Director, Data Engineering

Job Description

WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY?

We are seeking a Director, Data Engineering to join the Operational Data Management & Transformation (ODMT) team, part of the Operational Data, AI and Information (ODIA) organization, in Personal & Commercial Operations (PCO) at the Royal Bank of Canada. This is a senior leadership role responsible for leading PCO’s transformation towards becoming an AI/data-driven organization and championing the enterprise-wide data engineering vision, strategy, and roadmap that underpins this evolution.  This role also has additional mandate of being PCO’s leadership representative on ground in Malaysia. The Director will spearhead organizational transformation at scale, building a world-class engineering team, championing modern data platforms, and shaping the data foundation that powers Business Intelligence, Machine Learning, and AI initiatives across a global financial institution.

As a Director of Data Engineering, you will set the strategic direction for data engineering across PCO, driving adoption of cutting-edge platforms including Snowflake, AWS, Hadoop, Apache Iceberg, and dbt. You will serve as the primary data engineering voice to stakeholders, enterprise governance bodies, and senior business and technology leaders — translating complex technical strategies into actionable plans. You will be accountable for building scalable, secure, and cost-effective data products that power analytics, reporting, AI/ML, and business operations at enterprise scale.

This role offers:

• Leadership Opportunity: Build and scale a high performing data and AI engineering team, establishing Malaysia as a center of excellence for data & AI engineering
• Enterprise Strategic Influence: Define and own the data engineering vision and strategy for PCO, influencing enterprise architecture decisions and data governance standards

Career Acceleration: Direct exposure to leadership, enterprise-wide transformation programs, and the opportunity to shape the future of data & AI at one of the world’s leading financial institutions

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

Strategic Vision & Data Engineering Roadmap

• Execute against the multi-year data & AI engineering strategy and technology roadmap for ODIA, aligned with PCO & enterprise objectives
• Drive adoption of the modern data stack (Snowflake, dbt, AWS, Hadoop, Apache Iceberg)
• Evaluate and recommend emerging technologies; lead proofs-of-concept and platform evolution initiatives
• Influence enterprise architecture decisions and data governance standards across the organization
• Shape the long-term strategic direction for data platforms, ensuring alignment with business growth and regulatory requirements

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Provide executive technical oversight of scalable data pipelines, Lakehouse architectures, real-time streaming solutions, and data mesh patterns
• Set and enforce architectural standards for data ingestion, transformation, consumption, and observability across ODIA’s entire data stack
• Champion engineering excellence including data modeling, SQL optimization, Python development, CI/CD, and DataOps best practices
• Drive innovation through adoption of open table formats (Apache Iceberg), analytics engineering (dbt), and next-generation cloud-native architectures
• Ensure implementation of robust data validation, quality checks, and governance practices to maintain data integrity and compliance with enterprise policy

Organizational Leadership & Talent Development

• Build, lead, and scale a high performing engineering team, including people managers and individual contributors, across multiple levels and disciplines
• Establish the organizational structure, hiring plans, and workforce strategy for PCO’s Malaysia hub
• Drive performance management, succession planning, and retention strategies to develop and retain top engineering talent
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing team culture that attracts world-class engineers

Delivery & Operational Excellence

• Accountable for the delivery and maintenance of data pipelines and data products that support the data and AI initiatives of PCO – ensuring alignment with business goals, quality standards, and timelines
• Establish and govern SLAs, operational metrics, and incident management processes for production data systems
• Drive CI/CD adoption for data pipelines using modern orchestration and DevOps tools
• Ensure data platforms and products meet enterprise security, privacy, and compliance requirements
• Own resource planning, capacity forecasting, and budget management for the data engineering function

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO SUCCEED?

Must-Have:

• 10+ years of progressive experience in data engineering, data platforms, data products, or enterprise data management
• 5+ years of people management experience, including managing managers and teams of 10+ engineers
• Demonstrated ability to define and execute multi-year data engineering strategies at enterprise scale
• Deep technical expertise across:
  • SQL: Advanced query optimization, stored procedures, database design
  • Python: Production-grade development for data pipelines and automation
  • AWS: S3, Glue, Lambda, Redshift, EMR, or equivalent cloud services
  • Snowflake: Data warehousing, performance tuning, security models
  • dbt: Analytics engineering, data transformation workflows
  • Apache Iceberg: Table format design, partition evolution, time travel queries
  • Hadoop ecosystem: HDFS, YARN, Spark, Hive
• Proven track record building and operating large-scale data pipelines (batch and streaming) in regulated industries (banking/financial services)
• Strong understanding of data modeling, dimensional design, and data warehouse architecture
• Strong executive communication and stakeholder influence skills at VP/SVP level
• Experience with DevOps/DataOps practices including CI/CD, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and infrastructure-as-code
• Budget and resource management experience

Nice-to-Have:

• Experience with data governance frameworks and tools (Collibra, Alation, Informatica)
• Familiarity with data quality and data observability platforms
• Knowledge of real-time streaming technologies (Kafka, Kinesis)
• Experience with MLOps practices and AI/ML platform enablement
• Exposure to data mesh or domain-oriented data architectures
• Experience leading large distributed or offshore engineering teams across geographies
• Certifications in AWS, Snowflake, or dbt
• MBA or advanced degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

We thrive on the challenge to be our best, progressive thinking to keep growing, and working together to deliver trusted advice to help our clients thrive and communities prosper. We care about each other, reaching our potential, making a difference to our communities, and achieving success that is mutual.

• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including bonuses and flexible benefits, competitive compensation, and stock where applicable
• Leaders who support your development through coaching and learning opportunities
• Ability to make a difference and lasting impact within a global financial institution
• Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team
• World-class training programs in financial services and technology
• Flexible work/life balance options
• Opportunities to do challenging, meaningful work at scale
• Access to cutting-edge technologies and learning resources

Working hours: 1pm - 10pm MYT

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Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the application deadline date above

Our Employment Opportunities

At RBC, we are guided by living shared values of Client First, Integrity, Collaboration, Respect and Excellence and winning together as One RBC. We believe an inclusive workplace that has diverse perspectives is core to our continued growth as one of the largest and most successful banks in the world. Maintaining a workplace where our employees feel supported to perform at their best, effectively collaborate, drive innovation, and grow professionally helps to bring our Purpose to life and create value for our clients and communities. RBC strives to deliver this through policies and programs intended to foster a workplace based on respect, belonging and opportunity for all.

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