Senior Manager, Finance Data Platform

Our Company Explore how you can contribute at AmeriLife. Our Company Explore how you can contribute at AmeriLife. For over 50 years, AmeriLife has been a leader in the development, marketing and distribution of annuity, life and health insurance solutions for those planning for and living in retirement. Associates get satisfaction from knowing they provide agents, marketers and carrier partners the support needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving industry. Job Summary AmeriLife is seeking a Senior Manager, Finance Data Platform to lead the engineering, delivery, operations, and modernization of our enterprise finance data ecosystem. Reporting directly to the Vice President of Enterprise Data & AI Platforms, this leader will have responsibility for the Finance Data Platform (FDM) and the broader data capabilities supporting Finance, Accounting, FP&A, Commissions, Banking, General Ledger, financial reporting, attribution, reconciliation, and related financial processes. This is a hands-on technology leadership role requiring a strong combination of enterprise data platform experience, financial data domain knowledge, engineering depth, and people leadership. The Senior Manager will lead a team of engineers and finance data specialists while working closely with Finance stakeholders to translate complex financial requirements into reliable, scalable, and well-governed data solutions. A key mandate for this role will be evolving existing FDM capabilities into a modern, enterprise-grade Finance Data Platform built on Databricks, while maintaining the responsiveness required to support fast-moving Finance priorities and business-critical operations. Job Description Key Responsibilities Lead the engineering, delivery, operations, and ongoing evolution of the Finance Data Platform. Provide day-to-day leadership for engineers, finance data specialists, and partner resources supporting FDM and related finance data capabilities. Establish clear priorities across Finance enhancements, strategic initiatives, production issues, reconciliations, data quality, technical debt, and platform modernization. Build an operating model that supports rapid Finance-driven changes while maintaining engineering discipline, reliability, governance, and appropriate controls. Partner closely with Finance, Accounting, FP&A, Commissions, Data Architecture, Data Engineering, and enterprise technology teams. Translate complex Finance requirements and business rules into scalable technical solutions and executable engineering priorities. Establish clear accountability across engineering, functional expertise, QA, delivery, and operational support. Finance & FDM Domain Develop deep expertise in the existing FDM ecosystem, including its business processes, data models, transformations, integrations, dependencies, and downstream consumers. Lead data capabilities supporting: General Ledger and journal entries P&L and financial performance FP&A, budgeting, planning, and forecasting Commissions and compensation Banking and cash transactions Revenue and expense attribution Carrier, producer, policy, contract, and product financial activity Entity, company, product, and organizational attribution Financial reconciliation and controls Management and statutory financial reporting Partner with Finance stakeholders to understand calculation logic, mappings, hierarchies, allocations, attribution rules, reconciliation requirements, and reporting dependencies. Ensure financial data can be traced and reconciled from source systems through transformation and downstream consumption. Support integrations with financial planning, commission, accounting, reporting, and enterprise performance management platforms. Databricks & Enterprise Data Engineering Lead the modernization and migration of Finance data capabilities onto the enterprise Databricks Lakehouse platform. Design and oversee scalable ingestion, transformation, integration, and publishing patterns for complex financial datasets. Apply modern lakehouse and medallion architecture principles across Bronze, Silver, and Gold layers. Drive engineering standards including reusable frameworks, metadata-driven pipelines, automated testing, CI/CD, observability, and infrastructure automation. Work across databases, APIs, files, SFTP feeds, enterprise applications, and other structured and semi-structured data sources. Optimize Databricks workloads for performance, scalability, reliability, and cost. Maintain strong SQL and data engineering standards across the team. Partner with enterprise Data Architecture and Engineering leadership on data models, integration patterns, architecture standards, and platform strategy. Drive the progressive retirement and simplification of legacy FDM components as capabilities transition to the enterprise data platform. Financial Data Modeling, Quality & Controls Ensure data models appropriately represent financial transactions, accounts, entities, products, carriers, producers, policies, contracts, commissions, and organizational hierarchies. Establish strong reconciliation capabilities across source systems, FDM, Databricks, General Ledger, financial applications, and downstream reporting. Ensure appropriate historical tracking, auditability, lineage, and point-in-time analysis for critical financial data. Partner with Data Architecture and Governance teams to establish consistent business definitions, metadata, lineage, ownership, and data quality standards. Establish automated controls for completeness, accuracy, timeliness, duplication, referential integrity, and financial reconciliation. Ensure appropriate security and access controls for sensitive financial information. Drive root-cause analysis and permanent remediation of recurring data quality and reconciliation issues. Delivery & Operational Excellence Lead execution across Finance data projects, enhancements, defects, operational requests, and production issues. Establish a delivery model capable of supporting fast-paced Finance requirements that may not always align to traditional sprint-based development cycles. Create clear processes for distinguishing and managing enhancements, strategic projects, production incidents, defects, and recurring operational activities. Balance immediate Finance priorities with long-term platform modernization and technical sustainability. Establish service expectations, prioritization mechanisms, escalation paths, and measurable delivery outcomes. Reduce manual processing and operational dependencies through automation and engineering improvements. Establish monitoring, alerting, incident management, and production-readiness practices for critical Finance data pipelines. Coordinate internal teams and external delivery partners while maintaining clear internal accountability for outcomes. People Leadership Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing Finance Data Platform team. Build a team with the right combination of data engineering, financial domain, functional, and operational expertise. Develop team members’ understanding of both the technology and the financial processes supported by the platform. Create clear ownership and accountability while enabling engineers and specialists to operate with appropriate autonomy. Manage internal employees, contractors, and strategic delivery partners. Participate in hiring, workforce planning, performance management, and capability development as the Finance Data Platform organization evolves. Required Qualifications 10+ years of experience across data engineering, enterprise data platforms, data architecture, financial data systems, or related disciplines. 3+ years of experience leading data engineering, data platform, or financial data teams. Demonstrated experience designing, building, or operating large-scale enterprise data platforms supporting business-critical workloads. Strong hands-on experience with Databricks, Apache Spark, Delta Lake, or comparable modern cloud data technologies. Advanced SQL skills with strong knowledge of data engineering, ETL/ELT, integration, pipeline design, and performance optimization. Strong experience with cloud platforms such as Azure or AWS. Strong understanding of financial data and processes, including multiple areas such as P&L, FP&A, General Ledger, commissions, banking, journal entries, financial reporting, reconciliation, allocations, attribution, planning, and forecasting. Experience supporting data environments where accuracy, auditability, lineage, reconciliation, and financial controls are critical. Strong knowledge of enterprise data modeling, dimensional modeling, and modern lakehouse architectures. Experience managing production data workloads and resolving complex data, pipeline, reconciliation, and platform issues. Experience implementing automated testing, monitoring, data quality, CI/CD, and production controls. Demonstrated ability to translate complex Finance requirements into scalable data solutions. Proven ability to lead teams operating across strategic initiatives, rapid enhancements, and business-critical production responsibilities. Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills with the ability to partner effectively with Finance and senior technology leaders. Preferred Qualifications Experience building, leading, or modernizing a Finance Data Platform, Finance Data Mart, Finance Data Warehouse, or comparable financial data ecosystem. Experience migrating legacy SQL Server, SSIS, ADF, stored procedure, or traditional data warehouse workloads to Databricks or another cloud-native platform. Experience with commission and incentive compensation platforms such as Varicent or comparable technologies. Experience with financial planning, consolidation, and performance management platforms such as OneStream or similar solutions. Experience within insurance, financial services, distribution, commissions, or other transaction-intensive industries. Experience working with master and reference data involving companies, legal entities, carriers, products, producers, policies, contracts, accounts, and organizational hierarchies. Familiarity with Data Vault 2.0, dimensional modeling, medallion architecture, Unity Catalog, data lineage, and modern data governance practices. Experience managing blended teams consisting of employees, contractors, and strategic delivery partners. Databricks certification and/or relevant Azure or AWS certifications preferred. Leadership Profile The ideal candidate combines the mindset of a Finance data leader, hands-on data engineer, and platform operator. This individual should be equally comfortable discussing a P&L or commission reconciliation with Finance, reviewing SQL and pipeline logic with an engineer, diagnosing a production data issue, challenging a data model, and defining the roadmap for modernizing FDM capabilities on Databricks. Success in this role requires strong technical judgment, financial data fluency, operational discipline, and the ability to bring structure to a fast-moving environment without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy. The Senior Manager will be expected to make the Finance Data Platform increasingly scalable, automated, governed, and reliable while preserving the responsiveness Finance requires from a mission-critical data function. Compensation Salary: $150,000 This role may be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus. Salary offers will vary commensurate with experience, education, skills, and training What AmeriLife Offers A comprehensive benefits package that includes PTO, medical, dental, vision, retirement savings, disability insurance, and life insurance. Equal Employment Opportunity Statement We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and value diversity at all levels of the organization. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran or military status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable federal, state, or local law. We are committed to providing an inclusive, equitable, and respectful workplace where all employees can thrive. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Statement We are committed to full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and all applicable state and local disability laws. Reasonable accommodations are available to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities throughout the application and employment process. Requests for accommodation will be handled confidentially. If you require assistance or accommodation during the application process, please contact us at View email address on click.appcast.io. Pay Transparency Statement We are committed to pay transparency and equity, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Compensation for this role will be determined based on skills, qualifications, experience, and market factors. Where required by law, the pay range for this position will be disclosed in the job posting or provided upon request. Additional compensation information, such as benefits, bonuses, and commissions, will be provided as required by law. We do not discriminate or retaliate against employees or applicants for inquiring about, discussing, or disclosing their pay or the pay of another employee or applicant, as protected under applicable law. Pay ranges are available upon request. Background Screening Statement Employment offers are contingent upon the successful completion of a background screening, which may include employment verification, education verification, criminal history check, and other job-related inquiries, as permitted by law. All screenings are conducted in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws, and information collected will be kept confidential. If any adverse decision is made based on the results, applicants will be notified and given an opportunity to respond. #J-18808-Ljbffr AmeriLife