What are the responsibilities and job description for the Head of Data Platforms position at IRONMAN?
At The IRONMAN Group, our purpose is clear: to inspire people to unlock their greatest potential through sport, pushing beyond limits to become the fullest expression of human achievement. Through our BE ICONIC vision, we are building the most loved brands, producing the world’s most inspiring events, and fostering deeply engaged communities that change lives. We aim to empower over a million athletes to cross a finish line each year and inspire a billion people worldwide through the power of the human spirit.
As part of our team, you’ll join a high-performance, caring culture where innovation thrives, communities are uplifted, and every achievement, big or small, is celebrated. You’ll help shape experiences that fill hearts, consume minds, and enrich souls. This is more than a job. It’s a chance to be part of a global movement, to lead from the front, and to leave a legacy. Together, we create moments that last a lifetime. The IRONMAN Group is the world's largest operator of mass participation sports, delivering over 200 events a year across 55 countries thanks to a passionate global team. For more information, visit www.ironman.com/about-ironman-group.
We are seeking a highly motivated individual for the position of Director, Data Platforms reporting to VP - Data, Engineering & Development based in our Tampa, Florida office.
The Opportunity:
The Head of Data Platform is responsible for defining, building, and operating the enterprise data platform, with Snowflake as the core cloud data foundation. This role owns the end-to-end data platform strategy, including ingestion, modeling, governance, security, analytics enablement, and operational reliability and ensures trusted, scalable data is available across the business.
The role partners closely with Finance, Marketing, Operations, Product, and Technology leaders to enable analytics, reporting, and data-driven decision-making across enterprise and athlete-facing domains.
Key Responsibilities:
Data Platform Strategy & Architecture
* Own the enterprise data platform vision and roadmap centered on Snowflake
* Define and maintain logical and physical data architecture (raw, staging, curated layers)
* Establish platform standards for ingestion, modeling, and consumption
* Ensure platform readiness for BI, analytics, and AI/ML use cases
Snowflake Platform Ownership
* Executive ownership of Snowflake environments, security model, and cost management
* Define best practices for ingestion pipelines, schema design, RBAC, and performance
* Partner with Security and IT on privacy, compliance, and data protection
Data Engineering & Delivery
* Oversee ingestion of enterprise systems including registration, eCommerce, finance, inventory, and CRM
* Ensure reliable, testable, and well-documented data pipelines
* Establish development standards, CI/CD, and operational support models
Enterprise Analytics & KPI Ownership
* Own the data and analytics foundation for core Enterprise KPIs
* Partner with business leaders to define, standardize, and certify enterprise metrics
* Establish authoritative data models and semantic definitions in Snowflake
* Ensure executive dashboards consume certified, governed datasets
* Oversee data quality, reconciliation, lineage, and metric integrity
* Enable scalable self-service analytics with strong governance guardrails
Business Enablement & Stakeholder Leadership
* Act as the single point of accountability for enterprise KPI data integrity
* Align platform priorities to executive reporting and strategic initiatives Present platform readiness, risks, and KPI trust indicators to leadership
* Partner with BI and Finance teams to evolve KPI definitions over time
Culture
* Contribute to a positive, inclusive, and respectful team environment by demonstrating professionalism, accountability, and collaboration in all interactions.
* Embrace IRONMAN’s BE ICONIC mindset by bringing an athlete-first perspective, taking ownership of work, and showing pride in delivering exceptional experiences.
* Communicate openly and constructively with teammates and cross-functional partners to support efficient execution and problem solving.
* Demonstrate adaptability and a continuous improvement mindset, learning from each event and contributing ideas to improve processes and experiences.
* Act as a culture carrier onsite and offsite, recognizing that individual behaviors directly shape the athlete, volunteer, and team experience.
Qualifications & Experience:
* 10 years in data engineering, analytics platforms, or related fields
* 5 years in technical leadership or people management roles
* Deep hands-on experience with Snowflake in an enterprise environment
* Strong understanding of cloud data architecture, governance, and analytics enablement
* Proven ability to partner with Finance and business stakeholders
Success Measures
* Enterprise KPIs are consistent and trusted across the organization
* High confidence in executive and financial reporting
* Reduced reconciliation effort and metric discrepancies
* Clear ownership and governance for enterprise metrics
* Increased self-service analytics adoption and faster time-to-insight
We are an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to any protected characteristic under applicable law. We also provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the hiring process and employment in accordance with applicable law.
The above job description is not intended to be an “all inclusive” list of duties, responsibilities, skill and abilities, required to do the job. Rather, it is intended only to describe the general nature of the job and is a reasonable representation of its activities. Duties and responsibilities may evolve over time.