Head of Data & Technology

The Organization:  Merit America

The American economy is broken. Today, 53 million working adults–nearly half of the U.S. workforce–do not earn a living wage. These talented workers have few options to advance: college is too long and expensive, full-time boot camp programs don’t offer enough flexibility, and online courses don’t have the structure or support to translate learning into a new career. The result? Talented workers, disproportionately people of color and women, get stuck in low-wage roles with no way to build a better life for themselves and their families.

Merit America is a national nonprofit that creates pathways to family-sustaining careers for Americans stuck in low-wage work. Our fast, flexible solutions are built for working adults: We start by analyzing tens of millions of job postings to identify in-demand, high-paying tech careers and then work with industry-recognized partners to train for these roles with part-time programs that combine flexible online learning with best-in-class coaching. Finally, we support our learners in their job search, helping them connect with a broad constellation of local and national employers such as JPMorgan Chase and Infosys to land higher-earning, family-sustaining jobs, driving an average wage gain of $24k three months or more after completing the program. Merit America is on a mission to build a scalable pathway for workers to join the middle class through merit, not money. Since our founding in 2018, we’ve generated a projected $1 billion in near-term wage gains for our learners. 

Role Overview

The Head of Data & Technology is a pivotal leadership role responsible for creating and driving the vision for leveraging data, building structures and processes, and product development for the betterment of all involved at Merit America. This leader will craft and influence data culture and practices while overseeing the technical infrastructure and product development that enables us to scale our programs and impact. We seek an empathetic leader who is comfortable with ambiguity, is service-oriented, and is a collaborative and unifying leader.

The Head of Data & Technology will lead our 6-person team of senior data scientists and engineers, focused on delivering insights through systems and processes, while maintaining and enhancing products that strengthen learner experiences and demonstrate organizational impact. This leader will create and implement a comprehensive data vision, including planning and supporting the deployment of data and technical projects (including applicant portal, LMS, internal coach tools), and guiding initiatives focused on responsible data use, scalability, and data-driven decision-making.

This role will provide both high-level strategic direction and dive into tactical execution details, including day-to-day mentoring with senior individual contributors, recommending and rolling out new tools, and coordinating across teams to build and refine systems and processes.

This is an exempt position reporting directly to the Managing Partner (similar role to a President) and collaborating closely with the Growth, Program, and Sustainability teams throughout Merit America.

Interested in learning more?  We will be hosting an info session on Wednesday, June 18th at 4:30pm EST. Click here to RSVP.

Responsibilities

Strategic Vision & Leadership

• Develop, champion, and deliver a comprehensive vision for data, engineering, and product that aligns with Merit America's mission and enables scalable impact for learners
• Drive technical strategy and roadmap for learner and organizational data, product development, and engineering infrastructure
• Foster innovation in how we leverage data and technology to improve learner outcomes and organizational effectiveness

Data Strategy & Governance

• Champion full-cycle, comprehensive data strategy including data collection, data standards and governance, documentation, and analytics infrastructure
• Ensure data is collected, clean, and reliable across all business functions through effective processes and systems
• Collaborate cross-functionally to execute data roadmap and facilitate data input and analytics, including:
• Administer data platforms, services, pipelines, and processes.
• Consult with teams to instrument high-quality user experience data
• Provide transparency into data and reporting quality, coverage, and completeness
• Ensure data security within the organization and with data in transit

Business Partnership & Decision Support

• Act as a strategic business partner to functional leaders, ensuring they have the tools and insights needed to make data-informed decisions
• Facilitate proactive insights that fill essential organizational knowledge gaps and drive strategic decision-making
• Collaborate with external data sources to gather and securely store data for comparative monitoring and evaluation work
• Provide guidance and vision for AI tools or experiences that drive operational efficiency and improve learner outcomes

Product Development & Engineering

• Determine product and engineering priorities in collaboration with key cross-functional stakeholders, prioritizing projects with the greatest organizational impact
• Oversee product maintenance and improvement with a focus on products that help to gather data to improve systems and demonstrate impact
• Lead engineering best practices, including software development lifecycle, technical architecture decisions, and quality standards
• Drive technical infrastructure planning, including scalability, maintenance, and system optimization

Team Leadership & Culture

• Lead a 6-person team of senior data scientists and engineers by investing in team members and ensuring high staff morale, sense of belonging, and commitment to the mission
• Foster a strong data culture across Merit America by encouraging data-driven decisions and teaching responsible data practices
• Build and mentor a high-performing team, while establishing clear career paths and growth opportunities
• Ensure retention of diverse technical talent aligned with organizational values

Skills and Competencies

We recognize that individuals from marginalized backgrounds, including women, people of color, and those with disabilities, are often less likely to apply when they don’t meet 100% of the job qualifications. Don’t let that be the reason you miss out on this opportunity! We want to emphasize that your unique skills, experiences, and perspectives are valuable, and we encourage you to apply if you can demonstrate many of the skills and competencies. Below are the skills that are relevant for thriving in this role:

Technical Expertise

• Data Leadership: Expert understanding of data architectures, governance, models, and warehousing; proficiency in SQL and analytics. (Merit America has a well-integrated data pipeline consisting of dbt, fivetran, bigquery)
• Engineering Management: Experience with software development practices, technical architecture, and infrastructure management. (Merit America has a rails app using postgres, heroku with a heavy investment in honeycomb for fine grained telemetry.)
• Product Development: Understanding of product management principles and user-centered design
• Business Intelligence: Knowledge of BI tools such as Hex (preferred), Looker, PowerBI, and data visualization best practices
• Experience with CRM systems and data integration across connected communication and collaboration platforms. Salesforce preferred, along with Canvas, Slack and other critical learner and internal tools
• Knowledge of data and AI industry trends, including impact on data storage and usage

Leadership & Strategy

• Decision-Making: Ability to drive decisions through data, leveraging A/B testing, causal inference, and analytics
• Stakeholder Management: Ability to work with diverse stakeholders and translate business needs into technical solutions
• People Leadership: Expert experience as mentor, manager, and team builder
• Systems Thinking: Ability to create and operationalize organization-wide systems for fast-scaling environments
• Change Management: Comfort thriving in rapidly-changing environments with ambiguous requirements

Mission Alignment

• Commitment to Merit America's mission to create pathways to family-sustaining careers and break the poverty cycle
• Embodiment of organizational values including Win & Lose Together and continuous learning
• Dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion with passion for fostering inclusive workplace culture
• Focus on impact with shared responsibility for positive community outcomes

Details and Logistics

• Position Type: Full-time, exempt
• Schedule: 4-day work week (Fridays are operating days when there's a holiday closure during the week)
• Salary: $192,000
• Priority Application Deadline: Monday, June 23rd
• Location: Remote (must be resident of one of the 50 United States or District of Columbia)

We take care of our employees by providing the following perks and benefits: 

• 4-day work week (Fridays are an operating day if there is a holiday closure during the week)
• Medical, Dental and Vision insurance (100% Paid Employee Only Coverage)
• Flexible Spending Account and Health Savings Account
• Dependent care Flexible Spending Account
• Health Reimbursement Account fully funded by Merit
• Education & personal development reimbursement
• Catalog of courses for professional learning and development
• Short and long-term disability
• Unlimited vacation (after a 90-day introductory period)
• Paid Parental Leave and Adoption benefits (after 1 year of employment)
• 11 federally recognized holidays
• 1 week office closure in July (week of July 4th)
• 2 week holiday office closure in December/January
• 401(k) retirement plan with automatic Merit contribution
• Wellness Benefits/Wellness Resources
• Discount perks at work program
• Phone/technology stipend
• Home office setup stipend
• Affinity groups and community building via virtual, in-person, and/or regional meetups

*Eligibility for some benefits may vary based on employment status, full-time or part-time. Eligibility will be outlined during the hiring process.

Remote Work & Sponsorship

Candidates must reside within the 50 states or District of Columbia and have full authorization to work in the 50 U.S. states & the District of Columbia (international work abroad, including the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and other islands are excluded). In addition, Merit America doesn't offer employment visa sponsorship.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Building an inclusive, high-performing team that is diverse across lines of personal identity is integral to our success and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

This means we do not discriminate against any job applicant or employee because of their race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This applies to all terms and conditions of employment.

We actively strive and evolve to develop and maintain workspaces that are fully inclusive. We encourage candidates from underrepresented groups to apply.

Still excited about our work?  You can learn more about our work in this video we made with our founding partner, Google.

Fair Chance Ordinance

Applicants who have arrest or conviction records and are in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County will be considered in accordance with the state’s fair chance ordinance law. Employment under the ordinance includes part-time work, seasonal work, contract work, contingent work, work on commission, and work through the services of a temporary or employment agency.

E-Verify Statement

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the I-9 Form.