Mgr, Data Platform Engineering

Manager, Data Platform Engineering

University Federal Credit Union (UFCU) is seeking a Manager, Data Platform Engineering to lead, coach and develop a team of data engineers and database administrators responsible for delivering UFCU's enterprise data platform. This includes a portfolio of data products, pipelines, and curated datasets that power analytics, reporting, AI initiatives, and data-driven decision-making across the organization.

Reporting to the Director of Platform Engineering, this is a technical leadership role that blends people leadership with technical and operational accountability. You will be responsible for building and leading a high-performing engineering team through hiring, coaching, mentoring, performance management, career development, succession planning. You will be equally responsible for platform governance, product delivery execution, and platform operations.

The team operates using agile methodologies, partnering closely with the Data & Analytics, and other business stakeholders to deliver best in class data products. Core responsibilities include:

• Data Ingestion & Integration: ingesting data from key banking and operational source systems into the enterprise data platform on a reliable, repeatable cadence.
• Data Engineering & Quality: cleaning, transforming, and curating data using Databricks and the Medallion architecture; building data products that business teams can trust and self-serve.
• Platform Operations: monitoring pipelines for failures, ensuring data freshness and quality, and maintaining the stability and performance of the data platform.
• Database Administration: overseeing a DBA function responsible for SQL Server health, performance, and reliability across a mix of on-prem and managed Azure SQL Server instances.

This role supports a hybrid work model with 2 days per week on-site at the UFCU Plaza building and manages a core team in addition to contractors dependent on the projects.

About UFCU

Our Credit Union was founded in 1936 and has grown to serve members throughout Texas and beyond. At UFCU, we are more than just a financial institution, and our people are more than just employees. We are dedicated to our purpose of empowering our Members to achieve financial success and build brighter futures.

In pursuit of our aspiration that UFCU is loved by millions of Members and built to thrive for generations, we are guided by our values:

Purposefully Member-Obsessed

We are driven by a profound sense of empathy to deeply understand our Members' needs and preferences, what brighter futures means to them, and the obstacles in their way. We act in our Members' best interests, forever seeking to empower their financial success.

Possibilities Reimagined

We are inspired to courageously experiment, learn, and iterate in pursuit of positive impact for our Members, UFCU, and coworkers. We challenge assumptions, embrace diverse perspectives, and make use of data and insights.

Performance Excellence Rooted in Unwavering Integrity

We do the right thing, always. We champion teamwork, accountability, continuous improvement, and celebrate successful outcomes of others, fostering an inclusive environment of excellence and collaboration.

Essential Functions

Technical Functions

• Lead a data platform engineering team, delivering reliable, secure, reusable data products, pipelines, and curated datasets that enable key analytics and business outcomes.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership including:
• Data architecture understanding, technical design guidance, and engineering sign-off for ingestion pipelines, transformations, and data products
• Establishing and maintaining reference architectures, data modeling standards, and engineering best practices
• Own the data platform roadmap and governance, including:
• Data product design standards, documentation, versioning, and SDLC
• Data quality, lineage, cataloging, and access governance via Databricks Unity Catalog
• Consistent patterns for ingestion, transformation, error handling, and pipeline resiliency
• Guide data engineering delivery and operations on Databricks, including:
• Medallion architecture (bronze/silver/gold), notebook and job orchestration, and reusable data assets
• Performance tuning, cost optimization, release readiness, and operational stability
• CI/CD pipelines, automated testing strategies, and secure SDLC quality gates
• Oversee database administration across the SQL Server environments, including:
• Performance tuning, indexing, backup/recovery, high availability, patching, and capacity and cost planning across on-prem and managed Azure SQL Server instances
• Coaching and directing the DBA's
• Ensure data reliability and operational excellence by:
• Monitoring for pipeline failures, establishing incident response practices, runbooks, and post-incident reviews
• Observability practices: pipeline monitoring, data quality checks, dashboards, and alerts
• Defining and tracking SLAs/SLOs, data freshness, MTTR, reliability trends, and capacity planning
• Embed security and compliance into engineering practices, partnering with Security/Risk/Compliance to ensure:
• Secure data access patterns, secrets management, encryption at rest/in transit, least privilege, and Unity Catalog access controls
• Audit readiness (change management, evidence collection, and operational controls)
• Enable internal teams, analytics partners, and AI initiatives by delivering:
• A clear, well-documented catalog of data products and onboarding documentation
• Supportable consumption patterns for Power BI reporting and downstream analytics and AI teams
• Partnership and collaboration with key stakeholders to define and deliver prioritized data products
• Manage delivery execution and team operations, including:
• Participation in Agile ceremonies, and manage operational tasks on Azure DevOps Boards, prioritization, dependency management, and stakeholder communication
• Hiring, coaching, performance management, and vendor/contractor management, including coordination of onshore/offshore contractors
• Team Leadership and Development
• Lead, inspire, motivate, mentor, and develop team members by providing guidance and training to attain departmental and individual development goals and support organizational needs.
• Serve as a role model in transparent communication, two-way dialogue, and proactive communication to the team.
• Utilize a proactive, ethical, and consultative approach to build a successful and effective team to operate according to UFCU guiding principles, providing guidance and resources and removing obstacles as needed.
• Create an environment that builds, encourages, and rewards teamwork, collaboration, and delivering business value.
• Provide team leadership based on servant leadership principles, caring for the whole person.
• Plan, monitor, and appraise job results with an emphasis on coaching and developing employees to achieve desired performance results.
• Regularly consult with partners to determine team performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Help teams achieve their career goals. Ensure team members understand how to have an impact and are aware of that impact when they've made it.
• Embrace and promote a change-oriented and continuous process improvement culture.
• Vendor and Contract Management
• Manage vendor relationships with service partners.
• Oversee vendor and contract management of relevant third-party contractors.
• Manage and collaborate with third-party vendors, ensuring scope, quality, service levels, and key terms meet or exceed requirements.
• Budget/Expense Development and Management
• In collaboration with senior leadership and other department managers, establish annual budget with identification of planned expenses for new or enhanced programs and services.
• Ensure effective control of results. Take action to guarantee achievement of objectives that fall within designated budget.
• Actively pursue cost improvement opportunities to reduce capital costs, operational cost, and expenses.
• Other
• Adhere to all company policies, procedures, and business ethics codes.
• Complete required regulatory training as assigned.
• Maintain strict adherence and compliance to all laws, rules, regulations, and internal controls specific to the role, including but not limited to Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering, USA Patriot Act, OFAC and Fair Lending regulations.

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities