Director, Data Engineering & Platforms

Job description

Accountabilities: Serve as a key member of the Enterprise Data & Analytics leadership team, contributing to technology strategy, architecture, and long-term platform evolution. Lead and support data and analytics teams operating within a follow-the-sun model, ensuring reliable delivery, operations, and support for enterprise data solutions. Architect, optimize, and oversee secure, scalable, cost-effective, and high-performing data platforms and infrastructure. Provide technical leadership across the Azure data ecosystem, driving modern data engineering, cloud, DevOps, automation, and analytics practices. Mentor engineering, data, and operations professionals while building and maintaining high-performing, collaborative teams. Act as a trusted advisor to business and IT stakeholders, influencing architectural decisions and translating complex technology challenges into practical solutions. Support users of data and analytics products and ensure that platforms remain responsive, reliable, secure, and fit for purpose. Champion modern data technologies, automation, and continuous process improvement to increase efficiency and scalability. Lead and support incident management, troubleshooting, and resolution across data platforms and operations. Monitor technology budgets and spending, identifying opportunities to optimize costs without compromising performance or reliability. Serve as the local manager for remote technology employees based in India, including employees across infrastructure, applications, design and development, information security, and compliance. Conduct regular employee check-ins and collaborate with matrix managers and HR stakeholders on hiring, onboarding, performance management, compensation planning, and other employment processes. Foster strong relationships between local teams, global technology leadership, and business stakeholders. Contribute to the development of next-generation data, analytics, and generative AI capabilities that enable smarter decisions and more digitalized workflows. Requirements: Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Mathematics, Information Technology, or a related field; a Master's degree is preferred. 12+ years of progressively responsible experience in information technology or a closely related field. 7+ years of hands-on experience building and managing data platforms within Microsoft Azure. Strong expertise across Azure services including Azure Data Lake, Azure Databricks, Azure Data Factory, Azure Service Bus, Azure Virtual Machines, Blob Storage, Azure SQL Database, Virtual Network, Azure App Service, Microsoft Fabric, and Power BI. 7+ years of technology management experience with a proven track record of building and leading high-performing teams. 7+ years of experience managing data and analytics teams. 5+ years of experience managing follow-the-sun data operations and/or data engineering environments. 5+ years of experience in incident management, troubleshooting, and resolution. Strong knowledge of database troubleshooting, data warehousing, and BI analytics. Experience with Infrastructure as Code and modern cloud engineering practices. Experience with DevOps and MLOps, particularly in the development and deployment of generative AI solutions. Experience designing and managing generative AI systems for document ingestion, summarization, content generation, or similar applications is highly desirable. Strong interpersonal, communication, leadership, and stakeholder-management skills. Ability to operate strategically while remaining comfortable engaging with complex technical challenges. Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage competing priorities across global and local teams. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered in place of specific educational requirements. Ability to work effectively in a fully remote environment and maintain standard UK business hours. Benefits: Fully remote, work-from-home position based in India. International and globally distributed technology environment. Opportunity to lead enterprise-scale data engineering and analytics initiatives. Significant exposure to Microsoft Azure, modern data platforms, DevOps, MLOps, and generative AI technologies. Opportunity to shape the evolution of enterprise data and AI capabilities. Senior leadership position with broad influence across technology, data, analytics, and local employee management. Opportunity to mentor and develop high-performing technology teams. Direct involvement in strategic initiatives supporting innovation in healthcare and life-science research. Collaboration with global technology, business, HR, and executive stakeholders. Standard working hours aligned with the UK business day. How Jobgether works: We use an AI-powered matching process to ensure your application is reviewed quickly, objectively, and fairly against the role's core requirements. Our system identifies the top-fitting candidates, and this shortlist is then shared directly with the hiring company. The final decision and next steps (interviews, assessments) are managed by their internal team. We appreciate your interest and wish you the best! Why Apply Through Jobgether? Data Privacy Notice: By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Jobgether will process your personal data to evaluate your candidacy and share relevant information with the hiring employer. This processing is based on legitimate interest and pre-contractual measures under applicable data protection laws (including GDPR). You may exercise your rights (access, rectification, erasure, objection) at any time. #LI-CL1 This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Director, Data Engineering & Platforms based in India. This is a senior technology leadership opportunity for an experienced data and analytics leader shaping enterprise-scale data platforms and AI capabilities. You will lead the architecture, engineering, operations, and continuous improvement of a modern Azure-based data ecosystem. The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on technical expertise across cloud infrastructure, data engineering, analytics, DevOps, and emerging AI technologies. You will build and mentor high-performing teams while partnering with business and technology stakeholders across a global organization. As a local leader for remote technology employees in India, you will also play an important role in people management, collaboration, and employee development. This is an opportunity to influence major technology decisions and enable data-driven innovation in an environment focused on improving healthcare and accelerating life-science research.