Director of Data Products

Job description

Cooley AI is seeking a Director of Products to join the Innovation team.

About Cooley AI:

Cooley AI is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Cooley LLP. The frontier development arm of the leading technology law firm in the world. Our mission is to bring the best-in-class practices from the technology field into the legal domain to help lead our firm and the legal industry into the AI era. All employees of Cooley AI are employees of Cooley and are seconded to Cooley AI.

Position summary:

As a leading technology law firm, Cooley is determined to become a leader in the digital practice of law. The Director of Data Products is a leadership role responsible for building, leading, and delivering data products that turn the Northstar Lakehouse into value the firm can use. This role leads a multi-track team spanning AI-powered application engineering, technical data analysis, and business reporting and analytics, translating the firm’s legal intelligence and practice of law ambitions into data products that attorneys, business professionals, and firm leadership can trust and consume. This role steps into an active, well-resourced program, with platform foundations already live and Silver layer structures underway, and owns the product roadmap end to end in close partnership with the Director of Data. The Director is responsible for bringing strong delivery leadership and product judgment, building a high-performing team, and shipping data products that matter. Specific duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Position Responsibilities

Data Products Leadership & Team Development:

Lead and develop the Data Products function across three tracks: application engineering, technical data analysis, and business reporting and analytics. Build a high-performing, accountable team through clear expectations and consistent feedback

Provide direct leadership to the team and as the function matures and the application engineering track grows, make deliberate decisions regarding introducing a management layer beneath the Director

Develop each track lead as a capable, independent leader within their domain and invest in team management and technical capabilities

Partner with the Director of Data on function strategy, product roadmap, hiring sequencing, and the long-term capability development of the Data Products team as the Northstar Lakehouse transitions from build phase to a platform serving active legal intelligence and analytics products

Build and maintain a delivery culture across the Data Products function, where squads ship what they commit to, quality is non-negotiable, and every data product delivered is something the firm can trust

Serve as direct supervisor and mentor to direct reports

Provide day-to-day supervision of direct reports, ensure compliance with assigned work hours and monitor for compliance with all firm and department policies. Manage staffing coverage, review and process time logs/time off requests

Support business professional development and continued educational opportunities

In collaboration with immediate supervisor and central HR, participate in hiring, performance appraisals, counseling, termination and other employee lifecycle events

Product Roadmap & Delivery Ownership:

In partnership with the Director of Data, own the full product roadmap, inheriting an active program with platform momentum, a developing semantic layer, and established Data Domain Squad delivery patterns across the Northstar Lakehouse build

Translate legal intelligence, analytics, and practice of law product requirements that come through the Director of Data and the Intelligence & Client Services function into a clear, prioritized product roadmap

Own the delivery cadence of the Data Products function within the squad-based EPIC delivery model. Ensure Agile ceremonies are effective, sprint commitments are realistic and met, and the team is unblocked and productive across active squads

Drive the gold layer product strategy across the Data Vault Business Vault consumption layer serving legal intelligence, competitive intelligence, and AI-powered legal products, and the 3NF relational reporting layer serving financial reporting and billing analytics from 3E

Maintain a clear product backlog that reflects firm priorities, platform dependencies, and team capacity. Make hard prioritization decisions transparently and communicate clearly with stakeholders and the team

Define and maintain product quality standards for every data product the function ships, ensuring data accuracy, freshness, and reliability are built into the product rather than checked after delivery

AI-Powered Application & Analytics Product Delivery:

Direct the Senior Data Application Engineer on the productionization and extension of the firm’s AI-powered React application on Databricks Appkit, providing product direction, delivery accountability, and enough technical understanding of LLM integration and vector search to assess quality and unblock decisions

Provide product direction to the Senior Analytics & Data Modeler on gold layer dimensional model design, semantic layer development, and the dbt-based transformation patterns that make Northstar Lakehouse data consumable by BI tools, analytics products, and AI applications

Develop the application engineering track as the platform matures, making deliberate decisions about when the product portfolio justifies additional application engineering capacity and what profile that additional capacity should have

Ensure AI-powered product features are governed responsibly, including LLM output validation, retrieval quality monitoring, and appropriate user-facing communication of AI output reliability within the applications the team ships

Stay current on Databricks AI capabilities including FMAPI, Mosaic AI, Databricks Model Serving, and Genie, identifying opportunities to leverage platform-native AI features that accelerate product delivery or improve product quality

Collaborate with the Director of Data Engineering & Platform on the platform dependencies that Data Products applications and analytics products depend on, ensuring the engineering team understands the consumption requirements that drive gold layer design decisions

Technical Data Analysis & Business Reporting:

Provide leadership and strategic direction to the Sr. Data Analyst Manager and the Technical Data Analyst team on their dual mandate which includes supporting the Northstar Lakehouse EPIC analysis workflow and delivering analytical data products that serve firm stakeholders

Ensure the Technical Data Analyst EPIC analysis workflow is high-quality, efficient, and well-coordinated with the Data Engineering & Platform function

Direct the Senior Business Reporting & Analytics Manager and BI Analyst team on the delivery and maintenance of business reporting and analytics products, ensuring the Power BI reporting estate is reliable, current, and serves the firm’s operational reporting needs effectively

Build a clear migration path for the BI reporting estate from its current state toward gold layer consumption as the Northstar Lakehouse Silver and Gold layers mature, ensuring the transition is orderly and does not disrupt active reporting consumers

Partner with the Intelligence & Client Services function on the analytical data product requirements that serve legal intelligence, competitive intelligence, and client analytics needs, ensuring the data analyst and analytics modeler tracks are aligned to those priorities

Develop the Senior Data Analyst Manager as the operational leader of the analyst track, providing coaching on team management, delivery accountability, and the technical governance standards the analyst team operates within

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Platform Partnership:

Partner closely with the Director of Data Engineering & Platform as the primary cross-functional relationship for Data Products delivery. Align on gold layer design, data contract standards, platform dependency timelines, and the technical feasibility of product roadmap commitments

Collaborate with the Director of Data Platform Governance & Quality on data quality standards, certification requirements, and governance policies that apply to Data Products deliverables, ensuring the team builds within the governed platform model

Build a working relationship with the Intelligence & Client Services function, developing enough context on legal intelligence and client analytics requirements to translate those needs into product roadmap priorities

Represent the Data Products function in Data Council engagement as appropriate, providing product perspective on platform capability, data availability, and the consumption patterns that governance decisions need to support

Adhere to and reinforce firm data security, confidentiality, and access control standards across all Data Products deliverables, ensuring the team handles sensitive legal, client, and matter data appropriately in every product it ships

All other duties as assigned or required

Required

Skills and experience:

After orientation at Cooley LLP, exhibit proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, iManage, and other firm applications

Ability to work extended and/or weekend hours, as required

Ability to travel, as required

10+ years of experience in data product management, data engineering, analytics engineering, or a related data platform discipline preferably in a multi-track data products team, with 5+ years of management experience in relevant roles

Proven experience building and delivering data products on a cloud data platform, including AI-powered applications, analytics products, or BI reporting estates that business stakeholders actively use and trust

Strong understanding of the full data product stack from gold layer consumption through to user-facing application delivery, including dimensional modeling, semantic layer design, and application-layer data integration

Strong AI product fluency, with the ability to direct application engineers building LLM-integrated and vector search-powered applications, assess quality, and make product decisions about AI feature behavior and governance

Experience leading a multi-track team simultaneously, including engineers, analysts, and BI professionals, with demonstrated ability to develop track leads as capable, independent managers and individual contributors

Strong product roadmap ownership experience including backlog management, stakeholder requirement translation, prioritization decision-making, and delivery accountability in a squad-based Agile environment

Experience with Databricks or comparable cloud data lakehouse platform at a product leadership level, sufficient to engage credibly with platform engineers on gold layer design and data contract standards

Proven Agile delivery leadership in a data platform program, including EPIC delivery management, sprint planning, and definition of done discipline across multiple parallel workstreams

Bachelor’s degree

Preferred

Legal sector, professional services, or financial services experience with understanding of complex data domains including matter management, client relationships, timekeeper and billing data, or comparable professional services data complexity

Experience with Data Vault 2.0 at a product consumption level, including understanding of Business Vault patterns, point-in-time tables, and how gold layer dimensional models are built from Raw Vault and Business Vault structures

Experience with dbt for semantic layer and gold layer transformation model development, testing standards, and documentation practices

Familiarity with Databricks Appkit, Databricks Apps, or comparable application hosting platform for data-driven application delivery

Experience with Power BI or comparable BI platform at a product leadership level, including report estate governance, performance management, and migration planning toward a governed data lakehouse gold layer

Familiarity with RAG application patterns, LLM output governance, and how vector search integrates with AI-powered data products

Experience with Databricks FMAPI, Mosaic AI, Databricks Model Serving, or comparable platform-native AI capabilities and how they accelerate data product development

Experience building or operating a semantic layer using Databricks Genie, dbt metrics layer, or comparable semantic definition framework

Proficiency using AI-assisted development and productivity tools to accelerate product documentation, roadmap planning, and team communication workflows

Competencies

Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate complex data product concepts into clear roadmap priorities, stakeholder updates, and team direction

Strong data product delivery instincts with an understanding of what makes a data product trustworthy, consumable, and worth building

Excellent people leadership skills with demonstrated ability to develop multi-track teams, build a delivery culture, and make performance and promotion decisions

Strong AI product fluency with enough technical depth to direct application engineers credibly, assess LLM and vector search feature quality, and make sound product decisions about AI feature behavior

Excellent collaborative instincts with the ability to build productive working relationships across platform engineering, governance, and intelligence functions without creating friction or competing for authority

Strong product prioritization judgment with the ability to make hard roadmap decisions transparently and communicate clearly to both the team and senior stakeholders

Growth-oriented talent developer with genuine investment in each track lead's development and a track record of building team capability deliberately rather than accidentally

Strong delivery orientation with consistent follow-through on commitments, effective Agile ceremony leadership, and a track record of shipping data products that business stakeholders actually use

Strong attention to detail

Strong judgment

Unwavering ability to handle and maintain confidentiality regarding firm information, projects, and client data

Cooley LLP offers a competitive compensation and excellent benefits program. EOE.

The expected annual pay range for this position with a full-time schedule is $250,000 - $320,000. Please note that final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience and skillset of the candidate. Senior level candidates may be considered for this position and would be eligible for a higher salary range based on experience.

We offer a full range of elective benefits including medical, health savings account (with applicable medical plan), dental, vision, health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts, pre-tax commuter benefits, life insurance, AD&D, long-term care coverage, backup care for children and/or adults and other parental support benefits. In addition to elective benefit options, benefited employees receive firm-paid life insurance, AD&D, LTD, short term medical benefits as well as 25 days of Paid Time Off "PTO" and 10 paid holidays each year. We provide generous parental leave and fertility benefits. New employees will attend a detailed benefit orientation to learn more about our many benefits and resources.

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Worksite address

new york, NY, 10261, US

Who can apply

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