Job Overview:

The Director of Data Services is responsible for leading the enterprise data strategy and the implementation of reporting, data visualization, and other Business Intelligence solutions tailored to the strategic needs of the operations, finance, sales, and executive teams. The director ensures the data architecture aligns with the company's goals for analytics, AI, and other data‑driven initiatives, while also guiding UNFI through its ongoing transformation, including the implementation of SAP S/4 and the migration from legacy data platforms to a modern, cloud‑based architecture leveraging AWS and Databricks.

The director leads business partner relationships to organize and maximize the value of UNFI’s data by ensuring internal and external data standards are defined, maintained, and governed, and that data is cataloged, well‑documented, and ready to integrate, analyze, and model. The role collaborates closely with business and technology teams across the enterprise to ensure data from SAP S/4 and other systems is managed effectively with a focus on transparency, quality, and usability.

The director also ensures IT policies, standards, and operational practices are developed and implemented to support organizational goals. This role participates in setting IT priorities, forecasting resource needs, and creating budgets that maximize the use of technology investments while improving organizational performance and reducing costs.

Job Responsibilities:

Core Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, implementation, and maintenance of complex data solutions across legacy and modern cloud-based platforms, ensuring alignment with UNFI’s transition to SAP S/4, the modernization of the enterprise data ecosystem, and the use of Databricks as the core Lakehouse platform supporting future AI capabilities.

• Develop conceptual, logical, and physical data models that support enterprise analytics, business intelligence, operational reporting, SAP S/4 data integration, and AI/ML-ready data structures.

• Lead creation and maintenance of current- and target-state data architectures, incorporating modern cloud-native patterns within AWS and Databricks to enable scalable analytics and AI use cases.

• Define and manage standards, guidelines, and processes to ensure data quality.

• Manage senior business stakeholders to secure strong engagement, ensuring that solution delivery aligns with strategic roadmaps and supports evolving enterprise transformation initiatives.

• Simplify the existing data architecture, delivering reusable services and cost-saving opportunities in line with the policies and standards of the group.

• Develop & maintain the long-term strategy to drive data quality for the enterprise.

• Implement principles, policies, standards, and guidelines for data management.

• Define indicators of performance and quality metrics and ensure compliance with data related policies, standards, roles and responsibilities, and adoption requirements.

• Develop and maintain UNFIs Data Architecture, Data Engineering, Data Operations teams to ensure alignment with UNFIs data vision and strategy.

• Define, manage, and advance enterprise information management principles, policies and programs for stewardship, advocacy and custodianship of data and analytics, in concert with legal, information security, and corporate risk and compliance offices. 

• Develop, plan, direct, and control strategic short- and long-term financial and operational goals and objectives for a broad functional area, with a focus on cloud cost optimization, Databricks workload efficiency, and operational productivity.

• Form top-performing teams by empowering team members appropriately, leading through example and gaining the respect of peers and associates. Encourage creative and innovative thought within team to sponsor team growth. Identify and develop top talent to support the organization’s succession planning efforts.

• Plan and direct the activities of a large, multi‑layered team of managers, senior engineers, and technical staff. Create a clear vision, establish long‑term strategy, set goals and performance expectations, and mentor staff across a global workforce that includes significant offshore contracting partnerships.

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Job Requirements:

Education/ Certifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in the field of data science, computer science, information systems, or software engineering, or equivalent work-related experience required

• Advanced degree/MBA preferred

Experience:

• 10+ years of experience in Master Data Management, BI and Analytics, Big Data, Datalake and data warehousing development

• 10+ years of experience managing data requirement analysts, data engineers, data architects, and analytics/reporting teams

• 5+ years of experience in Agile Development Methodology

• 5+ years of experience in Advanced Analytics, Predictive Modeling, Data Mining, and Machine Learning

• 5 years of experience implementing BI and data management platforms and strategies (such as Informatica, Databricks, Snowflake, ML/AI, etc.) Experience with Power BI or other similar reporting tools.

• Proven experience as a thought leader and track record for driving a data management practice in complex organizations.

• Experience driving reporting methodology, improvements, and technology implementations in support of customer analytics.

Knowledge, Skills Abilities:

• In-depth technical knowledge in building and deploying data analytics, business intelligence, and data solutions leveraging cloud-based platforms in AWS and Databricks

• Strong knowledge of curating large, complex datasets to derive KPIs, metrics, and analytics that transform empirical data into insightful, strategic decision-making visualizations 

• Strong knowledge of data governance and master data management

Skills/Abilities: 

• Strong leadership and agile project and product management skills; experience organizing, planning, and executing large-scale projects from vision through implementation, involving internal and external resources

• Strong business acumen and ability to translate complex data and analytical concepts into actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders.

• Strong strategic, analytical, and creative skills with a history of tackling and solving complex challenges.

• Highly flexible and adaptable to work in a fast-paced, continuously changing environment

• Strong ability to navigate ambiguous situations and deliver high-quality results

• Highly motivated and self-driven, ability to prioritize and manage competing priorities

• Strong teamwork and interpersonal skills; ability to communicate and influence at all management levels and with both technical and non-technical individuals and successfully manage in a cross-functional environment

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong customer focus and demonstrated ability to work in geographically dispersed teams

• Flexible and adaptable to learning and understanding new technologies

• Good judgment is required for this position as there may be times when direct supervision may not be immediately available.

Work Environment:

Remote Role:
 

• This position is classified as remote where the associate will perform remote work from their primary residence. Remote associates are welcome to work from the office but are not required to do so. While remote associates are not required to work from an office on a regular basis, they may be required to come to the office or other UNFI locations for necessary business reasons or if directed to do so by their manager.