Head of Cloud Architecture & Data Platform

Prudential Services Singapore Pte Ltd; Singapore; On-site; SGD 240,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

Prudential Services Singapore Pte Ltd. is seeking a Director-level technologist to lead GT Cloud & Platforms, overseeing PruCloud and the data platform.

The role combines cloud architecture direction with data platform product ownership, requiring senior leadership across multiple regions and close collaboration with the Group's standards teams. You will chair the cloud design review forum, drive security and governance, and guide LBUs from design to go-live, balancing speed, cost, and

Qualifications

• Deep practical knowledge of Azure and GCP at platform level (landing zones, IAM, networking, compute, Kubernetes, storage).
• Strong knowledge of modern data platforms, Databricks including Unity Catalog and pipelines.
• Proven experience setting architecture standards and running design reviews in a regulated org.

Responsibilities

• Set architecture direction as cloud design authority; chair cloud solutions forum.
• Own the data platform as a product; define roadmap, security, governance, and onboarding process.
• Lead a senior team across Singapore, Malaysia and India; ensure alignment with Group standards.
• Collaborate with Infra, Reliability, Connectivity, and DevOps pillars to ensure platform reliability and cost transparency.

Skills

Azure

GCP

Databricks

Cloud architecture

Data governance

Leadership

Tools

Azure/Azure DevOps

Databricks workspace

Job description

Group Technology builds the shared platforms that Prudential's businesses acrossAsia and Africa run on. Within it, GT Cloud & Platforms builds and runs PruCloud, our shared Azure and GCP cloud. The Cloud Architecture & Data Platform pillar sets the standards for how workloads are built on PruCloud and owns the data platform our data teams build on: governed, self-service data environments and the approved connectors that feed them.

We are looking for a Director-level technologist to lead this pillar, reporting to the Head of GT Cloud & Platforms. The role has two halves. As the Group's cloud design authority, you will set our architecture direction, chair the forum that approves new cloud solutions and give our local business units (LBUs) clear answers on how to build well. As owner of the data platform, you will run it as a product: deciding what it offers, how it is secured and governed, and how data teams get onto it in days rather than months. You will lead a small, senior team across Singapore, Malaysia and India, and work closely with the other five pillars of GT Cloud & Platforms: Infra Foundation, Cloud Reliability, Cloud Connectivity, Cloud Infra Services and Cloud DevOps.

About the Team

GT Cloud & Platforms gives every Prudential business the same secure, well-governed cloud: pre-approved Azure and GCP environments with security and compliance built in, shared services, networks, the DevOps toolchain and reliability support, so that application teams can focus on serving our customers.

Cloud Architecture & Data Platform decides how things should be built on PruCloud and makes it easy to build them that way. Our services and products are:

• Cloud Architecture & Design Authority. Standards, reference designs and approval of new cloud solutions at the Group review forum, plus hands-on guidance to LBUs as they implement.
• Data Platform Architecture. Standards and reference designs for data solutions on Azure, GCP and Databricks: security, data residency, data classification and the approved service list.
• Self-Service Data Catalogue. Ready-made, governed data environments that data teams order through self-service, such as a Databricks workspace with access, catalogue and budgets already set up.
• Data Connectivity. Tested, approved connectors and patterns linking core systems, software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and files to cloud data services, so that each team does not build its own.
• Set the Group's cloud architecture direction: the target state for PruCloud, the standards workloads must meet, and the reference designs that show how to meet them.
• Chair the Group cloud design review forum. Approve new cloud solutions, make the reasoning behind each decision clear, and hold teams to it.
• Act as senior architecture advisor to strategic programmes and to our LBUs, from first design to go-live, and settle the hard trade-offs between speed, cost, security and standardisation.

Data Platform Ownership

• Own the Group's cloud data platform as a product: its roadmap, what it offers, how it is funded and how its success is measured.
• Define the target architecture for data on PruCloud across Azure, GCP and Databricks, including the storage, compute, catalogue, identity and network foundations every data environment sits on.
• Deliver the self-service data environments that data teams order, with access control, data catalogue, network connectivity, cost controls and guardrails in place from day one.
• Set and enforce the standards for data on the platform: security, data residency, data classification and the list of approved services, agreed with Group Security, Risk and Data Governance.
• Build out the approved connectors and patterns that bring data from core systems, SaaS applications and files onto the platform, prioritised with the domain data teams who use them.
• Run the platform well, together with Cloud Reliability and Cloud Infra Services: clear ownership, a support model, cost transparency, and a lifecycle for upgrades and retirement.

Leadership & Influence

• Build trusted relationships with technology and data leaders in our LBUs, Group Architecture, Security, Risk and the other pillars. Explain architecture and platform choices to senior, non-technical audiences in plain terms, and bring people to agreement where views differ.
• Lead, coach and develop the team across Singapore, Malaysia and India. Set clear priorities and remove what gets in their way.
• Stay close to the technology: review designs and work directly in Azure, GCP and Databricks when a decision needs it.
• Plan the pillar's roadmap and budget, measure adoption of the standards and the data platform, and report progress to the Head of GT Cloud & Platforms.

Who we are looking for

• Deep, practical knowledge of Azure and GCP at the platform level: landing zones, identity and access, networking, compute, managed Kubernetes, storage and the main data services.
• Strong knowledge of modern data platforms, Databricks in particular: workspaces, its catalogue (Unity Catalog), storage layout, access control, cost management, and the pipelines and connectors around them.
• Proven experience setting architecture standards and running a design review or approval process in a large, regulated organisation.
• Experience owning a shared platform used by many teams, including self-service provisioning, infrastructure as code and the support model behind it.
• Ability to write architecture documents and reference designs that engineers can follow without having to ask.
• Ambitious for what the platform can do for the Group, curious about what is changing in cloud and data, courageous enough to hold a standard under pressure, and empathetic towards the teams who live with your decisions.
• Quick to adjust when an LBU's needs change, and clear and calm in explaining why something will or will not be done.

Working Experience

• 12 or more years in technology, including at least 5 in cloud or data architecture and at least 3 leading a team.
• Track record of owning architecture for a large Azure and/or GCP estate, from strategy through to adoption by many teams.
• Hands-on delivery and ownership of a data platform used by multiple teams, ideally on Databricks.
• Experience in insurance or another regulated financial services business is an advantage.