Data Analytics Manager

At SAGE®, we believe every meal matters. Every menu served, every student nourished, and every dining experience delivered creates an opportunity to make a meaningful impact. Behind every meal is an incredible story told through data. From menus and nutrition to purchasing, operations, participation, and customer satisfaction, we generate millions of data points that can transform how we serve our clients and communities. We see data not simply as information, but as one of our most valuable strategic assets. We’re seeking an exceptional Data and Analytics Manager to help shape the future of our organization. This is a hands‑on senior leadership role for someone who enjoys balancing strategic vision with technical execution. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with strong business acumen and the ability to translate complex data into actionable insights that create measurable business value. If you're energized by building modern data ecosystems, creating scalable analytics platforms, and unlocking the full potential of data, we want to hear from you. The ideal candidate will be based in the Baltimore area and work primarily from our Home Offices in Lutherville, MD. We may also consider applicants who live within a reasonable commuting distance. Summary: The Data and Analytics Manager will play a pivotal role in transforming raw data into meaningful insights that improve operational excellence, enhance client experiences, support innovation, and drive business growth. This role will lead the design of the company's data platform, enable self‑service data capabilities, establish governance and data quality standards, mentor a high‑performing team, partner across the organization to deliver scalable analytics solutions, and remain close enough to the work to review data models, guide architecture decisions, and tackle complex analytical challenges alongside the team. What you'll get: Awesome Team Culture. Growing mission based company. New position on the team with opportunity to aid in the formulation of tasks. What you'll do: Define and lead the enterprise data and analytics strategy, including the roadmap and platform strategy for the data warehouse/lakehouse, pipelines, and BI tooling that align with business goals and establish data as a strategic asset that turns menu, operational, nutrition, and satisfaction data into actionable insight. Build and lead the data and analytics function (data engineering, business intelligence, analytics, and governance) and serve as the primary data liaison across the organization. Oversee the design, build, and maintenance of scalable data pipelines that consolidate data from menu, point‑of‑sale, procurement, and operational systems into a centralized data store. Establish and then meet SLA requirements for freshness, completeness, and accuracy across real‑time and batch reporting. Develop and enforce data governance, data quality, and data management practices covering ownership, access control, quality standards, and retention, including metadata and data cataloging, master data management, and automated monitoring that catches issues before they affect reporting. Deliver reporting, dashboards, KPIs, and tools to enable self‑service analytics and data literacy for internal teams and, where appropriate, our clients. Advance the company's analytics maturity from descriptive reporting toward predictive and prescriptive capabilities, such as demand forecasting, menu optimization, food‑waste reduction, labor optimization, participation and engagement, and client retention, and identify opportunities to use data as a competitive differentiator. Lead research, strategy, and development of new data products and services that support internal stakeholders and business growth. Identify new data types and sources to drive business innovation and establish a centralized service for sourcing external data, ensuring quality, traceability, timeliness, usability, and cost‑effectiveness with a defined process for introducing new data. Partner cross‑functionally with Culinary, Operations, Finance, Strategy, Marketing, and HR as well as Information Security and Legal to embed data‑driven decision‑making and to ensure data privacy, security, and regulatory compliance (e.g., PCI DSS, CCPA/CPRA and other state and federal privacy laws). Stay current on data, analytics, and AI/ML trends, evaluating responsible, high‑value opportunities to adopt them. What you'll need: Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, Analytics, or a related field (or equivalent experience). Minimum of six years of experience in data and analytics (experience with food service or hospitality a plus), including progressive leadership responsibility for BI, analytics, or data engineering teams. Proven experience defining and executing enterprise data and analytics strategy. Strong knowledge of data warehousing, data modeling, ETL/ELT, and modern BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, or Looker). Proficiency with SQL and at least one analytics programming language (e.g., Python or R). Experience establishing data governance, data quality, and privacy/compliance practices. Proven data literacy with the ability to describe business use cases and outcomes, data sources and management concepts, and analytical approaches, and to translate among the languages used by executive, business, and IT stakeholders; strong ability to communicate results to non‑technical audiences. Strong grounding in data visualization concepts, including the effective use of visualizations to communicate clearly. Strong leadership, team‑building, and cross‑functional collaboration skills. Strong problem‑solving skills and a talent for storytelling with data. Hands‑on experience across a broad data technology stack (e.g., Amazon Redshift and other cloud data warehouses (Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Azure Synapse), Tableau and Power BI, SQL and NoSQL databases (e.g., Oracle, MySQL), Hadoop, data transformation and master data management tools, customer data platforms, and open‑source data). Practical experience with predictive analytics, machine learning, and AI, including Natural Language Query and responsible/ethical AI practices. Familiarity with modern data architecture concepts such as data fabric, data mesh, and data discovery, as well as enterprise content management and business information generation and analysis methods. Experience with data privacy regulations relevant to our business (e.g., PCI DSS, federal and state privacy laws). Experience building self‑service analytics and data‑literacy programs and delivering analytics or dashboards to external clients or partners. Experience leading data‑driven cultural transformation within an organization. About SAGE SAGE Home Office teams — from Accounting and HR to Marketing, Technology, and more — provide the behind-the-scenes expertise that supports our dining operations and helps them thrive. Here, you’ll find a collaborative environment where professionals from diverse fields work together to solve challenges, share ideas, and make an impact. Whether you specialize in nutrition, sales, purchasing, or strategy, your work will help our Operations Teams deliver fresh, chef‑inspired dining experiences that bring joy and community to campuses nationwide. Whether you’re looking for a new challenge, a sense of purpose, or a place where your skills can grow, you’ll find it here. At SAGE, we believe your career should empower you, inspire you, and give you the chance to make a difference every day. Management Team Members enjoy comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with multiple plan options; company‑paid short‑term disability; company‑paid life insurance; supplemental life insurance; long‑term disability; a 401(k) with company match; a discount buying program; an employee assistance program; paid holidays and personal days; and benefits through the SAGE Foundation, including access to apply for academic scholarships for dependents and disaster assistance. Home Office management employees have a PTO policy. GROW. CREATE. COLLABORATE. Learn more about working here at sagedining.com or connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Youtube. This job advertisement should not be misconstrued as an offer of employment or a comprehensive listing of position responsibilities/expectations. Equal opportunity employer. If you’re a candidate living in California or applying for a position in California, please visit sagedining.com/blog/post/156768/california-consumer-privacy-notice-to-california-employees-and-job-applicants for information regarding SAGE’s California privacy practices. #J-18808-Ljbffr