VP - Data Operations

Good things are happening at Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies. We provide Property & Casualty insurance products and services through a nationwide network of independent agents and brokers. Our companies are all rated A+ “Superior” by AM Best (the leading independent insurance rating organization) and ultimately owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group – one of the financially strongest organizations in the world! Headquartered in Wilkes-Barre, PA, we employ over 1,000 individuals (and growing) and have offices across the country. Our vision is to be a leading small business insurance provider nationwide.

Founded upon an exceptional culture and led by a collaborative and inclusive management team, our company’s success is grounded in our core values:  accountability, service, integrity, empowerment, and diversity. We are always in search of talented individuals to join our team and embark on an exciting career path!

Benefits:

We are an equal opportunity employer that strives to maintain a work environment that is welcoming and enriching for all. You’ll be surprised by all we have to offer!

• Competitive compensation
• Healthcare benefits package that begins on first day of employment
• 401K retirement plan with company match
• Enjoy generous paid time off to support your work-life balance plus 9 ½ paid holidays
• Up to 6 weeks of parental and bonding leave
• Hybrid work schedule (3 days in the office, 2 days from home)
• Longevity awards (every 5 years of employment, receive a generous monetary award to be used toward a vacation)
• Tuition reimbursement after 6 months of employment
• Numerous opportunities for continued training and career advancement
• And much more!

We are seeking a senior leader to establish and scale a modern, outcomes-driven Data Operations function within the Data & Analytics (DnA) organization. This role will define how strategic data initiatives are planned, governed, and executed - with a focus on delivering measurable business and domain value, ensuring program stability, and building long-term operational resilience.  The VP of Data Operations is ultimately accountable for the delivery timelines and execution within our DnA teams. 
 

As the connective tissue between strategy, delivery, and execution, you will work with cross-functional teams - including Data Product Managers, Architects, Scrum Masters, Analysts, and Engineers to ensure the seamless, end-to-end delivery of data product initiatives. Reporting directly to the Head of Data & Analytics, you will oversee execution across all areas of the domain, aligning delivery with business priorities and enterprise strategy. You will cultivate strong partnerships with stakeholders, resolve delivery bottlenecks, and elevate team effectiveness. 

In parallel, you will own program management building a comprehensive cost model, supporting vendor rationalization, improving financial visibility, and enabling informed budget optimization to support scale and value realization. 

Key Responsibilities 

Short-Term Objectives (Stabilize & Structure) 

• Establish lightweight program governance to improve visibility into risks, milestones, and resource allocation across the portfolio. 

• Rationalize internal and vendor roles and establish a scalable cost and resource allocation model. 

• Introduce milestone tracking using program and task management tools, ensuring alignment between sprint outputs and product-level deliverables. 

• Ensure domains are efficiently delivering and meeting communicated timelines. 

• Accountable for the Scrum Masters with the domains and ensure they are effectively delivering. Enable sprint planning and closure, reinforcing the linkage between team activities and milestone progress. 

• Begin mapping cross-team interdependencies within DnA and proactively surface delivery risks across the portfolio. 

Medium-Term Objectives (Scale & Rationalize) 

• Enable the domain-wide operating model by integrating strategic planning, delivery execution, and operational rigor into the domain activities. 

• Implement structured reporting and dashboarding to provide leadership with visibility into delivery progress, prioritization, and course correction needs. 

• Champion the connection of business value creation and dual-track agile to connect discovery and delivery to measurable business value. 

Long-Term Objectives (Transform & Institutionalize) 

• Institutionalize a strategic Data Operations Office (or equivalent function) as a trusted center for delivery, visibility, insight, and accountability across DnA initiatives. 

• Work closely with data product management to communicate a repeatable framework to measure Data product ROI and KPIs, covering adoption, data quality, financial value, and time-to-impact. 

• Support long-term investment planning for the Head of DnA, including recommendations on team structure, delivery sequencing, and vendor strategy. 

• Foster a unified global delivery culture that balances consistency in program execution with business alignment and flexibility. 

Domain, Data Product Architecture & Technical Stewardship 

• Work closely with the data product architecture and domain teams to drive delivery, architectural consistency, reusability, and alignment with platform and enterprise standards. 

• Establish and enforce established design patterns and technical principles for scalable, compliant, and interoperable data products. 

• Facilitate architecture reviews across subdomains, ensuring traceability from value hypotheses to implemented data products. 

• Develop strong partnerships and collaborate with Platform & Enablement, Data Product Management, Security, and Governance teams to embed best practices around quality, lineage, privacy, and lifecycle management. 

• Guide solution design for high-impact initiatives, supporting DPAs in trade-off decisions, dependency mapping, and innovation. 

• Serve as one of the escalation points for architecture challenges across distributed domains and cross-functional delivery teams. 

Strategic Alignment and Objectives 

• Shape the communication strategy for high-impact initiatives, ensuring clarity and stakeholder alignment across all levels. 

• Demonstrate willingness to dive deep - managing program details, building executive presentations, assisting with QBR and executive presentations.  

Required Qualifications 

• 15+ years of experience in leadership roles spanning program delivery, enterprise, data transformation, or product strategy. 

• Deep experience in insurance or financial services, with strong familiarity across core business functions: Underwriting, Claims, Distribution, Operations. 

• Proven ability to lead and influence cross-functional global teams, including Engineering, architecture, and vendors, balancing agility with accountability. 

• Strong working knowledge of tooling such as Monday.com, ADO, Jira, or equivalent platforms for hybrid agile delivery and governance. 

• Executive-level communication and stakeholder engagement capabilities, with a track record of building trust across the enterprise. 

Preferred Experience 

• Familiarity with value based prioritization, product management, dual-track agile, and data mesh concepts. 

• Experience managing global vendor teams and rationalizing multi-sourced delivery models. 

• Ability to translate DnA strategy into meaningful, measurable delivery roadmaps.