About the Role
As we accelerate our enterprise data transformation, we are seeking a visionary Lead Data Engineer to anchor our data architecture strategy and drive our data maturity journey to the next level. Our data journey has just begun: we have successfully designed and deployed a first version of our common data model for the initial segments of our operations, but we now need a heavyweight expert in data modeling and integration to expand, evolve, and scale this foundation across the entirety of our global retail business.
Based in Malaysia, you will oversee both our Common Data Engineering Team and our
Functional Data Engineering Team. Your core mission is to transform data into a high value internal product, ensuring that data is structured, resilient, and optimized for business impact. This role requires an architect-level leader who can seamlessly roll out our data architecture strategy, negotiate data flows across upstream and downstream systems, and proactively manage data dependencies so that operational changes never disrupt our AI, BI, analytics, or downstream application ecosystems.
Crucially, you will champion the innovation frontier for our data estate actively exploring and implementing how AI and Generative AI (GenAI) can be leveraged to dramatically speed up data engineering delivery, automate pipeline generation, and continuously uplift the quality of our data delivery.
Central Ecosystem Structure
In this role, you will sit at the absolute heart of our data ecosystem, orchestrating how data flows from source systems to end-user applications:
- Upstream Source Systems: You will partner with core retail systems (POS, ERP, CRM, Supply Chain) to capture raw data cleanly and design robust integration pathways and make sure they are documented for the future
- Common Data Engineering Team (Under your remit): This squad focuses on integrating raw data from diverse source systems, structuring it into our centralized, retail-specific common data model, and enforcing strict quality and compliance rules set by our Data Governance team.
- Functional Data Engineering Team (Under your remit): This squad pulls data from the common data lake and refines, aggregates, and massages it to be explicitly fit-for-purpose for specialized business use cases.
- Downstream Consumers: You will directly enable the Analytics & BI Team (who partner with business units to define use cases and build BI apps) and the AI Engineering Team (who require highly structured, model-ready features), alongside various other core downstream applications dependent on your data pipelines.
Key Responsibilities
- Enterprise Data Modeling & Strategy Rollout: Own the vision, design, and continuous expansion of our enterprise Common Data Model (CDM). Tailor this model explicitly to the complex, multi-channel realities of a modern retail context (inventory, customer journeys, transactions, supply chain).
- AI & GenAI for Data Engineering Innovation: Research, test, and integrate AI and Generative AI capabilities into the data engineering lifecycle. Utilize GenAI for automated pipeline generation, synthetic data creation, automated documentation, SQL/code optimization, and intelligent schema mapping to significantly shorten delivery timelines.
- Dual-Team Technical Leadership: Direct, mentor, and resource-manage two core engineering squads (Common and Functional Data Engineering). Establish engineering best practices, robust CI/CD pipelines, code reviews, and optimal data warehousing standards.
- Treating Data as a Product: Shift the organizational paradigm by managing data pipelines as high-availability products. Ensure data products have clear ownership, SLAs, data contracts, comprehensive documentation, and measurable business value.
- Upstream & Downstream Alignment: Build a close, proactive network with upstream engineering teams and downstream consumers. Act as the primary gatekeeper for schema changes, ensuring that modifications in source systems are architected correctly and do not cause breaking impacts downstream in AI models, BI tools, or core business applications.
- Governance & Intelligent Quality Delivery: Operationalize data quality and governance rules defined by the Data Governance team. Explore and deploy AI driven anomaly detection and automated data profiling tools to continuously improve the accuracy, reliability, and delivery quality of our data platform.
Required Qualifications & Competencies
- Professional Experience: 10+ years of progressive data engineering or data architecture experience, with at least 5+ years leading engineering squads within a complex, multi-system environment (Retail, E-commerce, or Fast-Moving Consumer Goods background is highly advantageous).
- Expert Data Modeling Skills: Elite, hands-on mastery of relational, dimensional, and modern data modeling methodologies (e.g., Kimball, Inmon, Data Vault 2.0). Proven track record of designing a Common Data Model from scratch or scaling an early-stage model across diverse business units.
- Technical Stack & AI Tooling Mastery: Deep proficiency with modern cloud data platforms (e.g., GCP, Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, or AWS/Azure equivalents), advanced SQL, Python/Scala, and pipeline orchestration tools (e.g., Airflow, dbt). Familiarity with using LLMs/GenAI developer tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, dbt Mesh, AI-driven data catalogs) to accelerate code generation is highly desirable.
- Dependency & Change Management: Exceptional capability in handling system integrations. You must demonstrate experience managing complex data line-of sights, creating data contracts, and managing change impacts in a matrixed organization.
- Leadership & Influence: Strong communication and stakeholder management skills. Ability to de-jargonize technical architecture for business leaders, negotiate data engineering priorities with parallel AI and Analytics heads, and mentor engineering talent in Malaysia.
- Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, or a highly quantitative field
DFI Retail Group is a leading Asian retailer, driven by its purpose to Sustainably Serve Asia for Generations with Everyday Moments.
At 30 Jun 2025, the Group and its associates operated over 7,500 outlets and employed over 83,000 people. The Group had total annual revenue in 2024 exceeding US$24.9 billion.
The Group is dedicated to delivering quality, value and service to Asian consumers through a compelling retail experience, supported by an extensive store network and highly efficient supply chains. The Group, including its associates, operates a portfolio of well-known brands across five key divisions: health and beauty, convenience, food, home furnishings, and restaurants.
The Group's parent company, DFI Retail Group Holdings Limited, is incorporated in Bermuda and has a primary listing in the equity shares (transition) category of the London Stock Exchange, with secondary listings in Bermuda and Singapore. The Group's businesses are managed from Hong Kong. DFI Retail Group is a member of the Jardine Matheson Group.
DFI Retail Group is responsible for ensuring that all personal information collected from each Candidate presented to DFI Retail Group is used for recruitment purposes only and the data collection process is in accordance with all applicable laws and compliant with the Code of Practice on Human Resource Management.
To find out more about Our Businesses and Our People, please visit our website https://www.dfiretailgroup.com
