Data Services Principal Leader

Attain Partners is an innovative consulting firm dedicated to disrupting the status quo to change the world and improve the lives of those we touch. From strategy to technology and everywhere in between, our experts use their unique skills to advance the important missions of education, nonprofit, healthcare, and state and local government clients.

People are at the center of all we do, and that’s why we empower career growth, provide industry-leading benefits packages, encourage a flexible work environment, and foster a culture of inclusion to support the needs of our team. We share a collective passion for our mission and our people. Guided by our seven core values, The Attain Way, our vision is the foundation of our culture - to be and attain the best.

The Data Services Principal Leader is a senior executive leadership position responsible for growing, scaling, and maturing Attain Partners' Data Services capabilities across Advisory Services, Technology Services, and Data Storage Services.

This leader owns the technical strategy, development of market-facing offerings, capability maturity, solution architecture, service quality, and leadership development across their assigned service pillars. The position serves as a critical link between business growth, client needs, technology partnerships, and successful solution delivery.

Working closely with the Data Services & Analytics Practice Leader, Domain Solution Leaders, Analytics Services leadership, and Technical Delivery Management (TDM), this individual ensures Attain develops differentiated, commercially viable, and scalable services that produce measurable client outcomes and sustainable revenue growth.

Key Objectives

• Drive Revenue Growth: Support the growth of Data Services revenue through new service offerings, strategic pursuits, client expansion, and recurring services within assigned pillars.
• Scale Service Capabilities: Establish and expand repeatable, high-quality capabilities across Data Advisory, Data Governance, Integrations, Data Migration, Master Data Management, and Data Storage.
• Develop Market-Facing Offerings: Transform technical expertise into defined service offerings, methodologies, accelerators, and delivery models that can be consistently sold and delivered.
• Expand Technology Partnerships: Strengthen existing strategic partnerships and develop new technology alliances that generate qualified opportunities, joint solutions, and increased market visibility.
• Strengthen Solutioning and Presales: Build a consistent, high-performing solutioning organization capable of supporting increasingly complex pursuits, proposals, estimates, and enterprise architectures.
• Create Recurring Revenue Opportunities: Develop ongoing advisory, managed data services, application support, and optimization offerings that extend client relationships beyond initial implementations.
• Improve Delivery Excellence: Establish technical standards, quality controls, reusable assets, and delivery methodologies that improve predictability, client satisfaction, and profitability.
• Develop Technical Leadership: Build a strong leadership bench of pillar leaders, solution architects, technical SMEs, and emerging capability owners.
• Enable Cross-Pillar Solutions: Connect Advisory, Technology, Data Storage, and Analytics capabilities into integrated client solutions while maintaining clear ownership and accountability.
• Advance AI-Enabled Services: Identify opportunities to incorporate AI, automation, and emerging technology into Data Services offerings and internal delivery accelerators.

Core Responsibilities

• Service Line Growth & Commercial Leadership

Primary Focus: Build and scale technically differentiated, commercially successful service capabilities.

• Partner with the Practice Leader to execute the Data Services growth strategy and achieve revenue, profitability, and market expansion objectives.
• Personally participate in originating, shaping, and closing strategic Data Services opportunities through client relationships and technical credibility.
• Identify opportunities for account expansion, cross-selling, follow-on projects, and recurring revenue within existing client relationships.
• Develop and execute service-line growth plans for Advisory, Technology, and Data Storage Services.
• Partner with Domain Solution Leaders to align technical capabilities with the needs of Advancement, Education, Federal, and Nonprofit clients.
• Lead technical solutioning for complex opportunities, including architecture, scope development, delivery strategy, effort estimation, staffing assumptions, and risk assessments.
• Establish commercially viable service offerings that balance client value, competitive positioning, revenue potential, and delivery margins.
• Support the Practice Leader in revenue forecasting, pipeline qualification, resource investment, and service-line profitability assessments.
• Serve as an executive technical sponsor for strategic clients, particularly those requiring complex transformation or cross-service solutions.
• Service Portfolio & Capability Development

Primary Focus: Own the technical HOW and build offerings that Attain can repeatedly sell and deliver.

• Provide executive oversight for three service pillars:
• Advisory Services: Data Strategy, Data Advisory, and Data Governance.
• Technology Services: Data Integrations, Data Migrations, and Master Data Management.
• Data Storage Services: Data Lake Advisory and Data Warehousing.
• Establish service definitions, capability roadmaps, standard methodologies, delivery approaches, and technical quality expectations.
• Develop packaged offerings and repeatable accelerators that improve solution consistency, reduce delivery costs, and shorten implementation timelines.
• Identify emerging client demands and determine where Attain should build, acquire, or partner to expand technical capabilities.
• Establish solution architecture principles and reusable patterns across cloud, data platforms, integration technologies, and enterprise applications.
• Introduce AI-driven development, automated validation, reusable frameworks, and other innovations that improve delivery efficiency.
• Coordinate with Analytics Services leadership to develop integrated offerings spanning data readiness, governance, integration, storage, reporting, and AI.
• Evaluate the relevance, competitiveness, and financial performance of existing services and recommend investments, improvements, or retirement of underperforming offerings.
• Strategic Technology Partnerships & Ecosystem Development

Primary Focus: Turn technology partnerships into differentiated capabilities and sustainable business opportunities.

• Build and maintain executive and technical relationships with strategic technology providers, including Boomi, MuleSoft, Informatica, Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft, and other relevant ecosystem partners.
• Partner with the Practice Leader and business development leadership to establish joint go-to-market strategies, account plans, and partner-led opportunities.
• Develop partner-specific solutions, demonstrations, reference architectures, and accelerators.
• Maintain technical credibility through certifications, specialization programs, partner advisory participation, and demonstrated client success.
• Evaluate new partnerships based on market opportunity, strategic alignment, required investments, and revenue potential.
• Create opportunities for co-selling, joint marketing, industry events, client workshops, and partner-sponsored initiatives.
• Ensure partnerships translate into practical delivery capabilities and commercially differentiated offerings rather than relationships alone.
• Solution Architecture & Delivery Excellence

Primary Focus: Ensure Attain sells solutions that can be delivered successfully, predictably, and profitably.

• Establish technical oversight and governance for complex client engagements across assigned pillars.
• Define architecture review practices, technical design standards, development methodologies, testing expectations, and quality assurance processes.
• Ensure proposed solutions align with client requirements, contractual scope, available skills, timelines, and financial assumptions.
• Provide escalation leadership for major technical risks, architectural decisions, and challenging client delivery situations.
• Work closely with the centralized Technical Delivery Management organization to ensure effective transitions from presales through execution.
• Support TDM with technical resource requirements, staffing capabilities, delivery risks, and subject matter expertise.
• Evaluate recurring delivery problems and implement systematic improvements through standards, coaching, tooling, and accelerators.
• Promote reuse of proven architectures and project assets while allowing appropriate flexibility for client-specific requirements.
• Monitor delivery health, client feedback, and technical quality to identify opportunities for service improvements.

Accountability distinction: The Principal Leader owns technical methods, standards, and capability readiness. TDM owns day-to-day delivery coordination, resource scheduling, execution management, and delivery operations.

• Technical Leadership & Talent Development

Primary Focus: Build the people, expertise, and leadership structure required to scale.

• Lead, coach, and develop assigned Pillar Leaders and technical capability owners.
• Build succession plans and establish development opportunities for emerging technical leaders.
• Develop skills matrices, competency expectations, career paths, certification plans, and technical training priorities.
• Identify gaps in current capabilities and develop hiring, training, subcontracting, or partnership recommendations.
• Partner with TDM and Practice leadership to align talent investments with future pipeline requirements and anticipated demand.
• Establish communities of practice and knowledge-sharing across technical teams.
• Promote accountability, innovation, technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Support recruiting and evaluation of senior architects, technical leads, and other strategically important talent.
• Cross-Pillar & Domain Collaboration

Primary Focus: Connect technical capabilities to industry needs and client outcomes.

• Partner with Domain Solution Leaders to translate industry-specific requirements into marketable technical solutions and delivery approaches.
• Provide technical guidance to Advancement, Education, Federal, and Nonprofit opportunities.
• Coordinate with Analytics Services leaders on opportunities requiring reporting, dashboards, AI/ML, advanced analytics, or unified data architectures.
• Ensure service pillars collaborate effectively rather than operate as independent technical organizations.
• Support strategic account planning and the identification of additional Data Services opportunities within existing engagements.
• Work with the centralized TDM organization to ensure service capabilities can be staffed and delivered across industries and engagements.
• Maintain consistent technical standards while supporting variations needed for specific client industries, platforms, and regulatory requirements.
• Operational Management & Performance

Primary Focus: Establish scalable leadership, governance, and operating rhythms.

• Establish regular service pillar reviews covering growth opportunities, capability maturity, technical risks, resource needs, and strategic investments.
• Develop annual and quarterly plans for assigned pillars, including offering priorities, technical roadmap milestones, and talent development.
• Monitor service profitability, estimating accuracy, delivery efficiency, solution quality, and portfolio performance in partnership with the Practice Leader and TDM.
• Recommend investments in people, partnerships, accelerators, certifications, and new service capabilities.
• Introduce operational improvements that increase scalability without sacrificing client experience or technical quality.
• Provide clear, consistent reporting to the Practice Leader on pillar performance, strategic priorities, and areas requiring executive decisions.
• Maintain alignment with Attain Partners' overall operating model, commercial expectations, and organizational values.

Ideal Leadership Profile

Experience & Background

• 15+ years of experience in enterprise data services, technology consulting, systems integration, cloud data platforms, or data transformation.
• Proven experience leading technical consulting teams, service lines, or multi-capability practices.
• Demonstrated success developing, scaling, and commercializing data and technology services.
• Strong background in enterprise data architecture, integration, migration, governance, MDM, and modern data platforms.
• Experience supporting enterprise sales, technical presales, complex deal shaping, and strategic client engagements.
• Established relationships with enterprise technology providers and knowledge of partner-led business models.
• Experience implementing delivery standards, reusable methodologies, and accelerators across consulting engagements.

Leadership Style

• Builder Mindset: Creates new capabilities, develops offerings, and improves existing services rather than simply managing current operations.
• Commercially Oriented: Understands how technical capabilities generate revenue, expand accounts, and improve profitability.
• Hands-On Technical Leader: Provides credible architectural guidance and can directly support complex technical pursuits and escalations.
• Strategic and Execution-Focused: Translates long-term service-line strategy into measurable priorities, investments, and results.
• Collaborative Leader: Works effectively across practice, pillar, domain, and delivery management structures.
• Talent Developer: Builds strong technical leaders, encourages professional growth, and establishes accountability.
• Client-Focused: Prioritizes measurable business outcomes, client confidence, and sustainable long-term relationships.

KPIs & Success Metrics

Success will be evaluated across five primary dimensions.

Performance Area

Key Measures

Revenue & Growth Enablement

Revenue growth within assigned service pillars; influenced pipeline; pursuit win rate; existing-account expansion; recurring services revenue

Service Portfolio Development

New offerings launched; adoption of standardized methodologies; accelerator reuse; capability maturity and utilization

Partnerships & Market Position

Partner-generated pipeline; joint solutions developed; certifications and competencies; strategic partnership engagement

Technical Quality & Delivery Performance

Solution quality; technical escalation trends; estimation accuracy; project margin performance; client satisfaction

Leadership & Talent Development

Leadership bench strength; skill and certification growth; retention of key technical resources; succession readiness

Definition of Success

The Data Services Principal Leader will be successful when Attain Partners has established a scalable portfolio of differentiated Data Services offerings, a strong pipeline of technically qualified opportunities, a mature technical leadership organization, an expanding ecosystem of strategic technology partnerships, and consistently high-quality delivery capabilities.

The ultimate measure of success is the ability to transform technical expertise into repeatable, profitable, and market-leading services that support the sustained growth of Attain Partners.

Additional Requirements

• Demonstrated ability to build trusted advisor relationships with clients
• Experience supporting sales and business development
• Position requires flexibility to travel periodically based on business and client needs

Additional Information

Attain Partners values your mental, emotional, and physical health and wellbeing. Our comprehensive benefits package starts on your first day of employment and includes benefits such as:

• Competitive health, dental, and vision coverage, HSA and FSA accounts, life and disability insurance, fertility and family planning benefits, and employee assistance and discount programs
• 11 paid federal holidays and flexible unlimited time off (UTO)
• Generous 401(k) matching with immediate vesting
• Flexible career paths – our career tracks provide advancement, mobility, and flexibility as you continue to grow with us
• A healthy environment where we value unique experiences, and care about everything that makes you, you.

Attain Partners is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The individual base salary for this position is unique to each candidate and will be commensurate with experience, education, and skills. In addition to base salary, this role is eligible for an annual discretionary bonus.

Interested in this position but the compensation isn’t quite right? Let us know your expectations, and we’ll see if we can make it happen based on your qualifications.

Salary Range

$200,000 - $250,000 USD

Attain Partners is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws. For more Information visit EEO, EEO Poster Supplement, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA).

If you are unable to complete this application due to a disability, contact this employer to ask for an accommodation or an alternative application process.