Director · Data & Analytics · Cologne, Germany
AI-First Data Strategy | Cloud Data Architecture | Data Platforms | Global Team Leadership
With over two decades of experience, I specialize in helping organizations transform their data ecosystems into AI-native enterprises. My expertize include strategic leadership, data strategy, modern cloud architecture and building high-performing global teams that deliver scalable, data-driven innovation.
Companies I've worked with
I thrive at the intersection of technology, business, and innovation — building data-driven cultures that accelerate digital transformation.
With two decades of global experience spanning India, the United States, and Germany, I bring a culturally agile leadership style capable of aligning global teams and business units toward common strategic goals. My career has covered the full spectrum — from humble beginings as a database and extract-transform-load developer to Business Intelligence Architect, Data & ETL Lead to Head of Reporting & Analytics — giving me a uniquely end-to-end perspective on data ecosystems.
Currently directing Data & Analytics teams at HRS Group in Cologne, I am leading the organisation's transformation from a traditional BI platform into a fully AI-native enterprise — leveraging Medallion architecture on Amazon Web Services, Anthropic Claude & modern lakehouse principles to unlock new business value at scale.
My mission is to partner with business leaders to transition organizations from labor-intensive, dashboard-driven analytics to scalable, AI-powered data products. By enabling teams to interact with data through natural language and intelligent systems, I aim to dramatically reduce time-to-decision & accelerate the delivery of value to customers. I believe exceptional data products are built by empowered, cross-functional teams who deeply understand both the business problem & the technical craft required to solve it.
Designing modern Lakehouse and Medallion architectures. Deep expertise in cloud-native platforms including Snowflake, Exasol, and AWS-native services. ETL/ELT modernisation with AWS Glue, dbt, Kinesis, and Airflow.
Designing and deploying AI-first data products using Anthropic Claude, Ollama, LangChain, and Hugging Face. Leading the shift from traditional BI to intelligent, recommendation-driven analytics platforms.
End-to-end AWS platform ownership: S3 data lakes, ECS/EKS, Lambda, Glue, Sagemaker, CloudWatch, and more. Championing data democratisation and self-service analytics at enterprise scale.
Was instrumental in establishing the HRS Innovation Hub in India. Awarded twice as the best people manager of the year in two seperate organizations. Certified corporate culture coach. Deep expertise in mentoring data engineers, analysts and scientists across multicultural teams.
Applying SVPG (Silicon Valley Product Group) principles to data product development. Driving user adoption from 20% to 88% in a single year. Moving organisations from reporting to AI-driven decision-making.
Defining mission, vision, budget, and technology roadmap for Data & AI functions. Experienced in executive stakeholder management, RFPs, vendor evaluation, and portfolio governance at Director level.
HRS Group · Cologne, Germany
Leading a multinational team of 15 professionals to pioneer the data and AI transformation at HRS Group — a global business travel platform serving 35% of the Fortune 500 companies. Accountable for the full Data & Analytics function: strategy, budget, architecture, and delivery. Architect of HRS-GenBI an AI-powered analytics assistant for enterprise executives at HRS.
Mindtree Consulting · Germany / India
Led the Business Intelligence team for adidas Western Europe B2B operations. Delivered analytical dashboards for supply chain management covering raw material pricing, inventory, production, logistics, and warehouse optimisation. Optimised technology stack achieving 65% reduction in database CPU utilisation and $100,000+ in annual cost savings.
Infosys Consulting · India / United States
Decade-long consulting career spanning Retail, CPG, Financial Services, and Insurance. Delivered executive dashboards for PepsiCo CEO and CTO. Drove trade promotion analytics using IRI and AC Nielsen market research data. Served Fidelity Investments and Northwestern Mutual Life on enterprise data and reporting platforms.
Built and led high-performing global teams of more than 70 data and analytics professionals across engineering, analytics, and platform functions. Focused on creating empowered, product-oriented teams capable of delivering scalable data platforms, advanced analytics, and AI-driven solutions that generate measurable business value.
Introduced AI-assisted development practices using tools such as Amazon Q and GitHub Copilot to transform the way data pipelines are built on AWS. This resulted in an 80% improvement in developer productivity and reduced employee-related costs by 75%, enabling faster delivery of data products while operating with a leaner engineering footprint.
Concieved and built multiple data products and drove a data-first culture by modernising the analytics platform — resulting in user adoption growth from 20% to 88% within a single year.
Implemented rigorous governance and monitoring across the AWS data platform, optimizing data assets and achieving a 40% reduction in cost per terabyte of data processed.
Open to connecting with leaders and organizations shaping the future of Data, Analytics, and AI. I welcome conversations around building modern data platforms, AI-driven products, and high-impact teams across Europe and globally. Let's build something extraordinary together.
Whether you're exploring an AI-first data strategy, modernizing your analytics capabilities, or building high-performing data teams, I’m always open to thoughtful conversations.