Director, Data Strategy, Data Products & Activation

Director, Data Strategy, Data Products & Activation

The Opportunity

Marketing is transforming how it turns data into growth. At the center of that transformation is our MarTech, AI & Data Strategy team — the group that owns the platforms, data, and AI capabilities that power modern marketing. We are building one trusted, governed, AI-ready data foundation so that every marketer, model, and campaign draws from a single version of truth.

The Director, Data Strategy & Activation Readiness leads the pillar responsible for that foundation — and for the portfolio of data products built on top of it. This is a builder's role for a leader who can set data strategy, shape a multi-year data product portfolio, stand up governance and identity, and make trusted, activation-ready data self-serve across the marketing organization. You will own the data and platform layer that feeds our analytics partners the clean, connected, closed-loop signal they need to prove and grow marketing's impact — while tying every data product to measurable value. You'll operate in a highly matrixed environment as the alignment hub across the Enterprise Data Office, Analytics, Technology, Privacy, and Legal.

What You'll Do

• SET THE DATA AND DATA-PRODUCT STRATEGY

• Own the end-to-end marketing data strategy — the roadmap that moves the organization from fragmented, list-pull-driven data to a unified, governed, identity-resolved foundation.

• Define and maintain a multi-year data product portfolio plan — surfacing new opportunities, modernization needs, and rationalization paths as priorities evolve.

• Establish clear standards for evaluating data product investments — expected value, feasibility, and adoption impact — so the team invests where it matters most.

• Champion data democratization — stand up self-serve access so marketers, and over time partners across Distribution, HR, and beyond, can query trusted data directly without manual pulls or analyst dependency.

• BUILD AND SCALE ACTIVATION-READY DATA PRODUCTS

• Define, build, and productize certified, AI-ready data products that are activation-ready out of the box, with no data prep required.

• Institutionalize the full data product lifecycle — from discovery and design through build, launch, iteration, and retirement.

• Drive user-centric product design — reliability, clarity, trust, and accessibility built in from the start.

• Define KPIs, success metrics, and ROI models for every data product, ensuring each one measurably improves decisioning, operational efficiency, omnichannel performance, and AI readiness.

• Own the marketing data intelligence layer — oversee its implementation and ongoing management so signals from every platform and source are clean, connected, structured, and ready for activation and measurement.

• ESTABLISH GOVERNANCE, IDENTITY, AND TRUST

• Establish and run the marketing data governance operating model — data quality SLAs, stewardship, standards, and clear accountability.

• Oversee metadata management, data lineage, and the data catalog so every data asset is discoverable, documented, and trusted.

• Evaluate, select, and implement an identity resolution capability to stitch identities across sources into one persistent, trusted customer and advisor profile — the enterprise identity spine.

• Align to enterprise standards by partnering with the Enterprise Data Office to keep marketing governance and identity consistent with enterprise policies and frameworks.

• ENSURE PRIVACY, COMPLIANCE, AND RESPONSIBLE DATA USE

• Ensure all marketing data is captured, stored, and used compliantly — consent-aware and privacy-first — in partnership with Privacy, Legal, and Compliance.

• Proactively manage data and operational risk alongside Legal, Compliance, and Security, embedding privacy-by-design across the foundation and every activation path.

• Champion responsible data usage and ethical AI practices across every data product and decisioning path.

• POWER ACTIVATION AND CLOSED-LOOP MEASUREMENT

• Own the data and audience layer of the CDP and marketing automation platforms (e.g., Adobe Platform, Marketo, SFMC) — ensuring profiles, segments, and audiences are governed, accurate, and activation-ready.

• Ensure data is captured from all sources — every channel, event, and touchpoint — and instrumented so the analytics team can execute closed-loop measurement and attribution.

• Own campaign taxonomy, signal/event capture, and attribution data re-ingestion so measurement becomes a continuous growth engine rather than a rear-view report.

• MONITOR, MEASURE, AND CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE

• Implement ongoing performance monitoring across data products — availability, quality, usage, satisfaction, and business outcomes.

• Champion iteration and innovation through user feedback, usage insights, and emerging technology — continuously raising the bar on trust and value.

• LEAD ACROSS THE MATRIX

• Serve as the alignment hub for priorities, standards, roadmaps, and delivery timelines across Marketing, Analytics, Technology, Data Engineering, the Enterprise Data Office, Privacy, and Legal.

• Operate effectively without direct authority — influencing and aligning a complex stakeholder landscape.

• Manage up with clarity and confidence — keeping senior leadership informed, aligned, and bought in on strategy, trade-offs, and progress.

• Lead a blended team of employees and contractors spanning governance & readiness and delivery & automation.

• What You Bring

• REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 10+ years of progressive experience in data strategy, data management, data product management, or marketing data and technology, including time in a leadership or lead-architect capacity.

• Experience building and scaling data products or enterprise data platforms.

• Demonstrated ownership of core data governance disciplines — metadata management, data lineage, data cataloging, data quality, and stewardship.

• Hands-on experience evaluating and implementing identity resolution / identity graph capabilities and CDP platforms.

• Deep working knowledge of the modern MarTech and data stack — CDP (e.g., Adobe Platform), marketing automation (e.g., Marketo, SFMC), and enterprise data environments (EDW / data warehouse) — plus a solid grasp of modern data engineering and architecture.

• Proven ability to partner with senior business executives, translate their priorities into roadmaps, and drive measurable value.

• Strong command of data privacy and consent requirements, and how to operationalize compliant data management in a regulated environment.

• Experience enabling analytics and measurement teams through instrumentation, taxonomy, and data capture that support closed-loop measurement and attribution.

• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, upward-management, and executive storytelling skills, including close partnership with an Enterprise Data Office or equivalent central data function.

• PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in financial services, insurance, or another regulated, data-sensitive industry.

• Familiarity with AI/ML enablement — preparing AI-ready data and supporting model deployment and real-time decisioning.

• Fluency with cloud-native data stacks and modern product management methodologies (Agile, Design Thinking, Lean Product).

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (data, computer science, engineering, analytics, or business); an advanced degree is a plus.

• Relevant certifications welcomed — e.g., data governance, Adobe/Salesforce platform credentials, or privacy (such as CIPP/US).

• The Ideal Candidate

• A strategist and a builder — comfortable setting vision and rolling up sleeves to stand up capabilities from the ground up.

• A product thinker — treats data as a product, obsessing over adoption, usability, and the value it creates for the people who use it.

• A translator — fluent in both business and marketing outcomes and the technical realities of data, platforms, and governance.

• An influencer — earns trust and drives alignment across senior and cross-functional stakeholders without leaning on authority.

• A steward — brings discipline and accountability to data quality, governance, privacy, and responsible AI.

• Biased for action — moves from strategy to production quickly, favoring standardization and speed.

• Outcome-oriented — ties every data investment to measurable marketing impact.

• How Success Is Measured

• Adoption and business impact of data products across marketing and partner functions.

• Demonstrated value creation — operational efficiency, decision velocity, omnichannel performance, and AI enablement.

• Maturity and effectiveness of the data p