Director – Data & AI EngineeringLocation: Bengaluru, India

Experience: 15+ years

Industry: Retail / E-commerce / Consumer Technology

About the OpportunityWe are looking for an experienced Director – Data & AI Engineering to lead the development and evolution of enterprise data platforms for a global organisation establishing its Technology Capability Hub in Bengaluru.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role requiring strong Data Engineering expertise, experience leading multiple engineering teams through Engineering Managers, and a proven track record of building scalable enterprise data platforms.

The role will report to the VP – Technology & Delivery and lead a planned team of approximately 25 professionalsacross Data Engineering, Data Governance, Data Products and AI/ML Engineering.

Success in this role will involve building a high-performing engineering organisation, establishing strong technical standards and delivering reliable enterprise data capabilities that enable business growth, analytics and AI initiatives.

Responsibilities

- Own the Data & AI Engineering strategy, technology roadmap and execution of enterprise data platforms.
- Build, mentor and lead Data Engineering Managers and their teams, maintaining strong technical involvement in architecture and engineering decisions.
- Drive the development and modernisation of enterprise data platforms, including data ingestion, transformation, orchestration, storage and processing.
- Establish engineering standards across DataOps, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, data quality and platform reliability.




- Lead the development of scalable batch, near-real-time and streaming data pipelines.
- Ensure strong data governance, master data management, lineage, security and compliance practices.
- Enable AI/ML initiatives through scalable, reliable and AI-ready data platforms.
- Partner with global technology, architecture, product and business leaders to align engineering priorities with business outcomes.
- Drive engineering productivity, platform performance, delivery quality and cloud cost optimisation.
- Build a high-performing engineering culture with strong technical leadership, accountability and continuous improvement.

QualificationsRequired

- 15+ years of technology experience, with significant expertise in Data Engineering and enterprise data platforms.
- Strong hands-on technical background in Data Engineering, architecture and platform modernisation.
- Proven experience managing Data Engineering Managers, preferably across multiple engineering teams.
- Experience building and operating enterprise-scale data platforms in complex technology environments.
- Robust knowledge of cloud data technologies such as GCP, BigQuery, Apache Airflow, dbt, Airbyte or equivalent platforms.




- Experience with data integration, orchestration, DataOps, data quality and governance.
- Experience in retail, e-commerce, omnichannel or consumer-facing businesses is highly preferred.
- Working knowledge of AI/ML technologies and experience supporting AI initiatives through enterprise data platforms.
- Experience working with global stakeholders and distributed engineering teams.
- Strong people leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred

- Experience integrating enterprise applications such as SAP, Oracle, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and warehouse management systems.
- Exposure to Vertex AI, Azure OpenAI or similar AI/ML platforms.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science or a related discipline.

Who Should Apply?We are particularly interested in hands-on Data Engineering leaders who have managed other Data Engineering Managers, built enterprise data platforms and led engineering teams at scale. Candidates from retail, fashion, lifestyle, e-commerce and consumer technology organisations would be especially relevant.

Please note: This is not a pure Analytics, Business Intelligence, Data Science or AI strategy role. Strong Data Engineering expertise and technical leadership are essential.

How to ApplyInterested candidates can DM me on LinkedIn with their updated CV.

There may be a delay in responding due to the volume of applications. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

📌 Director Data and AI engineering (Bengaluru)
🏢 Zinnov
📍 Bengaluru