Technical Program Manager - Data & Analytics

Immediate need for a Tech PM with expertise in Data Engineering & Data Platforms for a 12-18 month long project. Preferred location is near Cincinnati but open to someone who can travel to the area 2-4 times a yearThis role is not open for 3rd parties. W2 only ratesThe manager is looking for an experienced program/project management professional who has direct experience working with data engineering teams and data platforms. Must be technically fluent enough to understand data engineering terminology, follow technical discussions, ask appropriate questions, and communicate effectively with engineers. Beyond the technical environment, the ideal candidate is an excellent communicator who can operate across technical teams, business stakeholders, and executive leadership. They should be comfortable managing a large, complex program, seeing both the details and the broader organizational picture, navigating tradeoffs, and keeping work on track. The manager also wants someone with enough confidence and judgment to push back and say “no” when appropriate, including in senior or executive-level conversations.Job SummaryAs a Technical Program Manager, you'll work with stakeholders across the Data &Analytics organization and the broader business to drive a large-scale data platformmigration from scoping and planning through completion. This program isconsolidating legacy, ungoverned data environments into a single, modern, well governeddata platform, and spans multiple engineering teams and workstreamsdelivered in parallel.You'll bring structure and transparency to a program that today runs on top ofengineering leadership's technical workload. You'll own the coordination layer end-to endso technical leaders can stay focused on execution, and you'll need to providediplomatic, timely communication across teams operating in an agile environment withiterative planning and delivery cycles.What You’ll Do• Develop and maintain the program roadmap, drive milestones, identify andescalate cross-team dependencies, and manage the full program lifecyclefrom definition through close.• Collaborate with multiple engineering and data teams to sequence work, trackdelivery against a phased migration plan, and drive execution of the roadmapacross concept, development, and rollout.• Enable effective communication and transparency between the programteam, stakeholders, and leadership. Consolidate status reporting acrossworkstreams and synthesize risks, issues, and dependencies, along withsolution recommendations, for executive consumption.• Organize and maintain a centralized repository of program and projectinformation, including roadmaps, decisions, and status.• Hold cross-functional teams accountable through influence. Resolve conflictthrough arbitration, negotiation, reasoned discussion, or escalation asneeded.• Maintain a program-level risk and issue log, proactively identify risks to ontimedelivery, and drive mitigation plans before they affect the broaderprogram.• Streamline processes, simplify execution, and track progress againstprogram goals and success criteria.Partner closely with:o Data Product and Engineering leadership to understand upcomingpriorities and sequence workstreams accordingly.o Engineering teams to understand technical dependencies, architecturedecisions, and delivery constraints that affect the migration timeline.o Data Governance to align on ownership, lineage, and quality standardsfor the newly consolidated platform as legacy systems are retired.o Analytics team to understand reporting and consumption needs,ensuring migrated data models support existing dashboards anddownstream analytics without disruption.• Align with stakeholders across the business on cross-team dependencies,expectations, and issue resolution as legacy systems are retired and newdata sources come online.• Develop a working understanding of the software development lifecycle usedby the data engineering teams, including the ability to proactively manage andmitigate risks to on-time delivery, define cut-over plans, and support teams inapplying consistent agile practices.• Lead change management efforts across affected teams, ensuringstakeholders are informed of upcoming schema, process, or workflowchanges as legacy systems are retired and new data sources come online.What We NeedEducation and Experience:• 4+ years of program or project management experience, including experiencemanaging complex technical initiatives involving multiple systems, integrations,or data platforms.• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Management, Computer Science,or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.• Experience managing programs delivered by distributed, cross-functional teamswithout direct reporting authority.• Working knowledge of modern data platform concepts (such as cloud datawarehousing and data transformation tools, including dbt), sufficient to engagecredibly with data engineers on scope, dependencies, and architecture.• Understanding of agile methodologies, metrics, and reporting techniques, withexperience working across multiple teams or workstreams.• Strong written and verbal communication skills, and comfort presenting to bothlarge and small groups, including executive audiences.• Prior contract or consulting experience delivering a defined, time-boxed programis strongly preferred.What You'll Need to SucceedProven ability to build trust and drive alignment across multiple engineering andbusiness teams without formal authority.• Comfort operating in ambiguity, including establishing a program's roadmap,cadence, and reporting structure from the ground up.• Strong facilitation skills, able to keep cross-functional meetings focused anddrive decisions to closure rather than just tracking status.• Ability to engage credibly with engineers on technical scope and risk, thentranslate that into clear, business-relevant language for executive audiences.• A bias toward action and pragmatism, balancing process rigor with the need tokeep delivery moving.• Track record of earning trust with skeptical or change-resistant stakeholdersduring a large-scale system transition or platform migration.• Strong documentation habits and the discipline to maintain a consistent,transparent reporting rhythm across a multi-team program.• A data-driven mindset, with experience defining and tracking KPIs or OKRs tomeasure program health and progress.• Excellent problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, with the ability to get aheadof risks before they affect delivery.• Resilience and follow-through on a long-running program where priorities anddependencies shift over time.• Comfort holding teams accountable to commitments through influence ratherthan authority.Desired Qualifications• PMP, CSM, SAFe, or equivalent project or agile certification.• Experience with tools such as Jira, Confluence, Smartsheets, or similar programand project planning and tracking platforms.• Prior experience in a data engineering, analytics, or technical product role.• Experience supporting a legacy system retirement or platform migrationinitiative.Candidate Requirements & Screening Priorities4+ years of program or project management experience.Prior experience working directly with data engineering teams/data platforms is required.Experience managing large, complex projects or programs with multiple workstreams.Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional communication skills.Ability to understand technical discussions without being a hands-on developer.Strong attention to detail, organization, and project/program management discipline.Demonstrated ability to evaluate dependencies, organizational impact, and tradeoffs.Comfortable communicating and presenting to executive leadership.Bachelor’s degree is preferred, but the manager is flexible on education when the candidate has appropriate experience.No specific industry background is required.Vertex Solutions Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, religion, age, citizenship, sex, marital or veteran status, disability or handicap, sexual orientation or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.