AI, Data and Engineering Head / Director

DFI Retail Group; Hong Kong; On-site; HKD 3,500,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

DFI Retail Group seeks an exceptional Group Director, Data, AI & Integration Engineering to lead engineering platforms, standards and talent for DFI’s Data and AI strategy at scale. You will guide data engineering, AI and API platforms, drive secure, reusable services and measurable business value across formats and markets.

You will champion an AI-native enterprise ecosystem, defining patterns, frameworks and governance for Agentic AI, orchestration, and automation across business processes

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience across Software Engineering, AI-Engineering, Data Engineering, Platform Engineering.
• Must have experience on both West and China AI and data technology.
• Proven leadership experience managing multidisciplinary engineering teams and large-scale technology initiatives.
• Experience delivering enterprise AI, Generative AI, Agentic AI, API, and integration-based solutions.

Responsibilities

• Be recognized as the organization's trusted engineering leader for complex technology decisions.
• Build a modern platform ecosystem connecting AI, Data, APIs, and enterprise applications.
• Enable Agentic AI capabilities to operate securely and effectively across business processes.
• Create reusable and cost-effective engineering capabilities instead of one-off solutions.
• Develop exceptional engineering talent and a high-performing culture across shared service hubs.
• Deliver technology solutions that create measurable business value.

Skills

Leadership

Data engineering

AI engineering

APIs & integration

Cloud platforms

Team management

Tools

AI agents

Orchestration frameworks

APIs

Distributed systems

LLMOps

Job description

We are seeking an exceptional engineering leader to shape and scale the technology foundations that power our Data and AI-enabled enterprise. The Group Director, Data, AI & Integration Engineering is accountable for building and operating the shared engineering platforms, standards and talent required to deliver DFI’s Data and AI strategy at scale. The role will lead Group capabilities across data engineering, AI and agentic engineering, APIs and enterprise integration, creating secure, reusable and production-grade services that accelerate measurable business outcomes across DFI’s formats and markets.

A key focus of the role is building a connected enterprise ecosystem where data, applications, APIs, AI services, and intelligent agents can seamlessly interact. You will drive the evolution of our integration and AI architecture, ensuring the organization is positioned to leverage Generative AI, Agentic AI, intelligent automation, and future digital capabilities.

Success in this role requires a unique combination of engineering depth, and strong people management skills. The ideal candidate is recognized for their ability to develop cost effective, POC as well as scalable solutions, and managing high productivity engineering teams.

In this role, you will:

• Be recognized as the organization's trusted engineering leader for complex technology decisions.
• Build a modern platform ecosystem connecting AI, Data, APIs, and enterprise applications.
• Enable Agentic AI capabilities to operate securely and effectively across business processes.
• Create reusable and cost-effective engineering capabilities instead of one-off solutions.
• Develop exceptional engineering talent and a high-performing culture across shared service hubs.
• Deliver technology solutions that create measurable business value.

Key Responsibilities:

Engineering Delivery Leadership

• Define and execute the engineering operating model for AI, Data, API, and Integration capabilities.
• Establish engineering standards to deliver technology roadmaps that support long-term business objectives.
• Serve as the senior engineering authority for solution delivery
• Ensure solutions are scalable, secure, maintainable, and designed as reusable enterprise capabilities.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and determine appropriate adoption strategies.

Enterprise Integration, API & Agentic AI Platforms

• Lead the development of an AI-native enterprise ecosystem that enables seamless connectivity between platforms, applications, data products, AI services, and external ecosystems.
• Establish integration patterns, engineering frameworks, and reusable services that accelerate delivery while maintaining governance and consistency.
• Define the technical engineering standard for Agentic AI capabilities, including AI agents, copilots, orchestration frameworks, and intelligent automation solutions.
• Deliver AI agents interact with enterprise applications, data platforms, business processes, and APIs.
• Drive the development of a composable technology ecosystem where capabilities can be discovered, reused, orchestrated, and scaled across the organisation.
• Create the engineering foundation that enables future autonomous and AI-powered business operations.

AI & Data Engineering Leadership

• Lead engineering teams responsible for enterprise data platforms, data products, AI capabilities, and supporting infrastructure.
• Ensure data platforms are reliable, scalable, and optimized for advanced analytics, machine learning, and Generative AI solutions.
• Partner closely with business and AI leaders to prioritize and deliver high-value capabilities.
• Establish modern engineering practices that improve quality, speed, and operational excellence.
• Drive adoption of automation and AI-assisted engineering to improve productivity and accelerate delivery.

Build to Run Production Management

• Own the end-to-end engineering lifecycle for Group Data, AI and Integration platforms, including architecture, development, testing, deployment, service reliability, observability, security remediation, cost management and continuous improvement.
• Establish DataOps, MLOps and LLMOps capabilities that enable repeatable deployment, monitoring, evaluation, governance and lifecycle management of data pipelines, models, copilots and AI agents.
• Build, lead, and develop high-performing engineering teams across multiple disciplines.
• Establish a cost conscious and scalable setup of highly productive team
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Create strong succession pipelines and develop future engineering leaders.

Required Qualifications & Competencies

• 15+ years of experience across Software Engineering, AI-Engineering, Data Engineering, Platform Engineering.
• Must have experience on both West and China AI and data technology
• Consumer industry experience preferred
• Proven leadership experience managing multidisciplinary engineering teams and large-scale technology initiatives.
• Experience delivering enterprise AI, Generative AI, Agentic AI, API, and integration-based solutions.
• Strong knowledge of AI agents, orchestration frameworks, APIs, distributed systems, cloud platforms, and modern engineering practices.
• Demonstrated ability to define architecture, challenge solution designs, and determine the best engineering approach to solve business problems.
• Strong people leadership, coaching, and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence executives, architects, engineers, and business leaders.