

• Player-coach profile: leads a small, global team but personally engaged in deep technical work
• Strong documentation and knowledge-management habits - data contracts, table docs, and query patterns as first-class deliverables
• Vendor/platform cost management: compute governance, storage lifecycle policies, and experience managing the cost / value equation
• Partner with business and enterprise stakeholders to align data initiatives with broader organizational priorities
• Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing global team; set the operating model, hiring plan, and delivery priorities
• Establish enterprise data governance and stewardship - data ownership, quality standards, and access policy - partnering with security, legal, and compliance

Hands-on lakehouse engineering

• Expert-level Databricks (or similar technology): Delta Lake internals (MERGE/CDC patterns, OPTIMIZE, vacuum/retention, time travel), SQL warehouses, and workflow/job orchestration
• Deep experience with medallion (bronze/silver/gold) architectures - efficicent load design, dedup strategy at ingestion, and grain/key discipline through each layer
• Strong Unity Catalog governance skills: access model design, lineage, and system-table observability

Data architecture & modeling

• Proven dimensional-modeling depth (Kimball-style facts/dims): define and enforce fact grain, conformed dimensions, and surrogate-key discipline
• Multi-ERP integration experience (SAP, Dynamics, Navision, JDE/E1, IFS or similar)
• CDC/replication architecture: choosing and implementing change-capture patterns that minimize storage and compute requirements

Assessment & redesign capability

• Track record of leading a platform assessment and rationalization: data-quality profiling, source-to-target lineage reconstruction, and storage/compute cost reduction
• Capability to develop and stand up a continuous data-quality framework: automated grain/duplication/reconciliation tests in the pipelines (e.g., dbt tests, Delta Live Tables expectations, or equivalent)
• Financial reconciliation mindset: experience tying warehouse facts to reported financials (orders vs bookings vs GL) and documenting where they legitimately diverge
• Pragmatic migration planning: can sequence a redesign while keeping certified models and executive dashboards live

AI & advanced analytics

• Define and drive the AI/ML and generative-AI strategy: identify, prioritize, and sequence high-value use cases tied to measurable business outcomes
• Stand up responsible-AI and model governance: evaluation, monitoring, data-privacy, and risk controls for both predictive and generative systems
• Enable self-service analytics and citizen development through governed data products and a trusted semantic layer

Reporting:

Reporting to the Chief Enterprise Business Services Officer, the Vice President leads a team spanning data warehouse and AI, and partners with a much larger group of indirect stakeholders across the business.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree inData Science, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field - or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 10 or more yearsof progressive experience inanalytics, business intelligence, and data administration
• Expertise in data governance, data architecture, BI platforms, and cloud data technologies,
• Strong proficiency with data modeling and analytics methodologies
• Strong executive communication and strategic planning skills
• Demonstrated people-leadership: building, mentoring, and retaining technical teams while remaining hands‑on in the platform
• Experience setting AI/ML and analytics strategy and standing up data or AI governance at enterprise scale

Who we are:

Hillenbrand www.hillenbrand.com is a global industrial company that provides highly engineered, mission-critical processing equipment and solutions to customers in over 100 countries around the world. Our portfolio is composed of leading industrial brands that serve large, attractive end markets, including durable plastics, food, and recycling. Guided by our Purpose - Shape What Matters For Tomorrow - we pursue excellence, collaboration, and innovation to consistently shape solutions that best serve our associates, customers, communities, and other stakeholders.

EEO: The policy of Hillenbrand Inc. is to extend opportunities to qualified applicants and employees on an equal basis regardless of an individual's age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or veteran status. Additionally, Hillenbrand Inc. and our operating companies are committed to being an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer and offers opportunities to all job seekers including individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, email us @[e-mail] . In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying. At Hillenbrand, everyone is welcome to apply and "Shape What Matters for Tomorrow".