Director, Data Engineering Centre of Excellence (CoE)

About this role

Mission

Build a world‑class data‑engineering capability by standardising how Enterprise Data Platforms and pipelines are designed, delivered, and operated—at scale, across clouds, and with production‑grade reliability.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Data Platform (EDP) Leadership

• Bring proven, hands‑on experience designing and building Enterprise Data Platforms for large, complex organisations.

  
  

• Lead and influence end‑to‑end EDP architecture, spanning acquisition, ingestion, storage, transformation, orchestration, and distribution.

  
  

• Translate real‑world EDP delivery experience into reference architectures, design standards, and reusable patterns within the CoE.

  
  

Data Engineering CoE Ownership

• Establish and lead the Data Engineering Centre of Excellence.

  
  

• Define enterprise‑wide standards for data ingestion, transformation, orchestration, and publishing.

  
  

• Set clear quality, performance, and operational readiness bars for all data‑engineering teams.

  
  

Snowflake Internal Platform Skills

• Act as the internal Snowflake engineering authority, defining standards for:

  
  

  • SQL design and performance‑aware query patterns

    
    

  • Data modelling across raw, stage, standard, and publish layers

    
    

  • Warehouse usage, multi‑cluster strategies, and cost efficiency

    
    

  • Snowflake parameter governance (performance, stability, security)

    
    

  • Partner with platform and DBA teams on Snowflake operations, DR, monitoring, and run‑books.
    dbt, Airflow & Kubernetes
    Define and govern best practices for:

    
    

    • dbt project structure, testing, documentation, and promotion

      
      

    • Airflow DAG design, scheduling, backfills, retries, and ownership

      
      

    • Kubernetes‑based execution for data workloads, including resource management and isolation

      
      

    • Ensure consistency, reliability, and supportability across all orchestration and execution layers.

      
      

DevOps for Data Pipelines

• Own the DevOps strategy for data engineering across all deployed Enterprise Data Platforms.

  
  

• Standardise CI/CD pipelines for:

  
  

  • dbt models and transformations

    
    

  • Airflow DAGs and pipeline frameworks

    
    

  • Configuration and platform changes

    
    

• Drive infrastructure‑as‑code and automation for repeatable environments.

  
  

• Embed operational reliability by design:

  
  

  • Observability, alerting, and run‑state readiness

    
    

  • Release safety, rollback, and recovery patterns

    
    

  • Clear ownership, on‑call, and escalation models

    
    

Multi‑Cloud Data Engineering (Azure & AWS)

• Define multi‑cloud data‑engineering standards across Azure and AWS.

  
  

• Promote cloud‑agnostic pipeline design where appropriate, while leveraging platform‑specific strengths.

  
  

• Partner with Cloud and Platform teams on security, identity, networking, and cost efficiency.

  
  

Master Data Management & External Data

• Establish engineering standards for Master Data Management (MDM), ensuring mastered entities are reliable, governed, and reusable.

  
  

• Define compliant patterns for web‑scraping and external data acquisition, integrated into enterprise pipelines with governance and observability.

  
  

Enablement & Influence

• Enable teams through design reviews, playbooks, reference implementations, and coaching.

  
  

• Act as a consultative accelerator, not a central delivery or ticket‑based team.

  
  

Success Measures

• Consistent data‑engineering and EDP standards adopted across teams

  
  

• Improved platform reliability, scalability, and developer productivity

  
  

• Reduced operational toil and performance issues through better design

  
  

• Faster onboarding onto approved patterns and platforms

  
  

• Clear reduction in bespoke, one‑off implementations

  
  

Required Experience

• Deep experience in data engineering, data platform engineering, or enterprise data architecture

  
  

• Demonstrated experience designing and building Enterprise Data Platforms for large organisations

  
  

• Strong hands‑on expertise in Snowflake, dbt, Airflow, Kubernetes, and data‑pipeline DevOps

  
  

• Proven ability to drive standards and influence outcomes in a matrixed environment

  
  

Our benefits
To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

Our hybrid work model

BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.

About BlackRock

At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being.  Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children’s educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.

This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment – the one we make in our employees. It’s why we’re dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.

For additional information on BlackRock, please visit @blackrock | Twitter: @blackrock | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, family status, gender identity, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected attributes at law.