Deputy CDO Job Abu Dhabi UAE/Dubai,IT/Tech

Deputy Chief Data Officer (Deputy CDO)

Cyprus / Worldwide – Remote (Any Location)

Full-Time
Research Center

Social Discovery Group (SDG) is a group of social discovery companies. SDG solves the problems of loneliness, isolation, and disconnection - transforming virtual intimacy into the new normal. SDG’s products redefine the way people interact and connect with one another.

Our portfolio includes social entertainment platforms designed to connect people online across different cultures and regions of the world.

We bring together a team of like-minded people and IT professionals who specialize in creating and developing globally impactful social discovery products. Our international team of digital nomads works remotely from all over the world.

We’re proud to be a two-time "Great Place to Work" winner (USA & Japan, 2024–2025) and a Top-5 Company for Work-From-Anywhere Jobs (Flex Jobs, 2025).

We are looking for a Deputy Chief Data Officer for the Research Center of the Core Business Unit — the #2 role in a data function that directly drives company P&L.

We see the Deputy CDO as a full-fledged successor to the CDO: a leader who can take over the function when needed. Together, the CDO and the Deputy CDO make sure we do the right things and that these things reach measurable results fast and predictably. The Deputy CDO owns execution across the function, leads part of the strategic initiatives personally and works directly with C-level executives.

This is not a chief of staff or program manager role: we need a leader who goes deep into the substance of analytics, ML, data engineering, marketing analytics, UX research and experimentation, and turns strategy into business results.

Your Main Tasks Will Be

Lead part of the Research Center’s strategic initiatives end-to-end — from business case and prioritization to delivery and measurable impact.
Work directly with C-level executives and business heads: align priorities, commitments and trade-offs, negotiate resources and timelines with clear, numbers-based arguments.
Own the execution of key cross-functional initiatives across the Research Center: data platform and Big Query migration, ML projects with complex dependencies, experimentation process, AI for analytics, UX research, data quality / SLA / freshness.
Unblock stalled projects: when work is stuck between teams or has no clear owner, define scope, owners, next steps and blockers, escape early and drive it to delivery.
Manage resources and backlog across teams: prioritize by business value, allocate capacity, manage dependencies between ML, backend, product and analytics, stop or rethink initiatives that don’t deliver.
Build and run the operating system of the function: monthly reviews, quarterly planning, project reviews, retros, commitment tracking, escalation process and a single status dashboard — working with or without any single person.
Measure everything in business terms: translate initiatives into numbers, benefits and expected impact; track ROI and results against plan; make sure "we shipped the task" is never mistaken for "the business changed".
Strengthen the team leads (Product Analytics, data engineering, ML, UX research): help them set goals, prioritize, give honest feedback and grow as managers.
Own the operational health of the function: data freshness, platform uptime, ML platform stability, delivery predictability and experimentation throughput.

We Expect From You

7+ years in data, analytics or ML in product tech companies, including 4+ years in leadership roles managing strong specialists and team leads.
Experience as a CDO, Deputy CDO or Head of Data / Analytics in a mid-size or large product organization is highly desirable.
Readiness and ambition to grow into the CDO role:…