Data & AI Platform Lead

Job description

Job Title: Data & AI Platform Lead

Type: Full Time, Hybrid working

The Team

The KPMG Audit Technology team is dedicated to building cutting-edge solutions in close collaboration with the Audit function. We blend audit expertise with the latest technology, enabling us to understand the challenges our customers face daily and develop indispensable products that simplify their lives while promoting Audit Quality.

As a crucial member of the team, you will collaborate with a talented mix of Product Owners/Managers, Solution Architects, Experience Designers, Business Analysts, and Testing Specialists. Together, we build, deliver, and manage a portfolio of truly exciting products.

In recent years, our products' size and scale have rapidly expanded, leading to significant growth in our technology capability. There's never been a better time to join us.

With our ambitious growth plans, your future here is something to get excited about. As a valued team member, you'll be expected to stay current with the tech field and the latest trends in Audit delivery.

The role

We are seeking an experienced, skilled, and proactive Platform Lead to join our dynamic team. In this role, you will be the owner of the data and AI Clara Data Labs (CDL) platform, which is used for the development and delivery of new products that are vital to our modern audit approach.

You will be responsible for setting the strategic direction and operational excellence for the platform, establishing a platform roadmap that enables the achievement of business goals and objectives, and establishing platform capabilities that empower the platform team to deliver high quality products consistently and effectively. Your expertise will be crucial for building and maintaining a robust, scalable, and secure platform that meets the evolving needs of the business.

Responsibilities

• Platform leadership
  • Own the platform roadmap for continuous growth of platform capabilities aligned to strategic business goals and objectives.
  • Continuously assess and adapt the platform architecture to meet evolving business needs, technological advancements, and industry best practices so that the platform remains resilient, secure, competitive, and innovative.
  • Maintain the platform’s Software Audit Tool accreditation status, ensuring that required due diligence and documentation is performed and communicated in line with firm wide processes.
  • Act as a trusted advisor to senior leadership, providing insights and recommendations on platform strategy and execution, as well as proactively identifying, managing, and communicating platform level risks and issues.
  • Establish effective working relationships with the leadership of adjacent teams such as Enterprise Wide Technology (EWT), who provide tenant wide services used by the platform, for close collaboration and alignment.
  • Collaborate with cloud engineers, solution architects, security engineers and engineers across the team.
• Operational excellence
  • Evaluate and select appropriate development tools, frameworks, and technologies to optimise platform development, deployment, and monitoring.
  • Define and implement architectural patterns and standards, ensuring alignment with firm wide business and technology strategies.
  • Define and refine development standards, including clear and consistent branching strategies, enforcement of coding standards, and adoption of CI/CD practices, to promote collaboration, maintainability, and efficiency of platform solutions.
  • Define and implement robust development governance processes, including code reviews, security checks, and performance testing, to ensure high quality code and platform stability.
  • Establish and own change management, release management and support processes to protect the integrity, quality, and consistency of the platform.
  • Ensure the platform is optimised for performance, reliability, and scalability, with FinOps to ensure we optimise use of platform investment.
• Team leadership
  • Provide technical guidance and mentorship to development teams, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous learning.
  • Work closely with the Delivery Lead to reinforce a clear purpose and strategic direction for the team, with visibility of the lasting impact of provided out of the platform.

Requirements 

The ideal candidate should have:

• Strong technical skills in platform engineering, cloud engineering, and related fields, including a deep understanding of platform architecture, design patterns, and best practices.
• Strong knowledge of cloud platforms and technologies, especially Azure and Databricks.
• Proven experience with modern engineering practices such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC), CI/CD, and containerisation.
• Experience in integrating Data & Analytics or AI capabilities into engineering practices.
• Experience managing and optimising environments to ensure stability and security.
• Expertise in cost optimisation and performance tuning for cloud environments.
• Expertise in agile ways of working, and tools like Jira and Atlassian.
• Proven ability to excel in a dynamic environment and work effectively with ambiguity.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively communicate technical concepts to both technical and non technical audiences and to develop effective relationships with stakeholders at different levels of seniority.
• Strong leadership and management skills, with proven experience in leading and growing high performing teams.

Other desirable skills and experiences include:

• Relevant Azure certifications such as Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect, Administrator Associate, Azure DevOps Engineer.
• Relevant Databricks certifications such as Platform Architect and Data Engineer Professional.
• Familiarity with audit related applications or regulated industries.

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