Data & AI Architecture Lead Africa

Base location

Your location will be determined based on your location. Our main hubs are located in Johannesburg Lagos and Nairobi.

Key roles and responsibilities:

(a)Data and AI Solution Architecture (55%)

• Design and review data architecture and AI/ML solution blueprints for all major T&I data and AI pursuits - ensuring technical soundness and delivery feasibility before contract signature.
• Produce high-quality data architecture documents AI solution designs and analytics-as-a-service proposals for client engagements.
• Lead client-facing data architecture workshops demonstrating KPMGs capability in data platform engineering AI/ML model deployment and intelligent automation.
• Define KPMG T&Is standard data architecture patterns - including data mesh data lakehouse MLOps pipelines and analytics-as-a-service models.
• Review and approve all data and AI scopes of work ensuring they are correctly scoped priced and aligned to cloud-native data platform capabilities (Azure Fabric Databricks AWS GCP).

(b) Delivery Governance and Quality (30%)

• Provide architecture oversight on active data and AI delivery engagements - attending design reviews sprint reviews and client technical steering committees.
• Serve as KPMG T&Is technical authority on AI ethics model governance and responsible AI frameworks - ensuring all AI solutions meet appropriate standards.
• Conduct formal architecture health checks at key delivery milestones to identify data quality issues model performance risks and scope deviations.
• Maintain KPMG T&Is data and AI asset library - documenting reusable pipelines model frameworks analytics dashboards and automation components with Block E.
• Stay current with evolving African data regulation (POPIA GDPR-equivalents) and ensure all data architectures are compliant.

(c) Market and Capability Development (15%)

• Contribute to KPMG T&Is Data and AI thought leadership - publishing insights on AI/ML data modernisation and analytics trends relevant to African markets.
• Build KPMG T&Is internal data and AI capability through training knowledge-sharing and technical mentorship.
• Develop go-to-market propositions for Data and AI services working with Domain Leads and Alliance Market Leads to position KPMGs capability with clients.
• Maintain certifications and stay current with the evolving AI/ML platform landscape (Azure AI AWS SageMaker Google Vertex AI Databricks).

Academic/ Professional qualifications and Experience:

• Degree in Computer Science Data Science Mathematics Statistics or related quantitative discipline.
• Cloud data platform certification required: Azure Data Engineer (DP-203) AWS Data Analytics or Databricks Certified Data Engineer.
• AI/ML certification preferred: Azure AI Engineer (AI-102) AWS Machine Learning Specialty or Google Professional ML Engineer.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in data engineering analytics or AI/ML with at least 4 years in a client-facing architecture or consulting role.
• Proven experience designing and delivering data platform migrations analytics programmes or AI/ML deployments for enterprise clients.
• Familiarity with African data protection regulation and responsible AI frameworks.

Technical competencies & Personal attributes:

• Demonstrate and articulate KPMG values as well as proven capability in:
• Data and AI depth: recognised technical expert in data architecture and AI/ML solution design with demonstrated implementation experience.
• Architecture clarity: able to translate complex data and AI concepts into clear structured implementable solution designs.
• Ethics and governance - understands the responsible AI implications of model deployment and applies appropriate guardrails.
• Client engagement: comfortable leading data strategy and AI roadmap discussions with CDOs CTOs and business executives.
• Commercial awareness: designs data and AI architectures that are commercially viable and scalable without unnecessary cost.
• Curiosity and learning stays current with the rapidly evolving AI and data platform landscape.
• Market Intelligence: Demonstrate commercial awareness with sound knowledge of matters affecting the market.
• Business development entrepreneurial mind-set and ability to identify opportunities and develop high quality proposals.
• Personal effectiveness - Excellent report-writing and presentation skills.
• People management - Leadership & management skills.
• Performance management - Be a performance manager to the team in line with performance management guidelines.
• Risk management-lead in ensuring full compliance with KPMG quality & risk management requirements
• Capacity building - Takes a lead in building capability of team to future proof workforce and full utilization of existing workforce.