Lead Data Architect

Location: Hybrid, 1 day a week onsite Tysons Corner, VA
Clearance: Active Secret or Above
Job Type: Full-Time
Target Salary Range*: $150,000 - $170,000

*This represents the potential salary range for this position depending on education level, years of experience and/or certifications in addition to other position specific requirements which may impact salary

Position Overview

The Data Architect supports planning, design, implementation, governance, and sustainment of scalable cloud-based data solutions. This role develops data infrastructure, supports domain-specific data products, implements data mesh architecture, and aligns technical data architecture with business goals to support analytics, insights, and innovation.

Key Responsibilities

Data Architecture and Solution Design

• Participate in planning, definition, and high-level design of data solutions.
• Explore alternatives and evaluate new technologies.
• Develop and maintain scalable cloud-based data infrastructure.
• Ensure data infrastructure aligns with the organization’s decentralized data management strategy.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders to align technical data architecture with business goals.

ETL, Cloud Data Platforms, and Data Products

• Design and implement ETL pipelines using AWS services, including S3, Redshift, Glue, Lake Formation, and Lambda.
• Support data domain requirements and self-service analytics.
• Collaborate with data domain teams to design and deploy domain-specific data products.
• Adhere to organizational standards for schema design, data transformations, and storage solutions.

Data Governance and Catalog Management

• Establish and enforce data governance practices, including compliance with data privacy, access controls, and lineage requirements.
• Maintain a comprehensive data catalog and governance tools.
• Automate workflows to uphold data integrity and ensure discoverability across all domains.

Data Mesh Implementation and Operations

• Lead the implementation and ongoing support of data mesh architecture.
• Ensure seamless integration and data flow across multiple domains.
• Ensure the availability and reliability of the organization’s Data Mesh software.
• Manage operations and maintenance of the Data Mesh framework.

Agile Collaboration, Training, and Leadership

• Apply experience working in an Agile organization using Scrum, Kanban, Jira, Confluence, and SAFe.
• Provide guidance and leadership on the cultural adoption of data mesh principles.
• Support organizational training initiatives for data stewards and users.
• Provide team-specific training as needed.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering, or a related technical field preferred.

Experience

• Minimum 8 years of experience designing and implementing data architectures, including large-scale data environments such as data lakes, data warehouses, and data mesh frameworks. [Required]
• Minimum 5 years of experience working with cloud-based data platforms, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, particularly for data storage, processing, and analytics. [Required]
• 2 years of demonstrated experience leading and mentoring data engineering teams, fostering collaboration, and ensuring successful project execution. [Required]
• Experience working in an Agile organization using Scrum, Kanban, Jira, Confluence, and SAFe.

Skills

• Ability to design and maintain scalable cloud-based data infrastructure.
• Ability to design and implement ETL pipelines using AWS services.
• Ability to establish and enforce data governance practices.
• Ability to maintain data catalogs and governance tools.
• Ability to support data mesh architecture, integration, operations, and maintenance.
• Ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders.
• Ability to provide guidance, leadership, and team-specific training.