Director, Data Engineering (US)

We are seeking a Technical Director to own the vision, architecture, and delivery of our data platform and the engineering organization behind it. This leader will set the technical direction for how Code and Theory collects, models, and activates data, powering analytics, predictive models, and generative AI across the agency and its clients. The ideal candidate is a product-minded technologist and a credible hands-on architect who can translate business strategy into data and platform development, and who builds teams as deliberately as they build systems.

As Technical Director, you will have broad authority over technical strategy, standards, and staffing. You will partner with agency leadership, client stakeholders, and the Machine Learning team, have input into budget and roadmap decisions, and define the culture and craft of a world-class data organization.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Own the vision, architecture, and roadmap for Code and Theory’s data platform, setting technical strategy that ties directly to measurable business outcomes
• Design and scale the systems that collect, model, and activate data, turning latent data lakes into data-driven product backends that power analytics, predictive models, and generative AI
• Partner with agency leadership, client stakeholders, and the Machine Learning team to translate business strategy into platform and data development
• Contribute to budget and roadmap decisions, prioritizing and funding competing initiatives
• Select and standardize cloud data platforms and tooling, applying strong, well-reasoned technical judgment
• Stay hands-on as a credible architect, setting standards and best practices for engineering quality across Python, SQL, and modern data workflows
• Lead adoption of AI-powered coding, agentic engineering, and AI-enabled workflows across the engineering organization
• Hire, mentor, and grow engineers and leads, and shape the culture and craft of a world-class data organization
• Represent the data organization to senior leadership and clients, communicating clearly with audiences across a 50/50 Tech/Creative organization
• Balance client-facing delivery with internal platform investment, and oversee data governance, privacy, and security practices

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• 10+ years in data engineering or adjacent disciplines, including 3+ years leading teams or technical organizations, with a record of designing and scaling data platforms from the ground up
• Demonstrated ability to set technical strategy and tie it to measurable business outcomes, including prioritizing and funding competing initiatives
• Substantial work experience in activating latent company data lakes into data-driven product backends
• Deep expertise in cloud data platforms and the judgment to choose among them. Bring your opinions on which you love and which you hate!
• Strong technical fluency in Python and SQL
• Substantial experience with AI-powered coding, agentic engineering, and AI-enabled workflows, ideally having led their adoption across a team
• Proven track record of hiring, mentoring, and growing engineers and leads, and of establishing standards and best practices
• Exceptional communication and influence, with the ability to work across the full range of technical levels at an organization that is 50/50 Tech/Creative, and to represent the data organization to senior leadership and clients

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience owning data governance, privacy compliance, and security programs
• Working knowledge of marketing data ecosystems (GA4, advertising platforms, CRMs, CDPs)
• Experience integrating AI/ML capabilities into data pipelines and shipping GenAI applications to production
• Experience in an agency or consultancy environment, balancing client-facing delivery with internal platform investment

ABOUT US

Born in 2001, Code and Theory is a digital-first creative agency that sits at the center of creativity and technology. We pride ourselves on not only solving consumer and business problems, but also helping to establish new capabilities for our clients. With a global client roster of Fortune 100s and start-ups alike, we crave the hardest problems to solve. We have teams distributed across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. The Code and Theory global network of agencies is growing and includes Kettle, Instrument, Left Field Labs, Create Group, Current, and TrueLogic.

Striving never to be pigeonholed, we work across every major category: from tech to CPG, financial services to travel & hospitality, government and education to media and publishing. We value the collaboration with our client partners, including but not limited to Adidas, Amazon, Con Edison, Diageo, EY, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lenovo, Marriott, Mars, Microsoft, Thomson Reuters, and TikTok.

The Code and Theory network is comprised of nearly 2,000 people with 50% engineers and 50% creative talent. We’re always on the lookout for smart, driven, and forward-thinking people to join our team.

The compensation range for this role is $185,000 - $240,000 and spans multiple levels. We're open to hiring at the level that best matches the right candidate's experience. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, budget, and location.