Director, Data Engineering – Technical Lead

Job description

Job Description Director, Data Engineering – Technical Lead Are you passionate about leveraging data to drive business decisions and innovation? Join our company as the Director, Data Engineering tech leader as part of CDnAO Core engineering group. Your responsibility will be managing a group of best class engineers to drive the CDnAO analytical ecosystem development. This role offers the opportunity to collaborate with IT and business units across the globe, helping to set up a future direction of data engineering. If you are a visionary leader with a strategic mindset, we invite you to apply and be part of our mission to save and improve lives around the world. Responsibilities Lead a technical chapter within the Core Data and Analytics Engineering group, focused on monitoring, observability, security, data access and data context engineering across enterprise data capabilities, establishing strong engineering leadership and direction within the domain. Partner with product managers and architects to translate product vision into scalable, production-grade engineering solutions used at scale by hundreds of data engineers across the organization. Be a visionaire – shape and define the data engineering discipline in innovative way, leveraging the latest industry trends. Focus on improving “time to insight” in compliance way. Improve engineering efficiency through automation, modern tooling, and AI‑enabled practices, continuously applying emerging AI capabilities to accelerate delivery, reduce manual effort, and enhance how teams design, build, and operate solutions. Be in close touch with the most important users and customers to ensure smooth adoption of the tools and help to solve the most critical problem. Set up a reusable framework, accelerators and best practices across the ecosystem, help with the adoption across the company. Reduce duplication and fragmentation across product teams through consistent engineering practices Be a people manager of the team composed by professionals within and Core Engineering group, coming from multiple tech chapters. Have a deep insight into other areas of CDnAO beside Observability and Security like Data Governance. Data Engineering or Consumption Insight Lead and manage engineering team across the globe and time zones, be a role play for clear and transparent communication across the teams. Ensure the highest standards of engineering, including quality, reliability, observability and security). Ensure delivered capabilities are production-grade and operable at enterprise scale Establish and maintain strategic partnerships with external technology vendors to enhance the organization's analytical capabilities and tools. Evaluate emerging technologies and tools in the market to determine their potential impact on data strategy and operational efficiency. Ensure capabilities integrate consistently with enterprise platforms and infrastructure, aligning closely with platform partners to deliver scalable, maintainable solutions. Mentor data engineering teams, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. Oversee contract negotiations and management with technology partners, ensuring compliance with service level agreements. Be a CDnAO representative in Tech center. Qualifications Required / must-have: 10 – 15 years of relevant experience in IT disciplines including technical architecture, data and analytics, technical lead and solution architecture background. Experience in GenAI approach and in implementation of such an approaches into the daily tasks and (data) engineering processes. Expert in Data Engineering – know, how to build cloud based and scalable Data Engineering ecosystem, that is possible to use seamlessly at enterprise scale across multiple delivery team and data domains. Proven track record of successfully leading cross-functional teams in the development and deployment of data solutions. Strong analytical and strategic thinking abilities, with a deep understanding of data governance, analytics, and machine learning. Excellent communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to present complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. Experience managing relationships with technology vendors and external partners in a fast-paced environment. Visionary leadership with an ability to inspire teams and drive change. Strong negotiation and conflict-resolution skills. Strategic mindset, with an ability to align data initiatives with business goals. A commitment to fostering a collaborative and inclusive work environment. Secondary / nice-to-have: BSc in IT, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field. AWS certified. Experienc with Databricks. Exposure to data observability, data quality, data lineage and metadata management platforms (e.g. Collibra, Acceldata, Monte Carlo, Alation, Unity Catalog). Experience implementing policy-as-code approaches to enforce data access, security, data quality, and governance controls. Awareness of emerging data access and observability patterns for AI workflows. Required Skills: Data Engineering, Data Governance, Data Lineage, Data Quality, Data Visualization, Design Applications, Emerging Technologies, Engineering Leadership, Engineering Processes, Enterprise Data, Fast-Paced Environments, Metadata Management, Operational Efficiency, Product Vision, Software Configurations, Software Development, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Solution Architecture, Strategic Thinking, System Designs, System Integration, Testing Preferred Skills: Current Employees apply HERE Current Contingent Workers apply HERE Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails. Employee Status: Regular Relocation: VISA Sponsorship: Travel Requirements: Flexible Work Arrangements: Not Applicable Shift: Valid Driving License: Hazardous Material(s): Job Posting End Date: 08/1/2026*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.