Associate Director – Data Platform & Operations

Salt Digital Recruitment; Dubai; On-site; AED 334,800 - 502,200; Full time

Job summary

Salt Digital Recruitment is seeking a Senior Leader to drive the strategy and operations of a hybrid enterprise data platform that powers AI, BI, and analytics. You will oversee the architecture and operations across Azure and Kubernetes, manage big data ecosystems, and ensure platform reliability and scalability.

The ideal candidate possesses at least 8 years in platform engineering and 4 years in leadership roles, with strong skills in Kubernetes, CI/CD, and IaC, as well as a degree in Computer Science or a related field.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in platform engineering / DevOps / data infrastructure.
• 4+ years in leadership roles.
• Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes, CI/CD & IaC.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture & operations across Azure, Kubernetes/OpenShift & on-prem storage.
• Drive CI/CD, IaC (Terraform/Ansible) & platform automation.
• Oversee big data ecosystem (Spark, Kafka, Delta Lake, SingleStore).

Skills

Platform engineering

DevOps

Data infrastructure

Kubernetes

CI/CD

IaC

Big data platforms

Observability

Education

Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Azure

Kubernetes/OpenShift

Spark

Kafka

Delta Lake

SingleStore

Azure DevOps

Job description

My client is seeking a senior leader to drive the strategy, delivery, and operations of a hybrid enterprise data platform powering AI, BI, and analytics.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture & operations across Azure, Kubernetes/OpenShift & on-prem storage
• Drive CI/CD, IaC (Terraform/Ansible) & platform automation
• Oversee big data ecosystem (Spark, Kafka, Delta Lake, SingleStore)
• Implement observability (monitoring, logging, lineage, alerts)
• Own platform reliability, scalability & cost optimisation (FinOps)
• Enable self‑service for Data, AI & BI teams
• Manage delivery, dependencies & production readiness
• Mentor teams and embed DevOps/DataOps best practices

Platform Stack

• Azure
• Kubernetes/OpenShift
• Spark
• Kafka
• Delta Lake
• Parquet
• SingleStore
• VAST
• Azure DevOps

Leadership & Impact

• Partner with CTO, CDO & AI leadership on platform strategy
• Own roadmap delivery, performance metrics & cost reporting
• Lead and grow platform, DevOps & operations teams
• Drive modernisation & cloud‑native adoption

Requirements

• 8+ years in platform engineering / DevOps / data infrastructure
• 4+ years in leadership roles
• Strong hands‑on experience with Kubernetes, CI/CD & IaC
• Expertise in big data platforms (Spark, Kafka, Delta Lake)
• Experience in hybrid cloud & on‑prem environments
• Strong understanding of observability, self‑service platforms & performance tuning

Education & Certifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• Preferred: Kubernetes (CKA/CKAD), Azure DevOps, or cloud certifications