Head of Data Visa Sponsorship Jobs in California
Head of data roles in California sit at the intersection of Silicon Valley's tech sector and the state's expanding AI and machine learning industry. Major employers including Google, Meta, Salesforce, and Airbnb regularly hire senior data leaders, with San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles offering the highest concentration of open positions and active visa sponsorship activity.
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Company Description
NBCUniversal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. We create world-class content, which we distribute across our portfolio of film, television, and streaming, and bring to life through our global theme park destinations, consumer products, and experiences. We own and operate leading entertainment and news brands, including NBC, NBC News, NBC Sports, Telemundo, NBC Local Stations, Bravo, and Peacock, our premium ad-supported streaming service. We produce and distribute premier filmed entertainment and programming through our powerhouse film and television studios, including Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, and Focus Features, and the four global television studios under the Universal Studio Group banner, and operate industry-leading theme parks and experiences around the world through Universal Destinations & Experiences, including Universal Orlando Resort, home to Universal Epic Universe, and Universal Studios Hollywood. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.
Our impact is rooted in improving the communities where our employees, customers, and audiences live and work. We have a rich tradition of giving back and ensuring our employees have the opportunity to serve their communities. We champion an inclusive culture and strive to attract and develop a talented workforce to create and deliver a wide range of content reflecting our world.
Job Description
Role Overview
The SVP, Head of Studio Data & Insights leads Universal Entertainment's data strategy, analytics and AI insights functions in Los Angeles. Reporting to the EVP, the role owns the teams - their people, priorities, standards and delivery - and provides the sustained executive presence and stakeholder leadership that drives adoption of the function's agenda within the rhythms of the studio.
Mission
Over the past six years, the data function has built a substantial insights platform and analytical capability; this role will embed these capabilities in how the studio makes decisions throughout the content lifecycle, and will lead and develop the LA organization that delivers them.
Success in this role requires a leader who shapes strategy with a one-company mindset, inspires transformation and innovation, drives execution excellence, and builds inclusive, empowered teams that can adapt through change while modelling NBCUniversal’s values.
Core Responsibilities
- Act as the EVP's senior partner in-region, operating with delegated authority within an agreed decision framework and serving as the function's voice in executive, fast-moving, and cross-functional forums where in-region presence and judgement are required.
- Provide leadership and direction for the Los Angeles-based data strategy and analytics organization, including teams focused on insights, analytics, and AI-enabled decision support. Partner closely with the LA-based SVPs and their teams to align priorities, support delivery across the portfolio, shape the operating plan, and foster a high standard of work and impact across the region.
- Identify, develop, and empower talent across the leadership bench. Raise the bar through hiring, coaching, and succession planning; build collaborative and inclusive teams; grow senior leaders who can own their areas independently; and establish clear rules on which decisions genuinely need escalation.
- Lead and deepen the function's senior stakeholder relationships across UE's departments, owning the strategic agenda, the value narrative, and the forward asks for each. This includes establishing a consistent rhythm of engagement with department leadership — from quarterly strategic reviews to proactive intelligence — so that each senior partner has a clear, current view of the value being delivered and the opportunities ahead.
- Represent the Los Angeles’ studio’s requirements into the global data & analytics platform roadmap. Work with the EVP and the UK-based data platform team to translate stakeholder needs into prioritised input on analytics platforms and the underlying data and AI capability — qualifying genuine capability gaps, making the case for what the studio needs, and setting clear expectations with stakeholders on what the platform delivers and when.
- Partner closely with Strategy and Research teams as the function's nearest neighbours, ensuring data, analytics and AI insight is combined with strategic and audience research rather than delivered in parallel — presenting a single, coherent evidence base to decision-makers and jointly shaping the questions worth answering.
- Drive adoption and embedding of central insights platforms and AI-enabled analyses across creative development, greenlight, marketing, and distribution for Universal Entertainment's Film and TV divisions. The emphasis is evangelism, mandate-building, and integration into existing decision processes and systems — and success is measured in how deeply the capability becomes part of how departments work.
- Own the evidence of impact. Establish how the function's contribution is tracked and articulated — where insight changed a decision, and what it was worth — and carry that case to UE and NBCU leadership, so the mandate is renewed on demonstrated value rather than goodwill.
- Orchestrate across the function's teams in and outside the region, convening workstreams into strategically aligned and coherent outputs, and ensuring stakeholders experience the function as a single, joined-up partner rather than a collection of individual projects.
- Drive and maintain strategic partnerships across NBCU with a one-company mindset, identifying opportunities for data and insights sharing, supporting central initiatives focused on growth and innovation.
Qualifications
- BA/BS required, MBA or JD preferred
- Forward-thinking, strategic, tactical and detail-oriented; proven ability to work across an organization at all levels with technical, creative, and executive team members
- Ability to work with confidential and sensitive information in a discrete manner
- Superior analytical, presentation and communication skills – written and verbal
- Ability to identify key priorities and execute on them
Desired Characteristics
- A proven senior operator from a studio, streamer, network, or adjacent entertainment technology environment, with a demonstrated record of selling, embedding, and scaling data and analytics capabilities within creative, marketing, or distribution organizations — someone who has won adoption and mandate, not only delivered analysis.
- A track record of leading multidisciplinary data and analytics teams at scale — hiring and raising the bar, developing senior leaders who operate independently, and running a delivery organization against competing priorities in a large, matrixed environment.
- Established, trusting senior-level relationships with C-suite entertainment executives, with the presence and judgement to hold senior relationships independently and advance an agenda as their own, while operating as part of a tightly aligned leadership team.
- Sufficient technical and analytical fluency to represent the capability with honesty and precision — able to engage substantively on what the data teams can and cannot do.
- A robust understanding of how film and television studios operate across the content lifecycle — creative development, production, marketing, and distribution — and of where data and analytics genuinely change decisions within it.
- A values-led culture carrier as much as an operator: self-aware, empathetic, curious, and open-minded; someone who models and reinforces the team’s values — candour, collaboration, inclusion, curiosity, and pride in the craft — while empowering others to perform and setting the leadership standard expected across NBCUniversal.
- Comfortable leading in a matrixed, fast-moving environment through complexity, ambiguity, and industry change with the ability to stay decisive and solutions-focused while inspiring innovation, running experiments and pilots, and turning open questions into evidence rather than waiting for the picture to settle.
Hybrid: This position currently has a hybrid schedule, which requires contributing from the office a minimum of four days per week. The Company reserves the right to change in-office requirements at any time.
This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks. Salary range: $275,000-$350,000 (bonus and long-term incentive eligible)
Additional Information
As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.
NBCUniversal will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories, or arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with relevant legal requirements, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative For Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, where applicable.
If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to AccessibilitySupport@nbcuni.com.
Head of Data Job Roles in California
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Search Head of Data Jobs in CaliforniaHead of Data Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for heads of data in California?
Technology companies dominate head of data sponsorship in California. Google, Meta, Salesforce, Adobe, Lyft, Airbnb, and Palantir have established track records of filing H-1B visa petitions for senior data leadership roles. Healthcare technology firms such as Epic and Veeva Systems, along with fintech companies headquartered in San Francisco, also sponsor this role category with regularity.
What visa types realistically fit head of data roles in California?
Head of data is a specialty occupation requiring a directly related bachelor's degree or higher, making the H-1B the primary visa pathway. Australian nationals may qualify under the E-3 visa, and Chilean and Singaporean nationals under the H-1B1 visa. Candidates already in the U.S. may use OPT or STEM OPT if their degree is STEM-designated. EB-2 and EB-3 green card sponsorship is common for this seniority level.
Which cities in California have the most head of data sponsorship jobs?
San Francisco accounts for the largest share of head of data sponsorship activity in California, driven by the density of data-intensive technology companies headquartered there. San Jose and the broader South Bay area follow closely, reflecting Silicon Valley's concentration of cloud, AI, and enterprise software employers. Los Angeles is growing as a secondary hub, particularly in media technology, e-commerce, and entertainment analytics.
How to find head of data visa sponsorship jobs in California?
Migrate Mate lists California employers with verified visa sponsorship history for data leadership roles, letting you search specifically for head of data positions without having to manually verify each company's sponsorship track record. This is particularly useful in California, where large tech employers and high-growth startups both appear in the results alongside healthcare and fintech companies actively filing for senior data hires.
Are there any California-specific considerations for head of data candidates seeking visa sponsorship?
California's strong university pipeline through UC Berkeley, Stanford, and UCLA feeds into a competitive senior data talent pool, meaning employers here are accustomed to sponsoring international candidates at the leadership level. California's strict worker protections also apply to sponsored employees, so employers filing LCAs must meet prevailing wage requirements that reflect the state's elevated compensation benchmarks, particularly in the Bay Area and Los Angeles metro.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored head of data jobs in California?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.