Director of Data

What We’re Building Honeycomb is a service for the near and present future, defining observability and raising expectations of what developer tools can do! We’re working with well known companies like HelloFresh, Slack, LaunchDarkly, and Vanguard and more across a range of industries. This is an exciting time in our trajectory, we’ve closed Series D funding, scaled past the 200-person mark, and were named to Forbes’ America’s Best Startups of 2022 and 2023! If you want to see what we’ve been up to, please check out these blog posts and Honeycomb.io press releases. Who We Are We come for the impact, and stay for the culture! We’re a talented, opinionated, passionate, fiercely inclusive, and responsible group of bees. We have conviction and we strive to live our values every day. We want our people to do what they truly love amongst a team of highly talented (but humble) peers. How We Work We are a fully distributed company, which means we believe it is not where you sit, but how you deliver that matters most. We invest in our people and care about how you orient to our culture and processes. At the same time we imbue a lot of trust, autonomy, and accountability from Day 1. #LI-Remote Little more about the team: As the Director of Data, you will be the head of Honeycomb’s data engineering and data analytics functions, responsible for creating and executing our data vision and strategy. You will lead a talented team of data professionals, fostering a data-driven culture and ensuring that insights are effectively integrated into the Company’s decision making process. You’ll also work closely with partners around the company to build and deploy AI technology that leverages our data layer, helping to drive sensible, sustainable patterns for AI-enabled insights. This team currently includes both data engineers as well as our newly forming data analytics group. What you’ll do in the role: Build (and scale) a high-trust data org that ships Lead and develop a world-class team across data engineering, analytics, and (as needed) applied data science—creating clarity, psychological safety, and alignment to business goals. Setting our strategy and operating rhythm (roadmaps, quality gates, on-call/incident patterns where appropriate, metrics, forecasting, etc) working closely with stakeholders to set clear direction and then make progress, balancing speed and sustainability. Be hands-on early—writing SQL, prototyping models, reviewing PRs, and unblocking critical work—while also shifting leverage to the team as it grows. Own the data strategy that accelerates the whole business Define and execute Honeycomb’s data strategy you will develop and implement a long-term data strategy that aligns with Honeycomb’s business goals, and contribute to short term priorities across all functions to deliver immediate business value.(self-serve dashboards, trusted metrics, instrumentation gaps closed, etc.). Make insight a product, not a report: build reliable, fast, self-serve analytics that leaders and teams actually use—you will oversee the development of advanced analytics, dashboards, and reports that provide fast, actionable insights to stakeholders across the organization. AI + data platform: you understand that at the end of the day, insights and data-informed decisions are what really matter, and the tools we use may change. You have a vision and strategy for how we can sensibly use AI tooling to enable faster access to insights around the company with a sustainable, solid architecture. Drive data-informed decisions across functions (Product, Engineering, GTM, Finance, People) by translating complex analyses into crisp narratives and concrete tradeoffs. Create a product development mindset within the data function Partner tightly with Product & Engineering so data directly informs roadmap decisions, customer experience, and feature prioritization. Bring a “devtools” perspective to internal data products: obsessive focus on usability, documentation, discoverability, reliability, and iteration speed. Engineer a modern, scalable, trustworthy data platform Evolve our data architecture to be robust, performant, and cost-aware—improving pipelines, warehouses/lakehouses, orchestration, and implementation of ETL/ ELT processes (e.g., dbt, Airflow, or similar). Establish strong governance without slowing teams down: data quality, lineage, access controls, privacy/security practices, and clear ownership. Build confidence in the numbers by creating a single source of truth for core metrics and enforcing consistency end-to-end. What you’ll bring to the role: Extensive experience in data analysis, data engineering, or related fields, and have led a high performing team across both data engineering and data analytics disciplines. Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment, working both independently and as a hands-on team leader. Proven track record in developing and executing data strategies that drive business outcomes. Experience with scaling data infrastructure and tools in high-growth environments, with strong proficiency in SQL, data visualization tools (e.g., Mode, Tableau, Looker), and data engineering tools (e.g., dbt). Solid understanding of data science tools and techniques (Python and related libraries), with the ability to apply them as needed. Excellent communication skills with the ability to present complex data insights to executive and non-technical audiences. Exceptional problem-solving skills, paired with a strategic mindset and the ability to prioritize effectively in a scrappy, fast-changing environment. Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, or a related field; or equivalent experience. Base Salary based on level of experience $250,000—$290,000 USD What you'll get when you join the Hive: A stake in our success - generous equity with employee-friendly stock program It’s not about how strong of a negotiator you are - our pay is based on transparent levels relative to experience Time to recharge - Unlimited PTO and paid sabbatical A distributed-first mindset and culture (really!) Home office, co-working, and internet stipend Full benefits coverage for employees, with additional coverage available for dependents Up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave, regardless of path to parenthood Annual development allowance And much more... Please note we cannot currently sponsor or support visa transfers at this time. Additionally, in compliance with applicable law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work. Phishing and Recruitment Scam Warning: We take your security seriously. Please be aware that recruitment scams are increasingly common and scammers may create email addresses or websites to impersonate Honeycomb employees. To help protect you: All communications will come from an @honeycomb.io email address We occasionally work with external recruiting agencies. These partners will use legitimate business email addresses—never personal accounts like Gmail or Yahoo. Our recruiting process will never ask you to provide financial or sensitive personal information, including but not limited to: Social security or tax identification numbers Credit card numbers Bank account information Diversity & Accommodations: We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace—where people of all backgrounds, identities, experiences, and abilities are welcomed, valued, and supported. We recognize that there is no single path to success and embrace nontraditional career journeys and diverse perspectives as key to building stronger, more innovative teams. We strive to ensure an inclusive experience throughout every stage of our hiring process and are happy to provide reasonable accommodations as needed. If you require accommodations or accessible formats at any point during our hiring process, please let your recruiter know. As an equal opportunity employer our hiring process is designed to put you at ease and help you show your best work. If there’s anything we can do to improve your experience, we’re always open to feedback. Privacy Notice: If you apply for a job at Honeycomb and your application is unsuccessful (or you withdraw from the process or decline our offer), Honeycomb will retain your information after your application for a period of time in accordance with local laws. We retain this information for various reasons, including in case we face a legal challenge in respect of a recruitment decision, to consider you for other current or future jobs at Honeycomb, and to help us better understand, analyze and improve our recruitment processes. For more information regarding our privacy practices please see the Honeycomb Privacy Notice. If you do not want us to retain your information for consideration for other roles, or want us to update it, please contact privacy@honeycomb.io. Please note, however, that we may retain some information if required by law or as necessary to protect ourselves from legal claims.