Senior Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

About the role

Databricks is seeking a Senior Manager to lead its Forward Deployed Engineering team in the UAE. You will guide a high‑performing group of Forward Deployed Engineers and AI Engineers, partnering with strategic enterprise accounts to drive lakehouse migrations, AI/GenAI deployments, and measurable business outcomes.

Key responsibilities

• Drive regional performance targets, including billable utilisation, team growth, and hiring while championing delivery excellence.
• Lead high‑stakes enterprise engagements, collaborating with Account Executives, Engagement Managers, and Field Engineering leaders on data migrations, AI/ML platforms, and advanced analytics.
• Establish delivery governance, risk management, and quality standards that scale with the growing FDE & AI Engineering practice.
• Act as executive escalation point for critical customer situations, protecting strategic relationships and ensuring resolution.
• Mentor and develop technical talent through structured career pathways, technical coaching, and a culture of continuous growth.

Required profile

• People‑leadership experience managing high‑performing technical delivery teams or professional services organisations.
• Hands‑on experience as a technical solutions architect or data/AI engineer, enabling credible coaching of senior practitioners.
• Proven success leading large‑scale data platform migrations and AI/ML programs in enterprise environments across industries.
• Strong executive presence and stakeholder management skills, with experience influencing C‑suite level decision‑makers.

Required skills

• Databricks platform, Apache Spark™, MLflow, Delta Lake, or comparable modern data and AI ecosystem.
• Data lakehouse migration, legacy modernisation, and large‑scale data platform implementation.
• AI/ML engineering, generative AI, MLOps, and AI agent deployment.
• Technical solutions architecture and data engineering expertise.