Associate Director, Data Platforms

Role Summary

Reporting to the Director, AI Strategy and Data Platforms, the Associate Director, Data Platforms is responsible for operationalizing and evolving the enterprise data platform strategy across the organization. This role serves as the technical and strategic authority across core platforms including Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, and Databricks, bridging business needs with architectural execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive the strategic alignment and technical execution of the OMERS multi-platform data ecosystem, prioritizing Microsoft Fabric and Snowflake as core platforms, alongside Databricks for advanced analytics and machine learning workloads.
• Partner with technical and business stakeholders to translate business demand into required data capabilities and ensure the data platform ecosystem provides exceptional value to all business units.
• Collaborate with the Enterprise Architecture team to define and standardize cross-platform architectural patterns, including standard ingestion and landing zones, shared semantic layers, and cross-platform data sharing via zero-copy federation.
• Collaborate with enterprise transformation initiatives to ensure the data platform rollout and capabilities are fit-for-purpose.
• Lead efforts to close gaps in a multi-platform environment by integrating cross-platform pipeline orchestration.
• Collaborate with the Value Management, Risk & Governance team and enterprise data governance, observability, and cataloging tools.
• Collaborate with teams across DT to ensure that our data platform capabilities are aligned with our AI strategy and roadmap.
• Act as a deep technical subject matter expert, getting hands‑on when necessary to validate architectures, troubleshoot complex integration challenges, and transition data concepts into robust production environments.
• Monitor industry trends across the modern data stack to continuously refine and enhance the data platform strategy and stack.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of progressive experience in data engineering, data architecture, or data platform strategy roles, with a proven track record of driving technical transformations.
• 5+ years of hands‑on technical experience designing, deploying, and optimizing modern cloud data platforms, with deep expertise in Microsoft Fabric (Azure Data Factory, ADLS, Power BI) and Snowflake.
• 4+ years of experience leading and developing high‑performing technical teams, with a demonstrated ability to scale capabilities and deliver complex initiatives.
• Strong technical proficiency in Databricks, specifically regarding its positioning for MLflow, advanced analytics, and unified lakehouse architectures.
• Deep understanding of enterprise data concepts, including data pipelines, data refineries/warehousing, cross-platform data sharing, and semantic metrics management.
• Experience integrating data platforms with overarching data management and governance tooling (e.g., Collibra, Informatica) and modern workflow orchestration (e.g., Prefect).
• Prior experience in financial services, particularly within capital markets, private markets, or pensions, is considered a strong asset.
• Excellent capability to balance big‑picture strategic thinking with the technical depth required to challenge and guide engineering teams.
• Exceptional communication and executive stakeholder engagement skills, with a proven ability to translate complex architectural trade‑offs into clear business outcomes.
• Ability to thrive in a fast‑paced environment and lead cross‑functional initiatives without always relying on direct reporting lines.

Compensation & Benefits

The expected salary range for this position is $138,000 – $188,000 per year. You may also be eligible to receive an annual Incentive Award pursuant to our Short‑term Incentive plan and our Long‑Term Incentive plan (if applicable), and to participate in our group benefits and retirement plans. The hybrid work guideline requires teams to come into the office four days per week.

Equal Opportunity Employer

From hire to retire, we are an equal opportunity employer committed to an inclusive, barrier‑free recruitment and selection process that extends all the way through your employee experience.