About the Role
Our client, a leading Dubai based conglomerate is undergoing a significant transformation. As part of this change, the organisation is redefining how data is captured, structured, governed, and leveraged across multiple business units.
The Senior Data Architect will play a crucial role in shaping this journey. This is a strategic leadership role requiring someone who can assess complex data landscapes, challenge assumptions, and define a clear roadmap for data migration, digitisation, and governance. You will guide the organisation in determining what to migrate, what to redesign, and how to build a future-proof data ecosystem.
This is not a narrow technical role it is a business-led, strategic position with broad impact across the group.
Key Responsibilities
1. Lead Data Transformation Across Three Major Scenarios
CRM & Digital Apps Greenfield
- Support the deployment of new CRM and digital platforms.
- Lead selective data migration from legacy systems.
- Assess which datasets should be migrated vs. rebuilt from scratch.
- Enable the creation of clean, scalable data structures for new platforms.
Legacy to Cloud Modernisation SAP-focused
- Oversee data cleansing, standardisation, and readiness for SAP cloud modernisation.
- Drive data alignment across multiple domains and business units.
- Ensure migrated datasets meet required data quality and governance standards.
Operational Data (Unstructured / Physical Data)
- Develop strategies to digitise, classify, and structure large volumes of paper-based and physical operational data.
- Introduce scalable methods to convert unstructured information into usable digital formats.
- Integrate transformed data into core systems in a meaningful and accessible way.
2.Define and Own the Data Migration Strategy
- Assess whether datasets should be migrated, transformed, archived, or recreated.
- Evaluate the business value of data to prioritise effort and avoid unnecessary migration.
- Build frameworks, principles, and methodologies for end-to-end data transformation.
- Challenge technical and business assumptions where needed.
3. Provide Business-Focused Insights and Engagement
- Translate complex data requirements into business-relevant outcomes.
- Engage and influence senior stakeholders across multiple group functions.
- Ensure decisions are grounded in business value, not technical preference.
- Act as the bridge between IT, transformation teams, and business operations.
4. Shape the Group's Data Technology Landscape
Work across key transformation programmes, including:
- SAP Modernisation
- Oracle
- Salesforce
You will evaluate and refine:
- Existing data architecture
- Data domains and data sources
- ETL tools and extraction technologies
- Documented processes and governance frameworks
- The overall tech stack enabling data transformation
Your role is to ensure the organisation leverages best-of-breed capabilities from all platforms.
Essential Experience
- Demonstrated success delivering large-scale data transformation across multiple scenarios.
- Experience with greenfield implementations, legacy-to-cloud migrations, and digitisation of unstructured data.
- Deep understanding of data architecture, data flows, ETL processes, metadata, and governance.
- Strong background working with enterprise platforms (SAP, Oracle, Salesforce).
- Ability to articulate the business impact of technical decisions.
- Skilled in designing frameworks and solutions where established processes do not yet exist.
Desirable Experience
- Experience within large conglomerates, holding companies, or multi-business environments.
- Exposure to industries with heavy physical documentation (e.g. construction, engineering, manufacturing).
- Experience in Middle Eastern markets, ideally the UAE.
What This Role Offers
- The opportunity to shape the data transformation strategy for a major Dubai conglomerate.
- Hands-on influence across multiple enterprise-wide programmes (Oracle, SAP Modernisation, Salesforce).
- Ownership of the data migration and digitisation blueprint across the group.
- A varied and highly strategic remit touching every corner of the organisation.
- A chance to define the future state of data for a company in the middle of an exciting transformation.
