Job Description – Data Platform Lead / Administrator

Job Title - Data Platform Lead / Administrator
Job Location -  Riyadh - KSA

Job Purpose

The Data Platform Lead / Administrator is responsible for designing, managing, administering, and optimizing the organization's data platform infrastructure, ensuring the availability, security, scalability, and performance of enterprise data management, data governance, data quality, and data privacy platforms.

The role collaborates with Data Architects, Data Modelers, Database Administrators, DevOps, Information Security, and business stakeholders to enable reliable data integration, storage, processing, and access while supporting enterprise data governance and regulatory compliance initiatives.

The Data Platform Lead also oversees the operational support, monitoring, maintenance, automation, and continuous improvement of enterprise data platforms throughout the project lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

Data Platform Management

• Lead the administration, management, and continuous improvement of enterprise data platforms and supporting infrastructure.
• Design, implement, and maintain scalable, secure, and highly available data platform environments.
• Ensure enterprise data platforms align with organizational strategy and data governance requirements.
• Manage operational support activities for data lakes, data warehouses, reporting platforms, and content management systems.
• Support deployment, configuration, upgrades, and patch management of enterprise data platforms.

Infrastructure & Performance Management

• Monitor platform health, availability, and performance to ensure compliance with service level agreements (SLAs).
• Perform platform performance tuning, capacity planning, and resource optimization.
• Implement logging, monitoring, alerting, and operational dashboards for proactive platform management.
• Manage backup, recovery, disaster recovery, and business continuity processes for enterprise data platforms.
• Troubleshoot infrastructure and platform issues, ensuring timely resolution.

Data Integration & Engineering Support

• Collaborate with Data Architects, Data Modelers, Database Administrators, and ETL developers to support efficient data ingestion, storage, and processing.
• Support implementation and optimization of data pipelines and integration services.
• Ensure reliable operation of enterprise data processing and analytics platforms.
• Support document management and enterprise content management platform integration.

Governance, Security & Compliance

• Implement and maintain platform security, access controls, authentication, and authorization mechanisms.
• Support implementation of enterprise Data Governance, Data Privacy, and Information Security requirements.
• Ensure compliance with organizational policies and regulatory standards related to data management.
• Collaborate with governance and security teams to enforce platform controls and audit requirements.

Automation & DevOps

• Drive automation, modernization, and standardization initiatives across the data platform environment.
• Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC), CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps practices for platform deployment and maintenance.
• Automate operational monitoring, provisioning, deployment, and maintenance activities.
• Improve operational efficiency through scripting, orchestration, and workflow automation.

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Partner with business users, analytics teams, and technical stakeholders to enable secure and efficient access to enterprise data.
• Support enterprise reporting, analytics, and business intelligence initiatives.
• Provide technical guidance, documentation, and operational support for platform users.
• Participate in solution design, implementation, testing, deployment, and production support activities.

Qualifications & Experience

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, Data Engineering, Data Management, or a related discipline.

Experience

• Minimum 5 years of experience managing and administering enterprise data platforms, data warehouses, data lakes, or business intelligence platforms.
• Experience supporting cloud and on-premises enterprise data environments.
• Experience implementing platform monitoring, backup, recovery, and disaster recovery solutions.
• Experience supporting enterprise Data Governance, Data Quality, or Data Privacy platforms is highly desirable.
• Experience leading technical teams and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders.

Mandatory Skills

• Strong Arabic and English communication skills (written and verbal).
• Strong experience in enterprise data platform administration, engineering, or architecture.
• Strong understanding of cloud and hybrid data platform architectures.
• Experience with ETL processes, data integration, and data modeling concepts.
• Strong understanding of data governance, security, identity management, and regulatory compliance.
• Experience implementing monitoring, logging, automation, and operational support processes.
• Excellent analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong project coordination, documentation, and stakeholder management capabilities.

Regulatory Knowledge

Good understanding of:

• SDAIA Data Management Framework
• NDMO Data Management Standards
• Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL)
• Information Security and Data Governance best practices

Technical Skills

Candidates should have experience with one of the following technology stacks:

Option 1 (Open Source / Cloud Stack)

Must Have

• DevOps platform setup and administration

Good to Have

• OpenMetadata
• Great Expectations
• Ethyca Fides

Option 2 (Enterprise Informatica Stack)

Must Have

• DevOps platform setup for Informatica Secure Agent
• Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)
• Cloud Data Governance & Catalog (CDGC)
• Cloud Data Quality (CDQ)

Additional Experience Preferred

• Microsoft Azure
• AWS
• Snowflake
• SQL Server
• Databricks
• Microsoft Dynamics

Preferred Certifications

One or more of the following certifications is preferred:

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate
• AWS Certified Data Engineer
• Snowflake SnowPro Certification
• Databricks Certified Data Engineer
• Microsoft Azure Administrator
• Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
• Docker Certified Associate
• DevOps Engineer Certification
• Informatica Professional Certification
• Equivalent cloud, DevOps, or enterprise data platform certifications