How to Become a Data Warehouse Manager

Data warehouse managers are in charge of a data warehouse – sometimes called an enterprise data warehouse. 

They extrapolate conclusions from the data gathered by an organisation, and they’re in control of how the business interprets the vast amounts of data that they collect. As a result, data mining can lead to higher conversion rates and higher overall revenue.

Like all manager jobs, a data warehouse manager does have some responsibility for more junior employees. Because of this, it’s a role that requires strong people management skills. 

Good communication skills are useful as well – both for explaining what you want to be done and for liaising with other teams or presenting data structures to senior stakeholders. 

On top of that, the ability to use data visualisation will come in handy here too – especially if you need to present your findings to people who don’t necessarily have heads for numbers. 

Of course, there’s still a huge focus on data integration and analysis. At the very least, you need to know your way around Excel for this position.

Technically speaking, you don’t need any formal qualifications to become a data warehouse manager – it’s not a regulated industry like accounting or medicine. 

However, you’ll need to work your way up in the data sector through work with databases and data models. Then you can move into data engineering, data architecture, or data warehouse development. These are the main springboards for a career in data warehousing.

For all of these positions, it’s helpful to have a bachelor’s degree in something that proves you have an aptitude for working with data: computing, data science/statistics, and engineering are all good options.

If you’re looking at becoming a data warehouse manager from a career switch perspective, then a computer science degree or qualification would be a good way into the industry. 

And if you want to jump ahead and really stand out to employers, a master’s degree in business and data analytics will give you many of the skills you need to succeed as a data warehouse manager.

If you’ve been working as a data warehouse engineer for some time and want to take the next step, why not look into a course on project management? A crucial facet of a data warehouse manager’s role is to ensure that projects get delivered on time, and that team members are content and working efficiently. Of course, you can also take responsibility for projects within your current role to prove your project management skills.

Most data warehouse managers have five or more years of experience working within data warehouses and a couple of years before that working with databases. So it’s hard to say precisely how long it takes to qualify as a data warehouse manager.

A typical job description for a data warehouse manager might include skills like:

The average salary for a data warehouse manager is around £66,000 per year. However, this can vary on experience levels and industry.

If you don’t want to sign up for one company long-term, there are also many opportunities to become a contractor in the data warehouse industry. This also, of course, opens up the chance for part-time work if you feel like full-time isn’t the right choice for you.