Data Engineering Manager
About OpenSesame
OpenSesame is transforming workforce development with an AI-powered marketplace of skill-building courses and learning pathways. We help organizations build skills and stay compliant through a high-quality content catalog, seamless LMS/LXP integrations, and advanced capabilities like skills-based curation and multilingual content creation. More than 2,000 companies, including 150+ of the Global 2000, rely on OpenSesame to develop the world's most productive and admired workforces.
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About the Team
The Data Engineering Manager will guide and grow a lean, focused data engineering team. The team’s mission is to build and scale an AI-ready data foundation that enables reliable analytics, operational reporting, governance, enterprise system integrations, and future AI initiatives across the company. This role partners closely with analysts, business leaders, engineering teams, product management, and data consumers company-wide to improve the accessibility, trust, and usability of enterprise data assets.
About the Role
As a Data Engineering Manager I, you will combine direct people management, team stewardship, operational execution, and technical decision-making. You will own the Data Governance & Accessibility program while serving as the managerial and architectural lead responsible for designing scalable data systems, improving pipeline reliability, and enabling analysts through robust, specialized data solutions.
Success in this role requires balancing high-impact people management (1:1s, performance management, career development) with strategic planning, cross-functional stakeholder management, agile process facilitation, and technical leadership.
Core Responsibilities & Management Expectations
People Management & Mentorship
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Direct Supervision: Conduct effective 1:1s, set clear goals, deliver regular performance feedback, and manage career growth for direct reports.
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Engineering Culture: Foster a psychologically safe team environment built on trust, transparency, continuous improvement, and a growth mindset.
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Team Upskilling: Actively mentor engineers in data engineering best practices, design patterns, testing strategies, and operational discipline.
Team Leadership & Process Stewardship
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Delivery & Execution: Act as a team steward, driving execution, managing team velocity, breaking down bottlenecks, and maintaining operational sustainability.
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Agile & Work Management: Facilitate planning, standups, and prioritization; partner with data analysts and business leaders to translate business needs into well-defined, incremental stories.
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Process Critique & Improvement: Regularly evaluate team processes to refine norms and eliminate friction.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Alignment
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Stakeholder Enablement: Serve as the primary technical contact for analytics and business leaders to ensure data enablement across departments.
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Project Communication: Maintain radical transparency on team roadmaps, risks, delays, and progress.
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Business & Strategy Alignment: Translate complex technical concepts into business terms for cross-functional partners and leadership.
Technical Governance & Architecture Leadership
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AI-Ready Platform Architecture: Direct the design and scale of our Snowflake-based data platform, ingestion architecture, and AI interface layers.
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Enterprise Integrations: Oversee seamless data ingestion from core systems (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite, Zendesk, Jira, Confluence) into a centralized, queryable source of truth.
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Data Governance & Observability: Establish company-wide standards for data ownership, access management, lineage visibility, testing/validation, and automated pipeline monitoring.
Performance Objectives
Within 30 Days
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Team & Management Foundation: Establish recurring 1:1s with direct reports, assess team dynamics and individual skill sets, and align on individual goals and development