Group Lead - Data Products & Architecture

Position Purpose:

This role leads Kraft Heinz's Data Architecture chapter presence in GCC India, managing all Data Architects and Sr. Data Architects based in that location across every domain the chapter supports. Unlike the domain-facing Group Lead roles, this position carries overall accountability for the GCC teams collective delivery and quality rather than ownership of any single technical work stream — partnering closely with onsite Data Architecture leads to align staffing and ensure seamless delivery, and driving stabilization of the chapter’s operating routines and progress tracking. This role reports to the Director, Data, AI & Digital Innovation – GCC, with a dotted-line relationship to the Global Head of Data Products & Platforms that functions as the role’s primary day-to-day partnership for chapter priorities.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Manage the GCC India Data Architecture team members and their deliverables across all domains, ensuring consistent quality, standards adherence, and career development for each team member.
• Partner closely with onsite Data Architecture leads to assess their staffing needs, allocate GCC resources accordingly, and ensure seamless, timely delivery against each domain’s priorities.
• Diagnose gaps in the chapter’s operating routines — stand-ups, governance forums, progress tracking — across onsite and GCC time zones, and design consistent cadences that keep delivery visible and risks surfaced early.
• Assess the Data Architecture chapter’s operating maturity against target-state practices — standards adoption, onboarding, quality processes — and build the playbooks and feedback loops needed to close the gaps.
• Serve as the primary liaison between the Director, Data, AI & Digital Innovation – GCC, and the Global Head of Data Products & Platforms, aligning GCC operational/administrative requirements with the chapter’s technical and delivery priorities.
• Manage, mentor, and develop the GCC-based Data Architects and Sr. Data Architects, building a strong internal growth pipeline within India.
• Hold the GCC team accountable to the chapter’s established data architecture standards, guidelines, and best practices, even though this role does not personally author domain-specific architecture.
• Coordinate onboarding, capacity planning, and resource allocation for the GCC Data Architecture team, in partnership with the Director, Data, AI & Digital Innovation – GCC, and onsite Data Architecture leads.
• Escalate and help resolve delivery risks, staffing gaps, or cross-domain conflicts affecting GCC team members.
• Champion the chapter’s data architecture standards — including semantic model and AI-readiness practices — within the GCC team, ensuring GCC-delivered work meets what onsite Data Architecture leads expect.
• Represent the GCC Data Architecture team in chapter-wide governance forums and leadership discussions.
• Support performance management, hiring, and workforce planning for the GCC team, in line with GCC HR policies and processes.
• Build a cohesive Data Architecture community across a distributed onsite + GCC team through knowledge-sharing rituals and shared practices that prevent the GCC team from operating in isolation.

Recipe for Success

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field
• 8–12 years of overall experience, including significant experience managing distributed or GCC-based technical teams
• Proven track record overseeing a technical team’s collective delivery and quality, rather than hands-on individual execution
• Working knowledge of the organization’s core data platforms and architecture concepts — cloud lakehouse technologies (Snowflake, including Cortex), cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP), data modeling tools (ERWIN, ER/STUDIO), and semantic layer concepts — sufficient to assess team output and guide standards adherence across domains
• Working proficiency in SQL and Python, and familiarity with BI tools such as Power BI, sufficient to review team output and guide technical standards
• Familiarity with batch and real-time data processing approaches, and major ERP systems such as SAP (ECC/S4, BW, HANA), sufficient to assess team output across domains
• Working understanding of Data Governance principles and practices, including data quality, security, and compliance
• Experience operating in a matrixed, dual-reporting GCC/shared-services model
• Experience designing and running team operating routines — stand-ups, retrospectives, progress tracking, governance forums — for a technical team, including building these from scratch rather than operating within an already-established cadence
• Experience assessing team or organizational maturity against target-state practices and building the playbooks, SOPs, or capability frameworks needed to close the gaps — a track record of maturing a function or team, not just running an already-mature one
• Experience building culture and community across a distributed or hybrid (onshore/offshore) team — knowledge-sharing programs, engagement rituals, and practices that keep a geographically split team cohesive rather than isolated
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience as a liaison across organizational boundaries
• Strong people leadership: coaching, career development, performance management
• Knowledge of Agile methodologies and tools such as Jira & Confluence