Data Architect

We are seeking a highly skilled and strategic Data Architect to support the development and implementation of our enterprise data strategy, governance framework, and supporting technical architecture. This role will be instrumental in shaping how our organization manages, leverages, and protects data as a strategic asset to drive innovation, improve decision-making, and support revenue diversification.


In this role you will collaborate with digital and analytics teams as well as external partners to define and deliver scalable data solutions, ensuring the alignment of data architecture with business goals and compliance requirements.

Duties/Responsibilities:

Design and evolve the enterprise data architecture to support business strategy and digital transformation initiatives.
Define the roadmap for data platforms, including data lakes, data warehouses, pipelines, and APIs.
Ensure the architecture supports scalability, interoperability, and performance across analytics, applications, and operational systems.
Partner with business and compliance stakeholders to design and implement a comprehensive data governance framework.
Define data ownership, stewardship, metadata standards, and data quality rules.
Establish and maintain data catalogs and lineage documentation.
Lead the selection, design, and implementation of modern data platforms (cloud or hybrid), including integration tools, ETL/ELT pipelines, MDM, and data security technologies.
Collaborate with SysOps and security teams to ensure secure, resilient, and cost-effective infrastructure.
Translate business needs into enterprise data models, logical/physical data designs, and scalable pipelines.
Define standards, patterns, and best practices for data modeling, ingestion, transformation, and access.
Support use case delivery (e.g., analytics, AI/ML, BI, regulatory reporting) through design guidance and hands-on architecture.
Act as the data strategy thought partner to executive and operational stakeholders.
Mentor data analysts, and teammates on architectural and governance standards.
Advocate for data literacy and responsible data practices across the organization

Determining compensation for this role (and others) at Vaco/Highspring depends upon a wide array of factors including but not limited to the individual's skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, office location and other geographic considerations, as well as other business and organizational needs. With that said, as required by local law in geographies that require salary range disclosure, Vaco/Highspring notes the salary range for the role is noted in this job posting. The individual may also be eligible for discretionary bonuses, and can participate in medical, dental, and vision benefits as well as the company's 401(k) retirement plan.

Additional disclaimer:

Unless otherwise noted in the job description, the position Vaco/Highspring is filing for is occupied. Please note, however, that Vaco/Highspring is regularly asked to provide talent to other organizations. By submitting to this position, you are agreeing to be included in our talent pool for future hiring for similarly qualified positions. Submissions to this position are subject to the use of AI to perform preliminary candidate screenings, focused on ensuring minimum job requirements noted in the position are satisfied. Further assessment of candidates beyond this initial phase within Vaco/Highspring will be otherwise assessed by recruiters and hiring managers. Vaco/Highspring does not have knowledge of the tools used by its clients in making final hiring decisions and cannot opine on their use of AI products.

Desired Skills and Experience

We are seeking a highly skilled and strategic Data Architect to support the development and implementation of our enterprise data strategy, governance framework, and supporting technical architecture. This role will be instrumental in shaping how our organization manages, leverages, and protects data as a strategic asset to drive innovation, improve decision-making, and support revenue diversification.


In this role you will collaborate with digital and analytics teams as well as external partners to define and deliver scalable data solutions, ensuring the alignment of data architecture with business goals and compliance requirements.

Duties/Responsibilities:

Design and evolve the enterprise data architecture to support business strategy and digital transformation initiatives.
Define the roadmap for data platforms, including data lakes, data warehouses, pipelines, and APIs.
Ensure the architecture supports scalability, interoperability, and performance across analytics, applications, and operational systems.
Partner with business and compliance stakeholders to design and implement a comprehensive data governance framework.
Define data ownership, stewardship, metadata standards, and data quality rules.
Establish and maintain data catalogs and lineage documentation.
Lead the selection, design, and implementation of modern data platforms (cloud or hybrid), including integration tools, ETL/ELT pipelines, MDM, and data security technologies.
Collaborate with SysOps and security teams to ensure secure, resilient, and cost-effective infrastructure.
Translate business needs into enterprise data models, logical/physical data designs, and scalable pipelines.
Define standards, patterns, and best practices for data modeling, ingestion, transformation, and access.
Support use case delivery (e.g., analytics, AI/ML, BI, regulatory reporting) through design guidance and hands-on architecture.
Act as the data strategy thought partner to executive and operational stakeholders.
Mentor data analysts, and teammates on architectural and governance standards.
Advocate for data literacy and responsible data practices across the organization

Skills/Abilities:
Required:
Expertise in cloud data platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), data modeling, and data warehousing (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery).
Strong knowledge of data governance frameworks (e.g., DAMA-DMBOK, DCAM), data privacy standards (e.g., GDPR, CCPA), and security best practices.
Experience with modern data tools such as dbt, Kafka, Airflow, Informatica, Talend, or similar.
Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
Strong organizational skills and ability to work on multiple tasks simultaneously under time sensitive deadlines.

Preferred:
Experience in engineering organizations and global enterprise environments.
Familiarity with data mesh, data fabric, or decentralized data architectures.
Certification in cloud architecture (AWS/Azure/GCP), data governance, or TOGAF.
Experience working with small to mid-sized organizations.
Experience around organizing IIoT and OT level data modeling.

Education and Experience:
Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, or related field.
6 years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or enterprise information management.
Proven track record designing enterprise data solutions in complex, multi-system environments.

Travel Requirements:
Up to 10% International and Domestic based upon organizational needs.