Data Platform Lead

Data Platform Lead (Snowflake + AWS + dbt + Financial Planning)

Location: Bangalore

Experience Required: 7–12+ years

Job Type: Full-Time

Department: Data Engineering / Technology / Platform Modernization

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Data Platform Lead with strong expertise in Snowflake, AWS, dbt, and end-to-end modern data platform engineering—combined with the ability to create financial projections, budgets, cost forecasts, and investment requirements related to the project.

This role blends technical leadership + financial planning, ensuring the successful delivery of the entire cloud data platform while also owning the budgeting needed for implementation, migration, scaling, and long-term sustainability.

You will drive architecture, migration, platform build-out, governance, orchestration and prepare financial models that justify costs, track spending, forecast usage, and support management decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

1. End-to-End Data Platform Architecture

• Architect and build a full modern data stack using AWS → Snowflake → dbt.
• Design raw, staging, core, and datamart layers following best practices.
• Establish Dev/Prod environments, CI/CD pipelines, and automated execution flows.

2. AWS Cloud Engineering

• Build cloud infrastructure including S3, IAM, Lambda, Step Functions, VPC, PrivateLink, KMS.
• Set up secure data ingestion pipelines and AWS-native services for automation.

3. Snowflake Platform Ownership

• Configure warehouses, schemas, RBAC, pipes, file formats, tasks, and governance structures.
• Monitor compute usage, storage, and credits; optimize costs and performance.
• Oversee migration and validation of all datasets into the Snowflake ecosystem.

4. dbt Modelling & Transformations

• Lead the development of dbt models (stage → core → mart).
• Configure dbt jobs, CI pipelines, tests, macros, and documentation.
• Implement best practices for performance, modularity, and maintainability.

5. Orchestration & Automation

• Build orchestration flows using AWS Step Functions, Airflow, or equivalent tools.
• Define execution chains, rerun logic, error notifications, and monitoring dashboards.

6. Data Migration & Repointing

• Lead complete migration of 20–30 existing pipelines, models, and dashboards.
• Align legacy models to new dbt architecture.
• Repoint BI dashboards (PowerBI/Tableau/Looker) to new data marts.

7. Governance, Security, and Compliance

• Establish RBAC, access roles, object-level security, and encryption standards.
• Implement audit logs, data retention policies, and cost monitoring systems.
• Maintain platform documentation, design diagrams, SOPs, and runbooks.

8. Financial Planning & Budget Ownership (New Requirement)

Financial Responsibilities

• Build detailed financial models for platform costs (AWS, Snowflake, dbt, orchestration tools).
• Forecast monthly, quarterly, and annual costs, including compute, storage, credits, licensing, and resource usage.
• Prepare investment requirements, including:
• Resource allocation
• Migration costs
• Infrastructure scaling estimates
• Third-party tool subscriptions
• Vendor onboarding costs
• Identify cost-saving opportunities and present ROI calculations.
• Monitor actual vs. budgeted usage and report variances.
• Work closely with the CFO office to finalize capex/opex related to the data platform.

Business & Management Collaboration

• Present budget plans, cost models, and financial projections to executive leadership.
• Provide financial justification for architectural choices.
• Support strategic decisions with cost-benefit analysis and scenario modelling.

9. Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead a cross-functional delivery team (Data Engineers, DevOps, BI, SMEs).
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, DevOps, and Business teams.
• Mentor junior engineers and guide best practices for the data ecosystem.

Required Skills & Experience

Technical Expertise (Mandatory)

• Snowflake: deep experience with RBAC, tasks, warehouses, cost optimization
• AWS: S3, Lambda, IAM, VPC/PrivateLink, Step Functions, KMS
• dbt: model design, testing, workflow orchestration, CI/CD
• Python: ETL scripting, automation, data workflows
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions, automated deployments
• IaC: Terraform or AWS CDK (Python preferred)

Financial & Business Expertise (Mandatory)

• Strong understanding of cloud cost models (Snowflake credits, AWS services).
• Ability to create:
• Budget forecasts
• Cost breakdown sheets
• Investment requirement models
• Resource allocation plans
• ROI calculations
• Experience working with finance teams to validate budgets.

Experience

• 7–12+ years in Data Engineering or Cloud Platform roles.
• Proven track record delivering large-scale platform migrations.
• Experience handling financial modeling for technical projects is a strong advantage.
• Background in EdTech, SaaS, or high-scale product companies preferred.

Soft Skills

• Strong analytical & architectural thinking
• Financial acumen & cost-awareness
• Leadership & stakeholder communication
• Problem solving & decision-making
• Documentation excellence
• Ownership mentality & delivery discipline

What We Offer

• Opportunity to architect and scale a flagship cloud data platform
• Hands-on work with modern data technologies (Snowflake, dbt, AWS)
• High visibility and decision-making authority
• Competitive compensation + performance rewards
• Fast career growth in a rapidly scaling EdTech ecosystem

Job Type: Full-time

Work Location: In person