Associate Director - GTS DES

The Associate Director plays a pivotal leadership role in driving large-scale data transformation initiatives within the Audit Data & Analytics domain. This role requires strategic thinking, deep Azure technical expertise, Data & Analytics experience in financial domain and strong team management and stakeholder management capabilities.

An Associate Director will lead a high-performing team of 25-35 data engineers, ETL experts, ERP leads and direct delivery outcomes, ensure operational excellence, and collaborate closely with US and global counterparts to shape and execute strategic data initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

• Leadership & Team Management
  • Lead, mentor, and manage a large team (25-35) of data engineers across multiple pods/projects.
  • Drive team performance, engagement, competency development, and succession planning.
  • Define team objectives, review progress, and ensure alignment with business outcomes.
  • Build a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
  • Attract, develop, and retain top talent in the team.
• Strategic Delivery & Technical Oversight
  • Oversee end-to-end delivery of complex Azure data engineering projects across multiple clients or audit engagements.
  • Provide architectural direction for scalable data processing solutions on Azure Databricks, ADF, ADLS, and related services.
  • Guide teams on optimization, partitioning strategies, performance tuning, and advanced PySpark/SQL coding standards.
  • Drive integration of large ERP ecosystems (SAP, Oracle, MS Dynamics) with Azure cloud platforms.
  • Review technical designs, code quality, data models, and workflow standards to ensure delivery excellence.
  • Own critical escalations, provide hands-on problem resolution when required, and ensure delivery SLAs are met.
• Stakeholder & Engagement Management
  • Act as the senior point of contact for US audit teams, client IT teams, and global leadership.
  • Translate business needs into technical strategy and communicate technical concepts to business leaders.
  • Manage cross-functional alignment, expectation setting, and governance for multiple large engagements.
  • Build long-term strategic relationships across global teams.
• Domain & Innovation
  • Bring strong understanding of audit processes, financial data structures, GL/sub-ledger data models, and risk assessment routines.
  • Drive innovation initiatives-automation, reusable frameworks, accelerators, standards, and tooling.
• Operational Management
  • Manage budgets, forecasting, and utilization for the data engineering group.
  • Establish delivery processes, QA standards, and governance frameworks.
  • Ensure compliance with firm policies, confidentiality standards, and security protocols.