Data Modelling & Engineering Lead

About the role

Deeplight, an AI and data consultancy focused on financial services and retail banking in the UAE, is seeking a Data Modelling & Engineering Lead for its major banking engagements in Dubai. The role takes single accountability for enterprise data models, business definitions, pipeline code quality and engineering standards, supported by senior data engineers in dedicated project squads. It covers Retail Banking Group modernizations, mobile banking backends and real-time digital customer journeys.

Key responsibilities

• Own, design and maintain canonical data models, schemas and business glossaries, ensuring semantic consistency across projects
• Establish firm-wide engineering standards for pipelines, code quality, automated testing, environments and CI/CD
• Direct senior data engineers in project squads and ensure consistent use of shared components and architecture patterns
• Review vendor codebases and deliverables, and audit vendor claims of task completion and delivery velocity
• Review engineering content in Steering Committee packs and validate estimates and change requests, investigating the causes of delays
• Present technical decisions and engineering standards to C-level stakeholders

Required profile

• 10+ years of hands-on data engineering and modelling experience, including 4+ years leading engineering standards or platform teams in consultancies or major banks
• Solid background in enterprise data solutions for retail banking environments
• Experience building or modelling real-time data backends for mobile banking apps and digital customer journeys
• Strong verbal, written and visual communication, able to explain technical decisions to executives and manage vendor friction

Required skills

• Conceptual, logical and physical data modelling (ERD, Data Vault 2.0, Kimball, JSON/Avro)
• SQL, Python, PySpark/Databricks, Snowflake/BigQuery, Kafka/Event Hubs, dbt, and cloud data platforms (AWS/Azure)
• Experience leading data engineering or modelling initiatives for major banks in the UAE or GCC is an advantage

What we offer

• Competitive salary
• Personal health insurance and individual visa sponsorship
• Professional development and certification support, subscription reimbursement and employee incentive program
• Work on AI projects and career advancement opportunities