Data Tech Lead

The Customer Data Tech Lead will occupy a central and critical position within our Customer function, serving as a strategic leader and technical expert. This individual will be directly responsible for leading, inspiring, and empowering a highly skilled team of data engineers, functional specialists and software engineers. The core mandate of this role is to architect, implement, and continuously optimize our customer data tech stack, data pipelines and data API. This involves not only driving the strategic vision but also ensuring the meticulous execution of development, operational excellence, and stringent adherence to best practices in data security and governance. The ultimate objective is to cultivate robust, secure, and high-quality data assets and end to end data activation through high quality integration that will serve as the foundational bedrock for all our customer initiatives, enabling data-driven decision-making and innovation across the entire organization.Key Responsibilities 1. Customer Data Master Platform Leadership and DevelopmentAs the Customer Data Tech Lead, you will take the helm in driving the end-to-end lifecycle of our customer data master platform. This encompasses: Strategic Implementation and Enhancement: Leading the strategic planning, architectural design, and hands-on implementation of the customer data master platform to establish single view/ID of customers onboarded through all different lines of business. This includes continuously enhancing its capabilities to meet evolving business needs and technological advancements. Data Governance and Security Enforcement: Ensuring that all aspects of the platform adhere rigorously to established data governance policies, regulatory compliance standards, and robust security protocols, safeguarding sensitive customer information at every touchpoint. API Design and Maintenance: Overseeing the design, development, and ongoing maintenance of resilient and scalable APIs for the data master system. These APIs are crucial for facilitating seamless, real-time data exchange and integration with a diverse ecosystem of internal business applications and external strategic partner systems. 2. Customer Data Platform (CDP) Strategy and ManagementThis role will be instrumental in maximizing the value derived from our Customer Data Platform: Technical Configuration and Optimization: Managing and continually optimizing the technical configuration of our CDP, ensuring it is meticulously aligned with business objectives and capable of delivering rich, unified customer profiles. Data Governance Frameworks: Establishing and enforcing comprehensive data governance frameworks specifically tailored for the CDP, guaranteeing data quality, consistency, and compliance. Subject Matter Expertise (SME): Acting as the primary Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the CDP across the organization. This involves providing invaluable technical guidance, strategic insights, and in-depth expertise to various internal stakeholders, fostering a data-aware culture. 3. ETL Data Pipeline Management and Operational ExcellenceA critical focus will be on the health and efficiency of our data flow: End-to-End Pipeline Oversight: Taking full ownership and providing comprehensive oversight of all Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) data pipelines. These pipelines span across a wide array of critical systems, including customer engagement platforms, loyalty systems, performance marketing tools, and various other enterprise technology stacks. Stability, Quality, and Monitoring: Proactively ensuring the utmost stability, integrity, and high quality of data flowing through all pipelines. This involves implementing advanced monitoring tools and alerts to detect and resolve anomalies swiftly, minimizing data discrepancies and downtime. Agile Pipeline Lifecycle Management: Establishing and rigorously managing the entire lifecycle of new data pipelines, translation business requirement into technical requirement to development, testing, deployment, and ongoing maintenance. The emphasis will be on fostering an agile approach to ensure rapid iteration and responsiveness to business demands. 4. Data Product Development and ActivationYou will be at the forefront of transforming raw data into actionable assets: Strategic Data Asset Development: Leading the strategic development of high-value customer and product data assets. This includes identifying key data points, enriching existing datasets, and creating new data products that unlock significant business value. Downstream Application Optimization: Ensuring that these developed data assets are not only optimized for performance but also readily available and seamlessly consumable by a diverse range of downstream applications. This includes critical platforms such as Facebook, Google Shopping Ads, Ecommerce platform such as Grab Mart, TikTok Commerce, and various CRM systems and loyalty partners, enabling targeted marketing and personalized customer experiences. 5. Production API Support and Partner IntegrationEnsuring robust connectivity with our ecosystem: Strategic Partner API Management: Overseeing and actively managing the provision of production API support for our strategic partners. This involves ensuring high availability, performance, and reliability of APIs crucial for external data exchange and collaborative initiatives. Troubleshooting and Issue Resolution: Providing expert-level technical support for API-related issues, quickly diagnosing problems, and implementing effective solutions to maintain uninterrupted service for our partners. Qualifications To excel in this role, we are looking for a candidate with a strong blend of technical expertise, leadership capabilities, and strategic vision: Education: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, or a closely related technical discipline from a reputable institution. Leadership Experience: Demonstrated experience in a leadership capacity, specifically in leading, mentoring, and developing high-performing data and software engineering teams. Data Platform Expertise: Extensive and hands-on experience in designing, building, deploying, and maintaining large-scale data platforms and complex data pipelines in a production environment. Data Governance & Security: In-depth knowledge and practical application of data governance principles, data security best practices, and regulatory compliance requirements (e.g., PDPA, GDPR). Customer Data Platform (CDP): Proven hands-on experience with the implementation, management, and technical configurations of leading Customer Data Platforms. ETL and Data Warehousing: Strong proficiency in ETL processes, data warehousing concepts, and experience with various ETL tools and technologies. Cloud Platforms: Solid experience working with major cloud platforms (e.g., Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP)), including knowledge of their data-related services. API Development: A robust understanding of API design principles, RESTful services, and experience in developing and managing high-performance APIs. Marketing Technology Acumen: Familiarity with modern marketing technology stacks such as Salesforce, Google, and Segment io, customer engagement platforms, and their integration with data ecosystems is highly advantageous. Communication & Collaboration: Exceptional communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. Strong interpersonal skills for effective collaboration across diverse teams. Problem-Solving: A proactive, analytical, and solution-oriented mindset with the ability to diagnose complex technical issues and drive them to resolution. Adaptability: Proven ability to thrive and adapt in a fast-paced, dynamic, and continuously evolving retail and technology environment. Experience in managing high traffic production graded system: Experience in managing the SLA for critical, production graded enterprise system is a strong plus