Director Platform Ops, & Platform Enablement

PepsiCo•Plano, TX

13h•Hybrid

About The Position

Seeking a dynamic Director – Platform Ops & Platform Enablement Lead to drive operational excellence and enablement across enterprise data and analytics platforms spanning both cloud and on-prem environments. This role will be pivotal in ensuring the stability, scalability, and performance of platform infrastructure supporting global data programs. Lead and manage end-to-end platform operations, including reliability, performance optimization, governance, and lifecycle management across Azure, AWS, GCP, and on-prem platforms.

Requirements

15–20+ years of overall IT experience, with a strong foundation in infrastructure, data platforms, or cloud engineering.
10–12+ years in platform operations / infrastructure / data platform management roles.
7–10+ years of leadership experience, managing global teams and large-scale enterprise platforms.
5–8+ years of hands-on experience in cloud platforms (Azure preferred; AWS/GCP as secondary).
Proven experience managing hybrid environments (on-prem + cloud) and driving platform transformation initiatives.
Deep expertise in Microsoft Azure (compute, storage, networking, identity, and security services).
Strong working knowledge of AWS and/or GCP for multi-cloud strategy and interoperability.
Experience with cloud-native data platforms (ADF, Synapse, Databricks, streaming frameworks).
Expertise in cloud architecture patterns, scalability, high availability, and disaster recovery.
Strong experience with on-prem data centers, including servers, storage, networking, and virtualization (VMware/Hyper-V).
Experience managing hybrid connectivity (VPN, ExpressRoute, Direct Connect, etc.).
Knowledge of legacy data platforms and integration systems and their modernization to cloud.
Experience in hybrid cloud architectures and workload migration strategies.
Expertise in platform lifecycle management (provisioning, scaling, upgrades, decommissioning).
Strong experience with SRE practices, incident/problem/change management, and 24x7 operations.
Proven ability to implement observability, monitoring, and alerting frameworks.
Experience driving high availability, fault tolerance, and performance optimization.
Deep expertise in cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, and GCP, along with hybrid/on-prem infrastructure management.
Hands-on knowledge of data and analytics platforms, including Azure Data Factory (ADF), Azure Synapse, Azure Databricks, and streaming architectures.
Proven experience in platform lifecycle management, including provisioning, scaling, performance tuning, and capacity planning.
Strong understanding of Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform, ARM templates, or similar frameworks.
Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and DevOps/DataOps practices using tools like Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or Jenkins.
Expertise in observability, monitoring, and alerting tools (e.g., Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk).
Solid understanding of platform security, compliance, and governance frameworks across cloud and on-prem environments.
Experience with automation, orchestration, and self-healing platform capabilities to improve operational efficiency and resilience.
Strong knowledge of incident, problem, and change management processes, including SRE best practices.
Proven ability to lead large-scale platform transformation and modernization initiatives.
Experience in cost optimization and resource management across multi-cloud environments.
Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage and influence senior leadership and cross-functional teams.
Demonstrated leadership experience in building, mentoring, and managing high-performing global teams.
Excellent communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills in complex, fast-paced environments.
Familiarity with enterprise architecture frameworks and alignment with business and IT strategy.

Responsibilities

Drive platform enablement by establishing standardized frameworks, best practices, and reusable capabilities that empower Data Engineering, Analytics, and AI/ML teams to build and operate efficiently.
Ensure high availability, scalability, automation, and governance of enterprise platforms supporting data pipelines, analytics, and business intelligence workloads.
Oversee the implementation of observability, monitoring, and automation frameworks to enhance platform reliability, performance, and operational efficiency.
Define and execute platform governance models, operating frameworks, and roadmaps to drive consistency and efficiency across multi-cloud and hybrid environments.
Enable seamless integration of CI/CD, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), platform automation, and self-healing capabilities across the enterprise ecosystem.
Partner in building next-generation Data & Analytics platforms, driving platform standardization, modernization, and adoption across global teams.
Lead and mentor a high-performing Platform Ops and Enablement team, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams across Data Engineering, CloudOps, Security, and business units to ensure alignment with enterprise architecture, security, and compliance standards.
Act as a key leader in driving Data & Analytics platform transformation initiatives, enabling a shift toward a platform-first, data-driven organization.
Champion platform excellence and operational maturity, supporting large-scale global data initiatives and ensuring robust sustainment capabilities across the enterprise data ecosystem.
Lead end-to-end platform operations across cloud and on-prem environments, ensuring high availability, reliability, performance, and scalability.
Own platform lifecycle management, including provisioning, upgrades, capacity planning, and decommissioning across Azure, AWS, GCP, and on-prem platforms.
Drive platform enablement by defining and implementing standardized frameworks, reusable components, and best practices for data and analytics platforms.
Establish and enforce platform governance, security, and compliance standards in alignment with enterprise architecture and regulatory requirements.
Oversee implementation of observability, monitoring, and alerting frameworks to proactively identify and resolve platform issues.
Lead automation initiatives, including Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), CI/CD integration, and self-healing capabilities to improve platform efficiency and resilience.
Partner with Data Engineering, Analytics, AI/ML, and CloudOps teams to enable scalable, reliable, and high-performing data platforms.
Drive platform performance optimization, including cost management, resource utilization, and workload efficiency across environments.
Define and execute platform operating models, processes, and SLAs to ensure consistent and high-quality service delivery.
Lead incident, problem, and change management processes for platform services, ensuring rapid resolution and minimal business disruption.
Build and lead a high-performing Platform Ops and Enablement team, including hiring, mentoring, and capability development.
Collaborate with security, compliance, and governance teams to ensure data protection, risk mitigation, and adherence to policies.
Support enterprise data and analytics transformation initiatives by enabling modern, scalable, and standardized platform capabilities.
Drive adoption of DevOps/DataOps best practices across platform teams to improve agility, speed, and reliability.
Establish strong stakeholder relationships across business, IT, and engineering teams to align platform capabilities with business needs.
Provide regular reporting on platform health, performance, risks, and continuous improvement initiatives to senior leadership.
Enable a culture of operational excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement across platform operations.