Senior Manager - Operational Data Services

Position SummaryThe Senior Manager, Operational Data Services leads the strategy, governance, delivery and operation of the data integrations, platforms and data assets that power business operations, processes and applications across WestJet. The role ensures operational data is current, reliable, accessible and trusted, and that the services underpinning operational systems perform effectively and support a dependable user experience.
The Senior Manager provides leadership for operational data platforms, data integration and production operations. The role sets long-term direction, aligns leaders around priorities, anticipates risks and ensures the organization has resilient, scalable and supportable operational data services. The role leads a team responsible for building and operating solutions across Databricks, Microsoft Azure and SQL-based platforms and coordinates high-priority incident response when data services affect business operations.
Accountability StatementAccountable for designing, building and operating data integrations, platforms and assets that power business operations, processes and applications, ensuring data is current, reliable, accessible and trusted.
Key ResponsibilitiesShape Operational Data Services Strategy and Operating Model
Define and lead the strategy, roadmap and operating model for Operational Data Services in alignment with WestJet and Data, Analytics & AI objectives.
Establish the vision, priorities, governance and performance expectations for operational data engineering, platform services, integrations and production support.
Translate enterprise and operational priorities into platform investments, capability roadmaps and sequenced delivery plans.
Advise executives and senior leaders on operational data strategy, service risk, technical trade-offs, capacity and investment decisions.
Identify opportunities to simplify the data landscape, reduce unnecessary duplication and create reusable services and patterns.
Continuously evolve the function based on operational needs, service performance, technology direction and lessons learned.
Align cross-functional leaders around enterprise outcomes and resolve competing priorities across business and technology.
Lead Operational Data Platforms and Technology Direction
Provide strategic and technical leadership for Databricks, Microsoft Azure and SQL-based operational data platforms and services.
Define platform roadmaps covering architecture, capacity, performance, availability, lifecycle, security, cost and technical currency.
Ensure platform decisions balance operational performance, resilience, scalability, interoperability, maintainability and total cost.
Establish standards and reusable patterns for data ingestion, transformation, storage, access, orchestration, observability and operational consumption.
Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Cloud, Cybersecurity, Database, Network and Integration teams to align platform direction and resolve cross-enterprise dependencies.
Ensure platform changes, upgrades and migrations are planned and executed with appropriate testing, change controls, rollback and operational readiness.
Lead Data Integration and Operational Data Asset Delivery
Oversee the design and delivery of data pipelines, operational data stores, integrations and data assets that support business applications and processes.
Ensure business requirements, consumers, service expectations, data contracts, dependencies and success measures are understood before delivery commitments are made.
Promote consistent engineering practices, automated testing, source control, CI/CD, infrastructure as code and repeatable deployment approaches.
Ensure solutions are scalable, secure, observable and practical to support throughout their lifecycle.
Coordinate delivery across product, architecture, application, integration, data governance and business teams when outcomes span multiple functions.
Ensure technical debt, platform constraints and lifecycle risks are visible and incorporated into planning and investment decisions.
Operate Data Services
Own the operational performance, reliability, availability, freshness and supportability of operational data services and assets.
Establish service measures, operational thresholds and reporting for availability, latency, data freshness, pipeline health, data quality, capacity, cost and recovery.
Ensure end-to-end monitoring and service visibility identify stale, incomplete, delayed or unavailable data before significant business impact occurs.
Ensure support models, runbooks, escalation paths, on-call coverage, dependency maps and recovery procedures reflect service criticality.
Oversee capacity planning, performance optimization, platform administration, maintenance and operational lifecycle activities.
Use service and operational data to drive improvements in stability, resilience, supportability and cost efficiency.
Lead Major Incident Response, Recovery and Resilience
Provide leadership during incidents affecting operational data services, business systems or guest facing operations.
Assess business impact, establish priorities and coordinate technical and business response across internal teams, vendors and service providers.
Ensure transparent communication throughout significant incidents, including impacts, decisions, recovery progress and residual risk.
Confirm service recovery, data integrity and downstream readiness before incidents are closed.
Lead post-incident reviews, root-cause analysis and corrective-action governance, ensuring systemic issues are addressed and repeat incidents decrease.
Establish and regularly validate business-continuity, high-availability, disaster-recovery, backup, failover and restoration capabilities based on service criticality.
Lead Data Trust, Security and Operational Governance
Ensure operational data services meet security, privacy, data governance, architecture, regulatory and records-management requirements.
Embed data quality, lineage, ownership, access, retention and lifecycle controls into operational data services and delivery practices.
Proactively identify strategic, architectural, operational, cyber, data and vendor risks and assess their wider enterprise impact.
Establish decision rights, standards, controls and escalation paths that support timely and accountable delivery and operations.
Maintain audit-ready evidence for access, changes, deployments, service management, recovery testing and control operation.
Lead governance and executive discussions related to platform direction, operational risk, service performance and material investment decisions.
Manage Portfolio, Financial and Partner Performance
Lead prioritization and capacity planning across operational commitments, strategic delivery, technical improvements, maintenance and incident demand.
Provide visibility into priorities, commitments, delivery health, dependencies, operational risk and upcoming decisions.
Manage budgets, technology consumption and resource plans, including Databricks and Azure usage and SQL platform costs.
Oversee strategic vendors, managed-service providers and delivery partners, ensuring performance, value, risk and contractual commitments are actively managed.
Make evidence-based trade-overs when competing priorities or capacity constraints threaten critical operational outcomes.
Ensure investments and improvement initiatives are connected to measurable reliability, efficiency, risk or business outcomes.
Build and Lead a High-Performing Operational Data Team
Build, lead and develop a multidisciplinary team spanning data engineering, platform operations, data integration, analysis and production support.
Set clear direction, priorities, decision rights, service expectations and outcome-based performance measures.
Develop leadership depth, succession plans and capability roadmaps that support WestJet’s future operational data needs.
Coach team members to apply sound technical judgment, think beyond individual systems and act with appropriate autonomy.
Create an inclusive environment that supports accountability, constructive challenge, learning, operational discipline and continuous improvement.
Use clear communication and storytelling to align teams and leaders around technology direction, operational risk, investment needs and change.
QualificationsEducation
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Data Management or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Advanced degree and relevant professional certifications in Databricks, Microsoft Azure, data engineering, cloud architecture, IT service management or related disciplines are considered assets.
Experience
10+ years of progressive experience in data engineering, operational data platforms, integrations, cloud technologies or related enterprise technology domains.
Extensive experience leading teams that design, build and operate business-critical data platforms, integrations and data services.
Demonstrated experience with Databricks and the Azure technology ecosystem in enterprise production environments, including platform strategy, delivery and operations.
Strong experience with SQL platforms, data modelling, performance optimization, operational data stores and database lifecycle management.
Experience establishing or maturing service management, monitoring, support, high-availability, disaster-recovery and operational-readiness practices.
Experience leading production incidents, coordinating complex recovery and communicating impacts and decisions to stakeholders.
Experience shaping strategy, roadmaps, governance and investment decisions for complex technology capabilities.
Experience leading cross-functional delivery and resolving dependencies across architecture, cloud, cyber, integration, applications, data governance and business teams.
Experience managing technology budgets, cloud consumption, vendors, managed services and external delivery partners.
Experience in the airline, travel or another operationally intensive and regulated industry is considered an asset.
Knowledge & Skills
Deep understanding of operational data architecture, data engineering, data integration, cloud platforms and production operations.
Strong knowledge of Databricks, Microsoft Azure and SQL technologies, including their use in secure, scalable and resilient enterprise environments.
Strong understanding of batch and near-real-time data processing, APIs, event and message-driven integration, orchestration and data quality controls.
Knowledge of observability, service-level measures, incident and problem management, change management, resilience, backup and disaster recovery.
Ability to translate enterprise strategy and operational needs into technology roadmaps, operating priorities and investment decisions.
Ability to anticipate enterprise-level risks, understand cross-functional impacts and establish practical paths forward.
Strong executive communication, storytelling, facilitation, negotiation and decision-support skills.
Demonstrated ability to influence executives, align leaders and shape decisions without relying solely on direct authority.
Strong financial and commercial acumen, including cloud cost management, vendor performance and investment trade-overs.
Strong people leadership skills, including organizational design, coaching, delegation, succession planning and capability development.
Ability to remain calm, decisive and transparent during high-impact operational incidents and periods of rapidly changing priorities.
What Success Looks Like
Operational applications and business processes consistently receive current, reliable and trusted data when they need it.
Databricks, Azure and SQL platform capabilities have clear strategies, roadmaps, ownership, service expectations and lifecycle plans.
Operational data services meet defined availability, latency, freshness, data-quality, security and recovery expectations.
High-priority incidents are detected early, managed decisively and resolved with clear communication and minimal operational or guest impact.
Root causes are addressed, recovery is regularly tested and repeat incidents decline over time.
New integrations and operational data assets are delivered using secure, scalable, observable and reusable engineering patterns.
Executives have clear visibility into service health, risks, capacity, costs, delivery commitments and required decisions.
Technology investments and vendor relationships deliver measurable improvements in reliability, efficiency, scalability or risk reduction.
Business, operational and technology leaders trust the function’s judgment and view Operational Data Services as a strategic partner.
The team is engaged, capable and prepared to support WestJet’s evolving operational and guest-experience needs.
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