Sr. Technical Project Manager – Data Transformation

No Remote

This role requires candidates who are currently authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship, and C2C arrangements are not accepted. This role is fully onsite near Tustin, CA.

Overview
We are seeking a Sr. Technical Project Manager to lead enterprise-scale data transformation, modernization, and analytics platform initiatives within a growing Data Engineering organization.

This is not a traditional PMO, portfolio management, or purely executive governance role. The ideal candidate has remained close to the underlying technology throughout their career and is comfortable working directly with Data Engineering, Analytics, BI, Architecture, Reporting, and business teams.

This person should be able to manage executive-facing visibility while also understanding the technical work well enough to identify blockers, ask the right questions, drive accountability, and clearly explain why a project is green, yellow, or red.

The right candidate will bring structure, urgency, and ownership to complex, fast-moving transformation work across multiple technical workstreams, data environments, stakeholders, and delivery teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise data transformation, migration, modernization, and analytics platform initiatives

• Partner closely with Data Engineering, BI, Analytics, Architecture, IT, business stakeholders, vendors, and executive sponsors

• Manage end-to-end project planning, execution, timelines, milestones, risks, dependencies, budgets, and delivery status

• Coordinate delivery across multiple technical workstreams, systems, data platforms, teams, and business groups

• Support modernization of data platforms, enterprise reporting environments, BI capabilities, data warehouses, and analytics ecosystems

• Work closely with technical teams to understand source systems, data flows, integrations, reporting requirements, migration paths, dependencies, and blockers

• Maintain clear project health reporting, including green/yellow/red status, risks, issues, dependencies, mitigation plans, and escalation paths

• Provide simple, clear executive updates with highlights, lowlights, risks, blockers, and next steps

• Maintain detailed supporting documentation, including RAID logs, project plans, dependency trackers, decision logs, status reports, and action-item trackers

• Drive accountability across business and technical stakeholders by following up on deliverables, decisions, blockers, risks, and missed deadlines

• Facilitate working sessions, technical project meetings, stakeholder updates, executive reviews, and project governance meetings

• Identify ownership gaps, delays, resource constraints, technical dependencies, and delivery risks early

• Push stakeholders toward resolution and help unblock engineering teams when delivery is at risk

• Manage vendor coordination, third-party implementation partners, and external delivery teams when applicable

• Ensure initiatives are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned with business, technical, data governance, and reporting requirements

• Support parallel workstreams operating across different data domains, business functions, and product-oriented pods

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of Project Management, Program Management, or Technical Project Management experience leading data-focused technology initiatives

• Strong experience supporting Data Engineering, Data Warehouse, BI, Analytics, Enterprise Reporting, or Data Platform teams

• Experience leading data transformation, data migration, data integration, data warehouse modernization, analytics modernization, or cloud data platform initiatives

• Strong understanding of modern data ecosystems, including cloud platforms, reporting environments, source systems, integrations, data flows, and data warehouse architecture

• Ability to work closely with technical teams while also communicating clearly with business stakeholders and executive leadership

• Experience managing complex project plans, RAID logs, dependency trackers, budgets, status reports, executive updates, and delivery timelines

• Demonstrated ability to drive accountability, follow up persistently, and ensure stakeholders own deliverables, decisions, risks, and blockers

• Ability to understand why a project is green, yellow, or red and clearly explain the reasoning behind the status

• Comfortable asking technical teams detailed questions to understand blockers, dependencies, and delivery risks

• Experience with project management tools such as Jira, Smartsheet, MS Project, Azure DevOps, Confluence, or similar platforms

• Strong communication, documentation, escalation, leadership, and stakeholder management skills

• Comfortable operating in fast-paced environments with shifting priorities, competing deadlines, high visibility, and complex technical dependencies

Preferred Experience

• Azure Databricks

• Snowflake

• SQL Server

• Data warehouse modernization

• Data migration and data integration

• Data governance and data quality

• Enterprise reporting, BI, and analytics platforms

• Cloud data platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP

• Source system integrations and reporting modernization

• Financial services, mortgage, banking, insurance, or other regulated industries

• Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery methodologies

• PMP, PgMP, Scrum Master, or similar certification

What This Role Solves

• Lack of visibility across complex technical workstreams

• Unclear ownership of risks, blockers, dependencies, and decisions

• Status reporting that lacks detail, reasoning, or actionability

• Delays caused by missed follow-up, unclear accountability, or unresolved dependencies

• Misalignment between business expectations and technical delivery

• Engineering teams being blocked without clear escalation or resolution paths

• Transformation initiatives that need structure, organization, and delivery discipline

What Success Looks Like

• Project status is clear, accurate, and supported by real details

• Executives receive concise updates with highlights, lowlights, risks, and next steps

• Engineering teams are supported, blockers are understood, and issues are escalated early

• Risks, dependencies, decisions, and action items are actively managed

• Stakeholders are held accountable for deliverables and timelines

• Multiple technical workstreams move forward in parallel without losing visibility or control

• Data transformation initiatives gain structure, momentum, and delivery confidence

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a hands-on Technical Project Manager who can operate at both the executive and ground level. They can simplify complex project details for leadership, but they are also close enough to the work to understand what engineers are doing, where they are blocked, and what needs to happen to move delivery forward.

This person is not a passive status collector or a traditional PMO coordinator. They bring critical thinking, ownership, and urgency. They know how to dig into the details, understand the reason behind project status, and communicate clearly across technical and non-technical audiences.

Successful candidates will be highly organized, assertive, calm under pressure, and comfortable driving accountability across multiple teams. They should be able to manage ambiguity, create structure, and keep complex data transformation initiatives moving forward.

Not the Right Fit

This role is not focused on managing other Project Managers, leading a PMO, overseeing portfolio governance, or operating only at the executive steering committee level.

We are looking for someone who has remained close to the underlying technology and data platforms throughout their career and can confidently partner with Data Engineering, Analytics, BI, Reporting, Architecture, and business teams on complex transformation initiatives.

Work Environment

This is a fast-moving, high-visibility transformation environment within a growing Data Engineering organization. The role will work closely with technical teams, business stakeholders, leadership, vendors, and cross-functional delivery partners.