Application Guide
How to Apply for Senior Engineering Manager - Data
at Workiva
🏢 About Workiva
Workiva is a leader in integrated ESG reporting, helping organizations streamline climate impact and compliance. Its focus on transparency and sustainability makes it a mission-driven workplace for those passionate about environmental and social impact.
About This Role
As Senior Engineering Manager for Data, you'll lead the evolution of Workiva’s multi-tenant data platform, overseeing ingestion, transformation, and serving layers. This role is critical to scaling the platform that powers ESG reporting, directly impacting the company's core product and customer success.
💡 A Day in the Life
A typical day involves reviewing platform metrics and KPIs with your managers, aligning on priorities with product and engineering leadership, and diving into architectural decisions for ingestion or transformation layers. You'll also mentor senior ICs, resolve cross-team blockers, and occasionally deep-dive into operational incidents to guide long-term improvements.
🚀 Application Tools
🎯 Who Workiva Is Looking For
- Proven leader with 8+ years engineering experience and 3+ years managing managers or multiple squads
- Deep expertise in modern data platforms: ingestion (DLT, Kafka), transformation (dbt), serving (Snowflake)
- Strategic thinker who translates enterprise strategy into multi-team roadmaps and KPIs
- Experienced in remote leadership, fostering collaboration across distributed teams
📝 Tips for Applying to Workiva
Highlight specific examples of leading multi-team data platform evolution, including architectural decisions and scaling challenges
Quantify impact: e.g., improved platform reliability by X%, reduced ingestion latency by Y%, or managed Z engineers across teams
Showcase familiarity with Workiva's ESG focus by mentioning how data platform improvements support sustainability reporting
Tailor your resume to emphasize governance, operations, and long-term evolution of data platforms, not just feature development
In your cover letter, connect your leadership style to managing remote, distributed teams and driving alignment with enterprise goals
✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter
['Your experience architecting and scaling data platforms (ingestion, transformation, serving) in a multi-tenant environment', 'Your people management philosophy and examples of developing engineering managers and senior ICs', "How you've translated high-level strategy into actionable roadmaps and set KPIs that drove measurable improvements", "Your alignment with Workiva's mission of transparent ESG reporting and your interest in sustainability"]
Generate Cover Letter →🔍 Research Before Applying
To stand out, make sure you've researched:
- → Understand Workiva's ESG reporting platform and how data ingestion/transformation supports compliance and transparency
- → Read about Workiva's culture and remote work practices, especially how they keep distributed teams aligned
- → Review recent news or case studies on Workiva's data platform updates or partnerships
- → Familiarize yourself with the competitive landscape in ESG reporting and how data plays a role
💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics
Based on this role, you may be asked about:
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Focusing too much on hands-on coding rather than leadership and strategy; this role is about managing managers and setting direction
- Ignoring the ESG context; failing to connect your experience to sustainability reporting may seem out of touch
- Being vague about multi-tenant platform challenges; be specific about how you've handled isolation, governance, and scaling across tenants
📅 Application Timeline
This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.
Typical hiring timeline:
Application Review
1-2 weeks
Initial Screening
Phone call or written assessment
Interviews
1-2 rounds, usually virtual
Offer
Congratulations!