Head of Data Operations -IT

Tawteen

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Define and execute the vision, strategy, and roadmap for Data Operations at Bank Muscat, aligning with overall business objectives, data strategy, and regulatory requirements specific to the financial sector.
• Operational Excellence: Oversee the end-to-end financial data operations lifecycle, including data ingestion from various banking systems, transformation, secure storage, rigorous quality assurance, and timely delivery for analytical, reporting, and operational needs.
• Data Management:
• Designs the structure and layout of data systems, including databases, warehouses, and lakes.
• Selects and implements database management systems that meet the organization s needs by defining data schemas, optimizing data storage, and establishing data access controls and security measures.
• Defines and implements the long-term technology strategy and innovations roadmaps across analytics, data engineering, and data platforms
• Designs and implements processes for the ETL process from various sources into the organization s data systems
• Translates high-level business requirements into data models and appropriate metadata, test data, and data quality standards
• Manages senior business stakeholders to secure strong engagement and ensures that the delivery of the project aligns with longer-term strategic roadmaps
• Simplifies the existing data architecture, delivering reusable services and cost-saving opportunities in line with the policies and standards of the company
• Leads and participates in the peer review and quality assurance of project architectural artifacts across the EA group through governance forums
• Defines and manages standards, guidelines, and processes to ensure data quality
• Works with IT teams, business analysts, and data analytics teams to understand data consumers needs and develop solutions
• Evaluates and recommends emerging technologies for data management, storage, and analytics
• Data Governance & Quality: Establish and implement stringent data governance policies, standards, and procedures to ensure data accuracy, consistency, security, and compliance with local and international financial regulations (e.g., CBO guidelines, Basel Accords, AML/KYC requirements) in association with the Data Governance Officer of the bank. Implement robust data quality frameworks, monitoring, and remediation processes for critical financial data in association with the Data Governance Officer of the bank.
• Team Management & Development: Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of data operations specialists, data engineers, and data quality analysts. Foster a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and accountability, with a strong focus on financial data integrity and security.
• Process Optimization: Identify and implement best practices, tools, and technologies to automate and streamline data operational processes, enhancing efficiency, reducing manual effort, and improving the speed of data delivery for banking operations.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner closely with business units (e.g., Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Treasury, Risk Management), IT, BIU and analytics teams to understand specific financial data requirements, ensure data availability, and support data-driven initiatives such as new product development, customer segmentation, and fraud detection.
• Technology & Tools: Evaluate, select, and manage data operations tools and platforms suitable for a banking environment (e.g., enterprise ETL/ELT tools, secure data warehousing/lakehouse solutions, data observability platforms, master data management systems).
• Incident Management: Develop and implement robust protocols for financial data incident detection, resolution, and root cause analysis, minimizing data-related disruptions and ensuring business continuity.
• Performance Monitoring: Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for data operations, reporting on data quality, availability, and operational efficiency to senior management and regulatory bodies as required.
• Budget Management: Manage the budget for data operations initiatives, tools, and resources, ensuring cost-effectiveness and value for Bank Muscat.