AI Data Ops Engineer

**AI Data Ops Engineer — Abu Dhabi, UAE** **Design, build, and operate the data backbone for enterprise AI.**   We're hiring an **AI Data Ops Engineer** for a leading Abu Dhabi\-based holding group investing heavily in its data and AI capability. You'll engineer the pipelines that feed everyday AI assistants and enterprise AI products — and you'll be the technical authority reviewing and signing off vendor\-delivered data architectures before they reach production. Reports to the AI Solutions Manager. **What you'll own:** * Engineer batch and stream pipelines using Fabric Data Pipelines / Azure Data Factory, Synapse, or Databricks. * Implement data quality rules, schema validation, de\-duplication, SCD, and reconciliation checks. * Operationalize lineage, cataloging, and classifications with Microsoft Purview; enforce RBAC and access patterns. * Automate CI/CD via Azure DevOps or GitHub with environment promotion, infrastructure\-as\-code (Bicep/Terraform), and secrets management via Key Vault. * Build feature stores and model\-serving data contracts in partnership with MLOps and AI engineering teams. * Own reliability: alerts, runbooks, on\-call rotation, and cost and performance optimization. * Review and finalize vendor\-delivered data pipelines and data architecture for AI projects; ensure compliance with client standards for security, performance, and reliability; approve production readiness. * Collaborate with delivery partner squads on interface specifications, test data, and delivery checkpoints; support SIT/UAT and production cutover. * Define and enforce Data Contracts and SLAs per priority dataset (schema, refresh frequency, quality thresholds, reconciliation checks, and consumer expectations). * Own data incident management: classification, RCA, corrective actions, and prevention of recurring nonconformities. * Formalize the handshake with AI/ML/DevOps engineers on feature and embedding pipelines, monitoring hooks, and release gates for data\-dependent AI deployments. **What you bring:** * 6–8 years in data engineering with strong SQL and PySpark and cloud\-native data services. * Hands\-on experience across the Azure data stack: Fabric/Synapse, Data Factory, ADLS Gen2, Delta Lake/Parquet. * Bachelor's in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent. **Core skills and tools required:** * Python and PySpark, SQL, Lakehouse patterns, medallion architecture. * Microsoft Purview: catalog, lineage, classifications; data privacy controls and masking. * CI/CD with Azure DevOps or GitHub; IaC with Bicep or Terraform; Docker basics. * Observability: Kusto/KQL, Azure Monitor, Log Analytics; performance tuning and FinOps. * Production incident response and RCA discipline. **Required certifications:** * Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate (DP\-203\) **Preferred certifications:** * Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ\-900\) * Databricks Data Engineer Associate or Professional **Location:** Abu Dhabi, UAE **Employment Type:** Permanent, Full\-time **Experience:** 6\-8 years **Salary Range:** 15,000 \- 23,000 (AED per month)