Director, Data Products and Engineering

Job Description STARZ is seeking a hands-on, builder-oriented leader to lead and scale the Data Products & Engineering organization. This role is ideal for a technologist who has experience designing and building modern data platforms and software systems, including greenfield applications and who thrives in leading, mentoring, and scaling high performing engineering teams. You will continue to build, not just direct and scale the team. You will retain your technical depth and will shape STARZ's data strategy while remaining close to the architecture, code, and delivery of data products. This is a role responsible for building foundational platforms, guiding technical direction, and ensuring teams ship high-quality, scalable solutions that drive measurable business impact. Essential Duties and Responsibilities Build & Architect - Hands-on ownership of data architecture, assessing the current STARZ ecosystem against business needs and actively designing improvements to simplify, modernize, and scale the platform Design and develop greenfield data platforms and applications to replace costly, legacy, or vendor-dependent systems, with a focus on long term scalability, maintainability, and cost efficiency Design and evolve cloud-native data platforms, lakes, and pipelines that power analytics, reporting, and real-time insights Build and maintain core data repositories, feeds, and APIs, ensuring the right data reaches the right systems at the right time Stay close to implementation details, reviewing designs, code, and data models. Jump in as needed to unblock teams Lead Data Products & Strategy - Partner with business stakeholders to define and deliver a pragmatic data strategy that treats data as a product and a strategic asset Collaborate with Digital Platforms, Marketing, and Product teams to enhance data collection, instrumentation, and analytics for operational, marketing, and customer insights Translate business problems into well-architected data products and analytics solutions AI / ML & Advanced Analytics - Build and scale AI/ML-powered platforms, from experimentation to production Evaluate and adopt emerging AI technologies, frameworks, and tools, including generative AI, with a focus on real-world business value based on business need Lead the delivery of data-driven and AI-powered products, ensuring scalability, reliability, and measurable impact based on business need Lead the architecture, reliability, and scaling of data platforms supporting high-volume, high-availability systems Establish and enforce best practices for data governance, quality, security, and observability Partner with product and engineering leaders on operational excellence, including service monitoring, incident response, and continuous improvement Identify opportunities to retire or replace expensive third-party solutions by building in house capabilities where it creates strategic or economic advantage Build, mentor, and manage high-performing data and software engineering teams Set clear technical standards and expectations while fostering a culture of ownership, experimentation, and craftsmanship Actively coach senior engineers and tech leads, helping them grow as builders and leaders Ensure the organization has the right skills, structure, and processes to deliver on STARZ's business objectives Qualifications Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field 12–15+ years building and delivering software and data platforms, with hands-on experience in data engineering and/or software development 5-8 years leading people and teams Proven ability to bridge business strategy and technical execution Strong background in cloud-native architecture, development, and operations Hands-on development experience in agile environments, with the credibility to lead through technical depth Ability to translate complex technical concepts for business and executive audiences Experience partnering with business stakeholders, vendors, and external partners Experience in media, streaming, or digital content businesses strongly preferred Excellent written and verbal communication skills Data Products Technology Knowledge (or other/similar) AWS (core services and managed data offerings) Data Warehousing: ETL/ELT Data Architectures: Data Lakes, streaming and batch pipelines Data Modeling: Relational and dimensional (star) schemas SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Snowflake, Redshift, Aurora, DynamoDB, PostgreSQL, Redis SSIS, Matillion, Informatica, AWS Glue (or equivalents) Spark, Spark Streaming, Kafka, Kinesis, Snowpipes, Airflow, Pandas C#, Python, TypeScript JSON, XML, YAML Linux shell scripting Compensation $190,000 - $220,000 About STARZ STARZ (NASDAQ: STRZ) is the leading premium entertainment destination for women and underrepresented audiences, and home to some of the most popular franchises and series on television. STARZ offers a robust programming mix for discerning adult audiences, including boundary-breaking originals and an expansive lineup of blockbuster movies, and is embodied by its brand positioning "We're All Adults Here." Complementary to any platform or service, STARZ is available across a wide range of digital OTT platforms and multichannel video distributors and is a bundling partner of choice. STARZ is powered by an industry-leading advanced technology, data analytics and digital infrastructure and the highly rated and first-of-its-kind STARZ app. Our Benefits Full Coverage – Medical, Vision, and Dental Annual discretionary bonus and merit increase Work/Life Balance – generous sick days, vacation days, holidays, and wellness days 401(k) company matching Tuition Reimbursement (up to graduate degree) EEO Statement Starz is an equal employment opportunity employer. All employees and applicants are evaluated on the basis of their qualifications, consistent with applicable state and federal laws. In addition, Starz will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. Starz will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and federal law. STARZ (NASDAQ: STRZ) is the leading premium entertainment destination for women and underrepresented audiences, and home to some of the most popular franchises and series on television. STARZ offers a robust programming mix for discerning adult audiences, including boundary-breaking originals and an expansive lineup of blockbuster movies, and is embodied by its brand positioning "We're All Adults Here." Complementary to any platform or service, STARZ is available across a wide range of digital OTT platforms and multichannel video distributors and is a bundling partner of choice. STARZ is powered by an industry-leading advanced technology, data analytics and digital infrastructure and the highly rated and first-of-its-kind STARZ app. STARZ is available across digital OTT platforms and multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, and telecommunications companies. In February 2021, STARZ launched #TakeTheLead, a multi-faceted and innovative inclusion initiative expanding its existing efforts to improve representation on screen, behind the camera and throughout the company.