Senior Manager, Data Engineering

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) is one of the most storied brands in journalism, with a legacy that stretches over a century. Our mission is to be the most essential and engaging source of news for the people of Atlanta, Georgia, and the South, and our vision is to transform this great institution into a modern media company.

That's where you come in.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is seeking an experienced and dynamic hands-on Sr. Manager, Data Engineering, Data Science and AI to lead our comprehensive data strategy and innovation initiatives. In this role, you will oversee the development, optimization, and maintenance of our consumer data ecosystem while building and mentoring high-performing teams in data engineering, data science, and AI/ML. This role is pivotal in driving the next phase of our organization's growth, shaping the strategic direction of our data and analytics operations, and implementing best practices to ensure scalable, cutting-edge data management and AI solutions.

The ideal candidate will bring expertise in managing Snowflake environments, developing ETL processes, overseeing raw data loads, and advancing data warehousing capabilities. Additionally, you will lead the development of data science and AI/ML initiatives that drive business impact-from predictive analytics and audience segmentation to recommendation engines and content optimization. This role will oversee the implementation and optimization of analytics tools, manage advanced analytics projects, and work cross-functionally to translate data insights into actionable business strategies.

Please note, this role is based in Atlanta, GA.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Key Responsibilities

Data Engineering Leadership

• Oversee the configuration, optimization, and scalability of our Snowflake environment to ensure data integrity and accessibility.
• Design and manage ETL pipelines for seamless data integration and transformation across platforms like Snowflake and AWS, using functions, stored procedures, and orchestration tools such as Airflow or Prefect.
• Leverage AWS tools, including EC2, Athena, and Kinesis, to optimize data ingestion, storage, and streaming pipelines.
• Implement and manage CI/CD pipelines to automate code deployment, testing, and quality assurance, ensuring efficient version control using tools like GitHub.
• Design and optimize data transformation workflows using dbt to model, clean, and enrich datasets, ensuring high-quality, maintainable, and testable data structures.
• Lead the design and evolution of a robust data warehouse architecture to support reporting, analytics, and business intelligence needs.
• Manage the ingestion of raw data from various sources, ensuring timely and accurate integration into Snowflake.
• Integrate and optimize data pipelines from web analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics, Amplitude) into the data ecosystem.
• Champion best practices in data governance, security, compliance, and quality management across all data operations.

Data Science & Advanced Analytics

• Oversee the design and execution of advanced statistical analyses, A/B testing frameworks, and causal inference studies to support data-driven decision-making.
• Collaborate with Product and Editorial teams to identify high-impact analytics opportunities and translate business questions into analytical solutions.
• Build and maintain dashboards, reporting systems, and self-service analytics tools that enable stakeholders to explore and understand key metrics.
• Ensure proper instrumentation, event tracking, and data quality validation for analytical initiatives, working closely with Product to maintain data integrity.

AI/ML Strategy & Innovation

• Lead the exploration and implementation of generative AI and large language model (LLM) applications, including content analysis, personalization engines, and automated workflows.
• Evaluate emerging AI/ML technologies and frameworks and assess their applicability to business needs.

Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Build, manage, and mentor a high-performing team of data engineers, data scientists, and analytics professionals, fostering collaboration, professional growth, and accountability.
• Partner with Product, Editorial, Engineering, and Business teams to understand data needs, define success metrics, and deliver scalable solutions aligned with organizational goals.
• Advocate for data-driven decision-making throughout the organization and communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

WHO YOU ARE

Required Qualifications

• Applicants must currently be authorized to work in the United States for any employer without current or future sponsorship. No OPT, CPT, STEM/OPT or visa sponsorship now or in future.
• Applicants must currently live within a commutable distance to Atlanta GA and be comfortable commuting into the midtown office multiple times a week.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, data science, mathematics, or related field and at least 8+ years of experience with 3+ years in a management/leadership role; OR Master's degree with 6+ years; OR PhD with 3+ years; OR at least 12 years of relevant experience without a degree.
• Ideal candidate will have at least 6 years experience as an Individual contributor in a Data Engineering role and 2+ years of people management.
• Proven track record managing and leading Snowflake environments, ETL pipelines, and data engineering teams.
• Extensive experience designing and maintaining scalable data warehouses and data architectures.
• Experience leading data science or analytics initiatives with demonstrated success in delivering business impact.
• Strong SQL and Python programming skills; proficiency with data science libraries and frameworks (e.g., scikit-learn, pandas, NumPy).
• Experience building and maintaining REST API's
• Hands-on experience with web analytics tools and integrating them into data ecosystems.

USD 134,900.00 - 224,900.00 per year

Compensation

Compensation includes a base salary in the range of $134,900.00 - $224,900.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate's knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.

Benefits

The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company's needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members. Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, and parental leave.

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