Data & AI Lead- Director

Company description About Publicis Sapient Most companies in the AI era do one of two things: they advise, or they sell you a tool. We do both. Publicis Sapient is a technology company that provides enterprise AI platforms and services, which means we build our own AI platforms and bring the strategists, product thinkers, designers and engineers who make them work inside the world's most complex businesses. It's where people and products shape the future of enterprise, and where your ideas actually reach the organizations that run the world. If you want to question how things are done, learn continuously and do the best work of your career alongside 20,000 people across 28 countries, you're in the right place. Come build with us. Our Commitment to Inclusive Hiring We are committed to fostering and encouraging an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone and we believe great talent comes from many different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. That's why we're committed to creating a hiring process where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed and feel safe. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and identities including: race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion and value the diverse experiences, perspectives, and strengths they bring to our teams. If there's anything we can do to make our recruitment process more accessible or comfortable for you, please let us know. We're happy to provide reasonable adjustments throughout the application and interview process. You can contact us anytime at emeahiringteam@publicissapient.com. Your Safety Matters To Us At Publicis Sapient, we're committed to protecting candidates throughout every step of their journey with us. To help you stay safe from recruitment scams, please remember that our recruiters will only ever contact you from a Publicis Sapient email address. In some cases, we may partner with trusted, vetted recruitment agencies who will clearly identify themselves as working on behalf of Publicis Sapient. If you receive communication from any other domain claiming to represent us, please treat it with caution and contact us at emeahiring@pubicissapient.com Overview Publicis Sapient is looking for a Director of Engineering with a strong enterprise-level background to join our team of bright thinkers and doers. You will lead large-scale technology transformations for global organizations, combining enterprise architecture, Data and AI strategy, engineering leadership and consulting expertise. You will shape solutions from executive advisory and opportunity definition through architecture, mobilization and delivery at scale. We are on a mission to transform the world, and you will be instrumental in shaping how we do it with your ideas, thoughts and solutions. This role is an excellent opportunity for someone who would like to join an international global organization with a 'start-up' mentality. We highly value Openness, Collaboration, Learning Mindset and partner with our clients to drive positive outcome Where You’ll Make an Impact Partner with C-level and senior business and technology stakeholders to shape, pitch, design and deliver enterprise transformation programs that create measurable business value. Lead enterprise technology strategy, architecture, planning and delivery across applications, integration, data, AI, security and cloud operations. Define enterprise Data and AI strategies spanning modern data platforms, analytics, machine learning, Generative AI and agentic solutions, with a clear path from proof of value to governed, production-scale adoption. Lead discovery and current-state assessments, translating business objectives, regulatory requirements and technology constraints into target architectures, transition roadmaps and investment options. Shape strategic pursuits, RFP responses and statements of work, covering solution architecture, delivery approach, team structure, estimates, assumptions, risks and governance. Act as technical delivery lead for large, geographically distributed engineering teams, ensuring architecture integrity, engineering quality, delivery predictability, security, resilience and operational readiness. Establish enterprise engineering standards and reusable patterns, including reference architectures, platform foundations, CI/CD templates, infrastructure-as-code modules, quality gates and governance controls. Build and grow engineering, data and AI capabilities through hiring, mentoring, career development, technical assessment, succession planning and internal enablement. Contribute thought leadership and help define the long-term vision for Publicis Sapient's enterprise technology, Data and AI capabilities. What You’ll Bring to the Team A strong track record in consulting or enterprise technology organizations, with proven experience advising executive boards and senior leaders, including CTOs, CIOs and CDOs. Extensive experience defining and governing enterprise architectures across complex, multi-vendor landscapes, including core business systems, legacy platforms, integration, data and cloud. Technical management and delivery experience of globally distributed engineering teams of up to 100 people or more, from mobilization through delivery and transition to operations. Experience leading enterprise-scale programs, including portfolio planning, budget and risk management, vendor and partner coordination, and architecture governance. Strong presentation, executive communication, client pitching, proposal leadership and Agile delivery experience. Experience leading architecture workshops, current-state assessments, option analysis, dependency mapping and phased transformation roadmaps. Solid knowledge of enterprise data platforms and architectures, including lakehouse and medallion patterns, batch and streaming integration, data governance, master data, data quality, semantic layers and self-service analytics. Understanding of AI and Generative AI architecture, including RAG, agentic patterns, MLOps and LLMOps, evaluation, observability, cost control and responsible-AI governance. Architecture and design knowledge of cloud-native and distributed systems, including APIs, microservices, event-driven integration, containers and serverless, on at least one major cloud platform, preferably Microsoft Azure. DevSecOps and automation experience for large-scale delivery, including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, automated testing, policy enforcement and release governance. Strong understanding of security, identity, privacy, data residency, operational resilience, disaster recovery and auditability in regulated enterprise environments. Industry knowledge in one or more sectors such as financial services, public sector, energy and utilities, or consumer products and retail, with the ability to connect technology decisions to industry-specific business and regulatory drivers. Experience with contemporary engineering technologies such as .NET/C#, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, SQL and Spark, with the ability to guide architecture and engineering decisions across multidisciplinary teams. Strong Quality Engineering mindset, covering test automation, performance, reliability, security and production readiness. Additional Experience We Value Specific industry knowledge combined with expertise in Microsoft Foundry and Data & AI architecture. Experience designing and delivering AI solutions with Microsoft Foundry, including model selection, agents, RAG with Azure AI Search, evaluation, safety and governance. Experience architecting Microsoft Data & AI platforms such as Microsoft Fabric, Azure Databricks, Microsoft Purview and Power BI. Microsoft certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect Expert or Azure AI Engineer Associate. Experience working with Microsoft account and partner teams, including co-sell motions and funding programs. Exposure to other major cloud platforms such as AWS and Google Cloud, and multi-cloud or sovereign-cloud architecture patterns. Recognized contribution to thought leadership, reusable accelerators, and organizational capability building Additional information What You’ll Get in Return A fast-paced tech environment Continuous growth & learning Open feedback culture Room for own initiative & ideas Transparency about results & strategy Recognition & reward for hard work Working with a flexible schedule Medical subscription Meal tickets Extra vacation days - starting with 25 vacation days Many others perks