JOIN THE BEST TEAM ON THE FIELD IN SPORT, SPIRIT & ACHIEVEMENT
At Varsity Brands, we believe every student deserves the opportunity to succeed and every educator wants to make a difference. It takes a team to make a real impact, and through our three distinct brands – BSN SPORTS, Varsity Spirit and Herff Jones – and our network of 9,000+ employees and independent representatives, we are proud to partner with schools, colleges and universities across the country to transform the student journey in SPORT, SPIRIT and ACHIEVEMENT.

Are you looking to play an important role on a winning team? Are you looking for more than “just a job,” but a place where you can truly thrive and have your daily contributions make a real difference in someone’s life? At Varsity Brands we’re a growing company where you can lend your skills and talents in support of a greater mission. In return, you get to work with great people on challenging assignments that will accelerate your professional growth.

VARSITY SPIRIT: THE DRIVING FORCE IN SPIRIT ACROSS CHEER, DANCE AND BAND

Varsity Spirit is the leading global source for all things spirit, including cheerleading, dance team and performing arts. A leader in apparel innovation, educational camps, clinics, and competitions, Varsity Spirit impacts more than a million athletes each year. Focused on safety, entertainment and traditional school leadership, Varsity Spirit’s 5,000+ employees have been dedicated to celebrating school spirit through its brands since 1974. Our continued success relies on hiring extraordinary talent, with a passion for making a difference to help us elevate the student experience.

BAIN CAPITAL: A LEADING PRIVATE EQUITY PARTNER

Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private multi-asset alternative investment firms, with ~$155B in assets under management that creates lasting impact for investors, teams, businesses, and communities. Founded in 1984, Bain Capital pioneered a consulting-based approach to private equity investing, partnering closely with management teams to offer the insights that challenge conventional thinking, build great businesses, and improve operations. Varsity Brands, including Varsity Spirit, has been a Bain Capital Private Equity portfolio company since 2018.

THE OPPORTUNITY:

Varsity Spirit is looking for a Director, Data Strategy to serve as a business leader accountable for implementation of Varsity Spirit’s first-party data strategy program, and its structure. This role will report directly into the SVP IT and CIO of Varsity Spirit, with dotted line reporting into the VP of Digital. You will be accountable for the success of our first-party data program and responsible for driving the utilization of first-party data across the Varsity Spirit business. You will have the opportunity to build and lead a team that owns the data strategy, data roadmap, and implementation responsibilities for our B2B and D2C businesses, with the opportunity to expand leadership over time to all Varsity Spirit data. You will serve as lead for all internal and third-party partners to implement data infrastructure, governance, collection, and usage, while serving as a subject matter expert capable of scaling how the organization captures, aggregates, and applies first party data through our people, processes, and technologies. You will work closely with Varsity Spirit’s IT, Digital, and D2C groups, as well as with broader enterprise architecture and IT leaders from across the entirety of Varsity Brands.

The position can be based in either Dallas, TX or Memphis, TN, and will be a hybrid home/office role.

Responsibilities:

• Facilitate and accelerate first-party data transformation through program setup and ongoing management.
• Responsible for success of data strategy implementation through business KPIs.
• Lead implementation of data program and continuously identify gaps and opportunities to ensure progress forward.
• Develop a short-, medium- and long-term resourcing plan to ensure activation of first-party data related initiatives across the organization.
• Serve as subject matter expert and thought leader to the organization in the areas of first-party data, analytics, and effective use of data technologies.
• Develop, execute, and maintain a roadmap to maximize data capabilities and business insights.
• Lead multiple transformation initiatives, drive strategy, and foster innovation.
• Influence key business and technical stakeholders to drive the strategy and key projects forward.
• Support emerging data discussions and propagate data fluency within business.
• Contribute to the development of the technology roadmap to capture, manage, and leverage customer data to improve digital product, marketing and personalization efforts.
• Responsible for tracking risks and overall health of data program, providing recommendations to resolve issues, and evaluating alternative implementations.
• Coordinate with broader enterprise data initiatives and objectives to bring greater value overall to Varsity Brands through the collection & usage of first-party data.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant discipline from accredited University (preferred in Computer Science, Analytics, and/or Mathematics)
• 12+ years of experience leading data science, strategic solution delivery models and/or heavy analytical role; 3+ years in people leadership role
• Experience developing robust first-party data strategy, technology infrastructure and growth activities in B2B, Retail, D2C and/or Live Events business.
• Expert knowledge and skill with data, data management, data activation and consumer insights.
• A thorough understanding of first-party data landscape across B2B and D2C businesses.
• Expertise in data collection, segmentation, and application
• Comprehensive knowledge of data platform architecture, data modeling, database optimization, data management practices and processes.
• Familiarity with modern data architecture patterns such as data hubs, lakes, warehouses, marts and their intended use for data science and analytics
• Familiarity with data integration styles required to capture, process, and move data between source and analytical systems.
• Experience with implementation of a data eco-system using Azure, AWS, and/or Snowflake platforms a plus.
• Proficiency with using data analysis & reporting tools such as Tableau and/or PowerBI
• Experience with leveraging one or more data science/machine learning tools is a plus (e.g., R, Alteryx, SageMaker, DataBricks, Apache Spark etc.).
• Strategic change and data management execution experience.
• Must have excellent attention to detail and strong executive presence and presentation skills.
• You are a team player who takes initiative, proactively addresses problems, and can work with minimal oversight.

Varsity Brands companies are equal opportunity employers. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran’s status, age or disability.