Director, Data Engineering

About EAB

At EAB, our mission is to make education smarter and our communities stronger. We work with more than 2,800 institutions to drive transformative change through data-driven insights and best-in-class capabilities. From kindergarten to college to career, EAB partners with leaders and practitioners to accelerate progress and drive results across enrollment, student success, institutional strategy, data analytics, and advancement. We work with each partner differently, tailoring our portfolio of research, technology, and marketing and enrollment solutions to meet the unique needs of every leadership team, as well as the students and employees they serve.

At EAB, we serve not only our partner institutions but each other—that's why we are always working to make sure our employees love their jobs and are invested in their communities. See how we've been recognized for this dedication to our employees by checking out our recent awards.

For more information, visit our Careers page.

The Role in Brief:

Director, Data Engineering

The Director of Data Engineering for Navigate360 leads the team responsible for implementing Navigate360 data integrations across partner campuses. This role oversees delivery for Navigate Student Success, EAB’s foundational student success technology, while charting and scaling implementation practices for newer Navigate Enrollment CRM and Advancement CRM offerings. The role combines people leadership, technical and operational judgment, and a partner-first mindset to help campuses realize successful, durable implementations. Working at the intersection of data, product, and customer outcomes, this leader establishes clear operating processes, removes barriers, and ensures the team delivers reliable integrations that create value in practice.

This position is ideally based out of EAB’s Washington, D.C. office or Richmond, VA office. It is also open to remote work within the continental U.S.

This hire may be required to travel to EAB’s central office in Washington, D.C. on a quarterly basis, and occasionally visit partners to firm up engagement and kick off high-touch projects. The current travel expectation does not exceed 12 days per year.

This position is also posted at the Senior Data Engineer level; candidates are being considered at both levels for the current opening.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of data engineers implementing Navigate modules for partner campuses; set clear expectations, priorities, and delivery standards.

• Own the implementation approach for Navigate Student Success and help define scalable delivery practices for newer Navigate Enrollment CRM and Advancement CRM offerings.

• Establish repeatable processes, playbooks, and quality controls that enable the team to deliver high-quality data integrations consistently at scale.

• Unblock partner-facing and technical challenges throughout implementation projects, escalating and coordinating decisions as needed to protect partner outcomes.

• Partner with Product on data-integration issues, requirements, and product enhancements that improve implementation quality and the partner experience.

• Collaborate closely with Launch and Partner Success teams to align implementation plans, manage risk, and support successful partner adoption and outcomes.

• Guide solution design for integrations, data mapping, validation, reconciliation, and data quality across all Navigate implementations.

• Oversee delivery planning, capacity, and project health across the team; use organized, methodical processes to manage competing priorities and drive predictable execution.

• Foster a culture of technical excellence through mentoring, thoughtful code and design review, documentation, and continuous improvement of team practices.

• Represent the Data Engineering team with internal and external stakeholders, communicating progress, tradeoffs, risks, and recommendations with clarity and credibility.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent work experience

• 8+ years of database programming experience, including advanced SQL

• 3-4+ years leading, managing, or serving as a team lead for data engineering teams

• Experience delivering data integration, warehousing, or analytics solutions in partner-facing or customer implementation environments

• 2+ years of Python programming experience for relational data management, including commonly used data-management libraries

• Deep understanding of how data flows across systems, including ETL pipelines, data mapping, validation, and reconciliation

• Demonstrated ability to solve complex technical and partner challenges, make sound decisions, and unblock teams

• Experience ensuring data integrity through standard rules, procedures, testing, validation, and quality controls

• Highly organized, process-oriented, and effective at managing multiple priorities in a changing environment; strong written and verbal communication skills

Ideal Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in a related field or equivalent work experience

• Experience working directly with external partners and executive stakeholders to solve problems, build trust, and drive successful implementations

• Practical knowledge of data warehouse design, scalable data pipelines, integrations across platforms, and complex stored procedures

• Experience leading teams through growth, change, and continuous improvement, including developing repeatable operating processes

• Ability to work collaboratively across Product, Launch, Partner Success, and technical teams to accomplish shared partner outcomes in a fast-paced environment

• Commitment to a continual learning environment and to a dynamic, welcoming culture of fairness, authenticity, and belonging in support of EAB’s mission, values, and aspiration

If you’ve reached this section of the job description and are unsure of whether to apply, please do! At EAB, we welcome new perspectives and learn from each other’s unique experiences. We would encourage you to submit an application if this is a role you would be passionate about doing every day.

Compensation:

The anticipated starting salary range for this role is $103,500 – $130,000 per year. Actual salary varies due to factors that may include but not be limited to relevant experience, skills, and location. At EAB, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the starting salary range for their role.

This hire will additionally be eligible for discretionary bonus or incentive compensation. Variable compensation may depend on various factors, including, without limitation, individual and organizational performance.

Benefits:

Consistent with our belief that our employees are our most valuable resource, EAB offers a competitive and inclusive benefits package. Our benefits currently include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans; dependents and domestic partners eligible

• 20+ days of PTO annually, in addition to paid firm and floating holidays

• Daytime leave policy for community service and flextime for fitness activities (up to 10 hours per month each)

• 401(k) retirement savings plan with annual discretionary company matching contribution

• Health savings account, healthcare and dependent care flexible spending account, and pre-tax commuter plans

• Employee assistance program with counseling services and resources available to all employees and immediate family

• Wellness programs including gym discounts, incentives to promote healthy living, and family access to the leading app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation

• Fertility treatment coverage and adoption or surrogacy assistance

• Paid parental leave with phase back to work program for birthing and non-birthing parents

• Access to milk shipping service to support nursing employees during business travel

• Discounted pet health insurance coverage for dog and cat family members

• Company-provided life, AD&D, and disability insurance

• Financial wellness resources and membership in a robust employee discount program

• Access to employee resource groups, merit-based advancement, and dynamic professional growth opportunities

Benefits kick in day one; learn more at eab.com/careers/benefits.

This opening is not eligible for visa sponsorship at this time; EAB will thus consider candidates who possess U.S. work authorization that does not require employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future.

At EAB, we believe that to fulfill our mission to “make education smarter and our communities stronger” we need team members who bring a diversity of perspectives to the table and a workplace where each team member is valued, respected and heard.

To that end, EAB is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and we make employment decisions on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need. We don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status or any other basis covered by appropriate law.