Data Manager

ALEC Holdings; Dubai; On-site; AED 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

ALEC Holdings invites an experienced Data Manager to lead our data governance, engineering, and analytics initiatives in a role focused on building AI-ready data foundations for smarter business decisions.

You will drive end-to-end data platform delivery, establish governance models, and guide a team of data engineers to scale across construction and engineering domains.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading a data function, data platform, or data engineering team.
• Strong understanding of modern data platform architecture and governance.
• Hands-on background in data engineering or data architecture with review capability.

Responsibilities

• Lead the enterprise data platform end to end, ensuring security, reliability, and governance.
• Own data architecture including lake-house layers, medallion structure, and reusable patterns.
• Deliver trusted data products, data marts, and semantic models with business adoption in mind.
• Define master data standards and oversee onboarding of business systems onto the platform.
• Coach and grow a team of data engineers and manage capacity, vendors, and delivery partners.

Skills

Python

PySpark

Data leadership

Data architecture

Cloud platforms

Stakeholder management

Education

Degree in appropriate discipline

Certifications in data architecture, data governance, analytics, or cloud platform (advantage)

Tools

Microsoft Purview

Databricks

Azure

Foundry IQ

Fabric IQ

Power BI

Job description

Are you an experienced Data Manager passionate about data governance, engineering, analytics, and AI ready data foundations that drive smarter business decisions?

Who are we?

ALEC Holdings PJSC, part of the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), is a leading GCC construction group with over two decades of success delivering some of the region’s most complex and high-profile projects. As a proudly publicly listed company, ALEC continues to raise the bar for quality, innovation, and excellence in construction, driving iconic developments that shape skylines across the Middle East.

In the UAE, ALEC has delivered many of the nation’s most iconic developments, operating as a fully integrated contractor through specialist business units that provide end-to-end construction solutions.

ALEC provides strategic leadership, operational oversight, and shared services that support the performance and growth of all businesses within the Group. From governance, finance, and talent to innovation, digital systems, and sustainability, the Head Office acts as the central hub that enables each business unit to deliver with confidence, consistency, and excellence across the construction and engineering value chain.

Why Join Us?

As a Data Manager based at ALEC, you’ll play a vital role in enabling our diverse businesses to succeed. From strategy and governance to enabling services and shared expertise, you’ll help shape the operational backbone that empowers our teams to deliver exceptional outcomes for clients across the region.

At ALEC, we’re about more than just building iconic structures - we’re about building exceptional careers. As a trusted partner to some of the region’s most ambitious projects, we value innovation, operational excellence, and our people. Join us to deliver IT initiatives that directly shape our business success, from sourcing candidates to enhancing candidate experiences.

About Your Team

Our Data & Analytics team is dedicated to transforming data into a strategic business asset. Working closely with business leaders, IT, and operational teams, we build scalable data platforms, trusted data products, and AI-ready foundations that enable smarter decision-making across the organization. Through innovation, governance, and collaboration, we empower teams with reliable insights and drive the future of data-driven excellence.

Your Role

As a Data Manager, you will

• Lead the implementation of the data strategy set with IT leadership, translating it into a phased roadmap with measurable outcomes, and report progress and risks to management.
• Manage the enterprise data platform end to end, including environments, security, reliability, and operations, and lead platform transitions without disrupting business reporting.
• Own the data architecture, including the data lake-house layers, medallion structure, and reusable ingestion and transformation patterns the team builds within.
• Establish the data governance, security, and compliance model, covering ownership, data quality, cataloguing, lineage, and access, using tools such as Microsoft Purview.
• Lead the definition of master data standards so project, partner, and cost information is recognized consistently across the construction lifecycle.
• Plan the phased onboarding of business systems onto the platform, connecting data across the construction value chain into governed data products that give a single view of each project.
• Lead, coach, and grow a team of data engineers, setting priorities, managing delivery, reviewing quality, and building the team's capability as the function scales.
• Oversee the delivery of trusted data products, data marts, and Power BI semantic models, and drive adoption and data literacy so departments build on governed data rather than in silos.
• Lead the design of a governed, platform agnostic knowledge layer, built on retrieval augmented generation, semantic search, vector embeddings, and knowledge graphs, with services such as Fabric IQ or Foundry IQ as examples.
• Measure and report the business value of the data platform, and manage capacity, licensing, vendors, and delivery partners accordingly.
• Partner with business leaders, IT, and enterprise architecture to prioritize use cases and agree data ownership.

What We’re Looking For

Skills and Competencies

• Strong hands-on experience with Python and PySpark for data engineering
• Proven experience leading a data function, data platform, or data engineering team, including line management of engineers.
• Strong understanding of modern data platform architecture, including data lake-house and warehouse design, medallion architecture, ELT patterns, orchestration, and multi-source integration.
• Hands-on background in data engineering or data architecture, with the ability to review designs, challenge technical decisions, and set standards credibly.
• Experience managing at least one major cloud data platform, such as Microsoft Fabric, Azure, Databricks, or AWS, including environments, security, and operations.
• Strong knowledge of data governance, security, data quality, cataloguing, lineage, and master data management, with tools such as Microsoft Purview.
• Experience delivering BI and analytics at enterprise scale using Power BI or similar, including semantic modelling, self-service enablement, and driving business adoption.
• Strong understanding of how to architect a retrieval augmented generation layer, including semantic search, vector embeddings, knowledge graphs, and grounding, and how it connects to enterprise knowledge services and AI agents.
• Experience demonstrating platform value, with capacity planning and vendor management.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication, and presentation skills, with the ability to engage senior leadership and translate business needs into a data roadmap.
• Ability to plan and manage multiple workstreams, priorities, and delivery partners across a growing function.
• Experience with platform transitions or migrations, or with running proofs of concept for new platform capabilities.
• Familiarity with knowledge services such as Foundry IQ, Azure AI Search, or similar.
• Experience in construction, engineering, project based, or group holding environments with multiple subsidiaries.
• Experience with ERP, project controls, or construction technology data.

Qualifications & Experience

• Degree in appropriate discipline or equivalent demonstrated experience and/or
• 10+ years experience
• Certifications in data architecture, data governance, analytics, or a major cloud platform are an advantage

What We Offer

• The chance to contribute to some of UAE most iconic projects.
• A collaborative, supportive environment that values innovation and excellence.
• Opportunities for professional growth and career progression.

Ready to transform data into strategic business value?

If you’re inspired by what you’ve read and believe you’re the right fit, we’d love to hear from you.

Join ALEC Holdings and play a pivotal role in shaping a high-performing team that drives our success.