Job Title: AWS Lakehouse Platform Engineer
Location: UAE Abu Dhabi or Dubai
Engagement: Full-time (On-site)
Contract duration: 3 or 6 months possible extensions
Start date: February 2026
Riverflex is partnering with a leading financial institution in the UAE on a strategic Proof of Concept to establish (the foundations of) an AWS data platform. We are seeking a Platform Engineer to own the PoC end-to-end define the reference architecture and establish the standards and guardrails that will shape how the data platform is built going forward.
This is not a data engineering role. This position is about platform ownership architecture governance and long-term operability. You will serve as the internal authority on how we do data platforms working closely with the partners Data Lead and embedded with the on-site platform engineering team to ensure the foundation is robust scalable and fit for enterprise-grade analytics and future AI use cases.
Responsibilities
Platform ownership & architecture
Own the end-to-end design and delivery of an AWS-based lakehouse Proof of Concept.
Act as lead architect and custodian of the data platform defining reference architectures reusable patterns and engineering standards.
Design and implement a governed lakehouse architecture using Amazon S3 AWS Glue Athena Lake Formation with Apache Iceberg as a core table format.
Governance security & control
Establish security-first platform designs including IAM patterns and role-based access Data access controls governance guardrails auditability etc.
Ensure consistent cataloging lineage and metadata practices across the lakehouse.
Engineering & operability
Build and manage platform infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code (AWS CDK or Terraform).
Ensure the platform is production-minded with explicit focus on: long-term operability scalability cost efficiency and maintainability
Define and implement operational standards including monitoring alerting and basic runbooks where applicable.
Collaboration & enablement
Partner closely with the Data Lead to align platform architecture with data engineering and analytics needs.
Work embedded with the on-site platform engineering team acting as a hands-on technical leader and mentor.
Document architectural decisions standards and operating models to enable reuse and scaling beyond the PoC.
6 years of experience in platform engineering cloud engineering or data platform engineering roles.
Proven experience owning and shaping platform architectures rather than only implementing pipelines.
Deep hands-on experience with:
Amazon S3 (storage patterns lifecycle policies)
Glue (jobs catalog orchestration)
Athena
Lake Formation
Apache Iceberg
AWS CDK or Terraform
Strong understanding of AWS Well-Architected Framework and platform best practices.
Ability to design for reliability cost control and operational simplicity.
Architectural mindset and being comfortable operating with reference architectures engineering standards guardrails and governance models
Able to balance short-term PoC delivery with long-term platform sustainability.
Experience in financial services or other regulated environments is a strong advantage.
Ability to be based in the UAE for a minimum of 3 months working full-time on-site (Abu Dhabi or Dubai).
This is a unique opportunity to define the foundation of a modern enterprise data platform for a major financial institution with real influence over long-term architectural direction - while working on-site in the UAE at the heart of one of the worlds fastest-growing technology and financial hubs. You will operate in a high-impact environment alongside senior stakeholders on a greenfield platform initiative with strong executive backing. If you are interested wed love to connect.
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