Lead Data Architect

Client of Discovered MENA; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 350,000 - 620,000; Full time

Job summary

Client of Discovered MENA is seeking a senior Data Architect/Lead to design enterprise data models across multi-source environments in Abu Dhabi. You will define architecture standards, governance, and patterns for ingestion, transformation, and consumption, with a focus on data quality and security.

The role requires 10–12+ years in data architecture or governance, hands-on experience with Azure, AWS or GCP, and familiarity with Databricks, Snowflake and metadata tools.

Qualifications

• 10–12+ years in data architecture or governance.
• Experience leading enterprise data programs.
• Bachelor's or Master's in CS/Engineering or related field.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design of enterprise data models across complex environments.
• Define data architecture standards and governance and ensure compliance.
• Guide data engineers and collaborate with AI analytics and business teams.
• Develop metadata frameworks and data dictionaries for trusted definitions.

Skills

Data modeling

Data architecture

Governance & MDM

SQL & Spark

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Azure

AWS

GCP

Databricks

Snowflake

Job description

Lead the design of enterprise-level logical and physical data models across complex business and operational environments Define data architecture integration and interoperability standards across multiple systems and data sources Establish reusable architectural patterns for data ingestion transformation and consumption Own architecture governance and ensure solutions align with enterprise security and compliance standards Embed strong practices across data quality MDM lineage metadata and data stewardship Develop metadata frameworks data dictionaries and semantic layers to create consistent and trusted data definitions Design data structures and access patterns optimised for LLMs Machine Learning and Agentic AI systems Guide Data Engineers and collaborate with AI Analytics and business teams to translate requirements into scalable architecture 10 12+ years of experience across Data Architecture, Data Modelling, Enterprise Data Design or Data Governance, including experience at Lead or Principal level.

• Proven experience defining and delivering enterprise data architectures across complex, multi-source environments.
• Strong expertise across conceptual, logical and physical data modelling, including dimensional and Data Vault approaches.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS or GCP.
• Experience with modern data platforms and lakehouse technologies such as Databricks, Microsoft Fabric or Snowflake.
• Strong knowledge of data integration and interoperability, including APIs and event- driven/streaming architectures.
• Experience with metadata, lineage and governance technologies such as Unity Catalog, Collibra or Alation, alongside MDM platforms.
• Strong SQL and Spark knowledge with experience across relational and NoSQL data environments.
• Experience designing data architectures capable of supporting AI, ML and Agentic AI workloads.
• Experience within financial services, investment organisations or similarly complex enterprise environments would be advantageous.
• Bachelor s or Master s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related technical discipline.