Senior Consultant Data Strategy, Governance & DataOps

About the role

Cyber Gate Defense is seeking a Senior Consultant to lead data strategy, governance and DataOps initiatives for clients in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. You will bridge data privacy, analytics and AI readiness, designing integrated frameworks that meet global compliance standards while enabling secure, scalable data operations.

Key responsibilities

• Conduct Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) and Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) and embed privacy‑by‑design into analytics and AI pipelines.
• Design and implement enterprise‑wide data classification, lineage and mapping solutions supporting both compliance and business analytics.
• Analyse end‑to‑end data flows across M365, Azure, SaaS and on‑premise systems, identifying risks and optimisation opportunities.
• Develop and maintain Records of Processing Activities (RoPA) aligned with regulatory and business requirements.
• Advise on secure data lifecycle management, including retention, archival, anonymisation and ethical use.
• Collaborate with engineering and analytics teams to align governance policies with DataOps practices such as pipeline observability, CI/CD for data and metadata management.
• Support the design of cloud‑based architectures (Azure Synapse, Purview, Data Factory) integrating access control, quality monitoring and privacy controls.
• Facilitate client workshops on data governance maturity, AI ethics and DataOps adoption.

Required profile

• Minimum 48 months of relevant experience in data strategy, governance or DataOps.
• Proven ability to lead client engagements and work across legal, IT and business functions.
• Strong knowledge of global and UAE data protection regulations (GDPR, CCPA, ISO/IEC 27701, ISO/IEC 27001).
• Excellent analytical and communication skills, with a focus on delivering compliant, trustworthy data solutions.

Required skills

• DataOps principles and pipeline automation
• Versioning and metadata management
• Microsoft Azure services (Synapse, Purview, Data Factory)
• Data Architecture and Data Governance
• Power BI
• ISO IEC 27701, ISO IEC 27001, GDPR, CCPA, UAE data protection frameworks
• Data privacy and security concepts
• Monitoring and testing of data pipelines