Role Accountabilities (What is this role responsible for delivering?)
- Define and execute a comprehensive data and AI strategy aligned with business objectives.
- Champion a data-driven culture across the organization.
- Lead the development of enterprise data platforms, ensuring scalability, security, and performance.
- Establish and enforce data governance frameworks, including data quality, lineage, stewardship, and metadata management.
- Ensure compliance with global and regional data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, PDPA).
- Oversee data risk management and audit readiness.
- Lead data teams, including data science to identify AI/ML opportunities, partnership with business partners.
- Ensure data readiness and infrastructure to support model development and deployment.
- Implement AI governance practices to ensure ethical, explainable, and responsible AI use.
- Lead the design and implementation of integration architectures. (e.g., APIs, event-driven systems, data pipelines)
- Drive modernization of legacy systems to support real-time and scalable integrations.
- Oversee the development and maintenance of data lakes, warehouses, and real-time data platforms.
- Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture and cloud strategies (e.g., Azure, AWS, GCP).
- Promote reusable data assets and self-service analytics capabilities.
- Collaborate with C-level executives, business leaders, and IT to align data initiatives with strategic goals.
- Drive change management efforts to embed data and AI into business processes.
- Communicate data value and insights to non-technical stakeholders.
- Build and lead high-performing teams across data engineering, integration, and governance.
- Foster a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and cross-functional collaboration.
- Develop talent pipelines and upskill teams in AI, data engineering, and integration technologies.
People Management
- Lead employees to meet the organisation's expectations for productivity, quality, and goal accomplishment.
- Provide oversight and direction to the employees in the team in accordance with the organisation's policies and procedures.
- Plan staffing levels and work with Human Resources to recruit, interview, select, hire, and employ the right people within budgetary guidelines.
- Coach, mentor and develop staff, including overseeing new employee onboarding and providing career development planning and opportunities.
- Consciously create an engaging workplace culture that emphasizes the identified mission, vision, guiding principles, and values of the organisation.
- Lead employees using a performance management and development process including goal setting, feedback, and performance development planning.
- Empower employees to take responsibility for their jobs and goals. Delegate responsibility, drive accountability and provide regular feedback for continuous improvement.
- Manage and maintain effective employee work schedules including assignments, job rotation, training, vacations and paid time off, cover for absenteeism, and overtime scheduling.
- Maintain two-way transparent communication. Appropriately communicate organization information through department meetings, one-on-one meetings, and appropriate email, IM, and regular interpersonal communication.
- Deliver key people related activities in conjunction with the People Division that will lead to the enhanced engagement and retention of team members.
- Champions team collaboration by fostering an inclusive environment that encourages open communication and the sharing of ideas across all levels.
- Drives cross-functional initiatives by building partnerships and influencing stakeholders to achieve common goals without formal authority.
- Leads by example, demonstrating accountability, resilience, and a solution-oriented mindset to inspire others.
- Promotes the adoption of best practices by identifying process improvements and advocating for positive change within the team.
- Influences decision-making by presenting data-driven insights and articulating the team’s perspectives to management and other departments.
- Promotes a culture of recognition by celebrating team achievements and encouraging a sense of shared success.
- Supports the onboarding and integration of new team members, helping to build a cohesive and high-performing unit.
Crisis Management
- Make every effort to be aware of and understand your role in the event of a crisis.
- Make every effort to attend any relevant training, simulations and or meetings relating to Crisis Management.
- Perform your role as best as possible in a calm and collaborative manner in line with the relevant policy and procedures in the event of a Crisis.
- Provide input and feedback towards the ongoing improvement of the Crisis Management framework and procedure.
Key Qualifications & Skills (What knowledge will ensure success in the role?)
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence or related field.
- Master’s or PhD preferred for strategic leadership roles.
- 10+ years in data-related roles. (engineering, analytics, science, governance)
- 7+ years in leadership or strategic roles.
- 5+ years governance related experience.
Certifications (optional but valuable):
- Data Science & AI Foundations
- Data Science Specialization – Johns Hopkins (Coursera)
-AI for Everyone – Andrew Ng (Coursera)
- Professional Certificate in Machine Learning and AI – edX (MIT or Columbia)
- Executive & Strategic AI
- Oxford Executive Program in AI
- MIT Sloan – Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy
- INSEAD – AI for Business
- AWS/GCP/Azure Data Engineering or Architecture certifications
- TOGAF (for enterprise architecture)
- Responsible AI & Governance
- Responsible AI Certification – World Economic Forum / IEEE
- AI Ethics and Governance – Singapore Management University (SMU
- Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP)
- PMP or Agile certifications (for project leadership)
- Proven track record of building and scaling data teams and platforms.
- Must be able to interact effectively across multiple levels of the organization.
- Strong problem-solving abilities, with a data-driven and analytical approach to process improvement.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, facilitating collaboration between technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Knowledge and experience in executive reporting.
Technical Skills
Data Architecture & Engineering:
- Designing scalable data platforms. (data lakes, warehouses, marts)
- ETL/ELT pipelines using tools like Apache Airflow, dbt, Informatica.
Cloud Platforms:
- Deep expertise in AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
- Services like Redshift, BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks.
Programming & Tools:
- Python, SQL, Spark, Scala.
- Familiarity with R, Java, or Julia is a plus.
Data Governance & Quality:
- Master data management (MDM), metadata management.
- Data lineage, cataloging. (e.g., Collibra, Alation)
Analytics & BI:
- Tools: Power BI, Tableau, Looker.
- Experience with KPI frameworks and dashboarding.
Machine Learning & AI (if applicable):
- Model lifecycle management, MLOps.
- Experience with ML platforms. (e.g., SageMaker, Vertex AI)
Security & Compliance:
- GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA. (depending on industry)
- Data encryption, access controls, audit trails.
Professional Skills
Strategic Thinking:
- Aligning data strategy with business goals.
- Driving data monetization and innovation.
Leadership & Team Building:
- Hiring, mentoring, and managing cross-functional data teams.
- Fostering a data-driven culture.
Stakeholder Engagement:
- Communicating with C-suite, product, engineering, and business units.
- Translating data insights into business value.
Project & Change Management:
- Leading data transformation initiatives.
- Managing budgets, timelines, and vendor relationships.
Communication & Storytelling:
- Presenting complex data insights in a compelling way.
- Influencing decisions through data narratives.
Adaptability & Continuous Learning:
- Staying current with data trends, tools, and regulations.
- Encouraging experimentation and innovation.
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Swire Shipping is committed to ensuring equal equitable access and participation for persons who experience disability. SSL is committed to treating persons with disability in a way that allows them to maintain their dignity and independence. Reasonable adjustments can be made upon request based on understanding of those accommodations.
Across Swire Shipping, we seek to create a supportive and inclusive environment that embraces individuality and recognise the benefits that these differences make. We do this by ensuring that all individuals are treated with respect and understanding and actively promote Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, bullying, retaliation or intimidation of any kind. We are committed to driving the strategy, policies and accountability to build and sustain a diverse global workforce, through equitable processes and systems where everyone can contribute their very best.
