Chief Data & Strategy Officer

ZAYA Middle East; Dubai; On-site; AED 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional real estate firm in Dubai is seeking a Data Analytics Leader to establish data architecture and deliver impactful public dashboards. The ideal candidate has over 3 years of experience in data leadership, successfully creating client-facing data products. You will build and coach a high-performing data team while ensuring data quality and compliance across various jurisdictions.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in data/analytics leadership with proven impact.
• Delivery of public/client-facing data products.
• Strong grasp of data architecture and models.

Responsibilities

• Establish data architecture and delivery pipelines.
• Own public dashboards and analytics tools.
• Build and coach a high-performing data team.

Skills

Data architecture

Analytics leadership

Cross-functional team building

Public data products

GCC market literacy

Job description

What makes this role unique

• Greenfield mandate:Establish the data architecture, metric definitions, and delivery pipelines from scratch.
• Multi‑vertical scope:Real Estate, Mortgages, and Financing—three specialist sites, one governed metrics layer.
• Public data products:Launch external dashboards/tools with clear methodology, “last updated” stamps, and source attribution to build credibility from day one.
• Team builder:Hire, coach, and scale a cross‑functional data organization in the first 12 months.

Key Responsibilities

Foundation and Operating Model

• Chair the Data Standards Council(Compliance, Platform, Data Products) to approve KPI definitions and public disclosures.
• Publish and maintain the Metric Definition Catalog(price per sqm, DOM, yields, rate/APR, affordability, DSCR, PD/LGD/EAD).

Data Products and External Dashboards

• Own the portfolio of public dashboards/toolsfor each site (community price indices, supply pipeline, rate trackers, affordability/DSCR calculators, portfolio signals).
• Co‑author visualization specs with the Lead Analytics Designer(chart types, axes, states, accessibility, interactions).
• Enforce trust signals: methodology footers, sample sizes, currency/units, and freshness SLAs.

Platform, Quality, and Governance

• With the Head of Platform & Data Engineering, select stack components and implement resilient API ingestion from government and partner sources.
• Define data quality SLAs(freshness, completeness, anomaly thresholds) and establish observability and incident response.
• Partner with DPO/Compliance to ensure privacy, AML/KYC, licensing, and jurisdictional data rules.

Advisory, Risk, and Commercial Impact

• Embed analytics into advisory and underwriting workflows across all verticals.
• Build attribution modelslinking insights engagement to qualified pipeline, conversion, and LTV.
• Collaborate with CFO/Risk on pricing and capital allocation informed by forecasts and risk models.

Team Building and Leadership

• Hire and develop a high‑performing team (initial targets below).
• Coach vertical leaders to adopt data‑driven decision templates and narratives.

MUST HAVE

• 3+ years in data/analytics leadership with zero‑to‑one or early‑stage build experience and clear commercial impact.
• Proven delivery of public or client‑facingdata products that influence buying/financing decisions.
• Strong grasp of data architecture, modeling, and semantic/metric layers; capable of hands‑on reviews.
• Ability to recruit, structure, and scale a cross‑functional data team.
• GCC market literacy and comfort operating across multiple jurisdictions.

NICE TO HAVE

• GCC government/partner API integrations, valuation or underwriting frameworks, geospatial analysis, Arabic proficiency.

Directors and Roles

• Director - Industry Practice Lead/ Solution Architect
• Chief Technology and Information Officer
• Chief Internal Auditor - Information Technology Audit
• Franchise Hotel - Information Technology Supervisor