Associate Director, Technology (Database)
Job Description
About Affinity
Affinity is pioneering new frontiers in AdTech by building privacy-first advertising infrastructure that helps publishers maximize monetization and enables advertisers to reach the right audiences beyond walled gardens. Operating across 10+ markets in Asia, the US, and Europe, with a team of 500+ professionals, Affinity continues to innovate at scale in the global AdTech ecosystem.
Role: Associate Director, TechnologyLocation: Mumbai (Malad)
Role Overview
We are looking for an Associate Director, Technology to lead and scale our data platforms and database ecosystem supporting high-volume AdTech workloads. This role will own architecture, performance, reliability, and evolution of our data lake, OLAP systems, and real-time streaming pipelines, while partnering closely with Product, Analytics, and Engineering leadership.
Key Responsibilities- Technology & Architecture
- Own architecture of large-scale data platforms supporting OLAP and real-time analytics.
- Strong expertise in SQL, data modeling, and performance tuning.
- Hands-on experience with ClickHouse, PostgreSQL, MySQL.
- Build and scale big data pipelines using Apache Spark and Hadoop.
- Design real-time streaming systems using Kafka.
- Leadership & Team Management
- Lead and mentor senior data and platform engineers.
- Drive engineering best practices and architectural standards.
- Act as a technical escalation point and partner with cross-functional stakeholders.
- Platform & Cloud Operations
- Own availability, performance, and reliability of data platforms.
- Implement monitoring, capacity planning, and incident management.
- Ensure data security, governance, and cost optimization.
- Enable analytics and reporting via Power BI and BI tools.
- Strategic Contribution
- Translate business needs into scalable data solutions.
- Define and execute the data platform roadmap.
- Drive platform modernization and technology adoption in high-scale environments.
- AI capabilities
- Basic understanding of AI and Gen AI concepts
- Experience on inculcating AI process in team
Required Skills:
- 8+ years of experience in database, data platform, or backend engineering, with leadership exposure.
- Strong hands-on expertise in:
- SQL, data modeling, and OLAP concept
- ClickHouse, PostgreSQL, MySQL
- Apache Spark (batch & streaming)
- Hadoop ecosystem and data lake architectures
- Kafka and real-time data pipelines
- Experience supporting large-scale, high-throughput, data-intensive systems (AdTech/MarTech preferred).
- Strong understanding of distributed systems, performance tuning, and fault tolerance.
- Exposure to BI tools (Power BI preferred) and analytics enablement.
- Proven ability to lead teams, influence architecture decisions, and work with senior stakeholders.