Principal Architect - Data

What you'll do

• Define the target-state data architecture for Foundational Services, prioritizing high-risk domains and systems.
• Develop a prioritized data architecture roadmap to transition teams toward a model-first delivery discipline.
• Establish reusable engineering patterns for data production, sharing, storage, and consumption across APIs and streaming platforms.
• Govern standards for data contracts, schema evolution, metadata management, and data quality using execution-ready assets.
• Lead enterprise-wide data architecture decisions and resolve cross-product data conflicts that individual teams cannot settle.
• Enforce requirements for updated models, named owners, and approved data contracts before implementing schema or integration changes.
• Manage a lightweight architecture review and exception process to protect critical data decisions while supporting delivery.
• Assess and remediate model and schema drift for priority applications while reporting integrity risks to leadership.

What we're looking for

• Formal training or certification on architecture concepts and 10+ years of applied experience.
• Extensive experience in data architecture, enterprise architecture, software architecture, or a comparable technical leadership role within a large organization.
• Deep working knowledge of conceptual, logical, and physical data modeling, relational design, identifiers, integrity constraints, schema evolution, and data contracts.
• Experience designing and governing data integration patterns across APIs, event-driven architectures, streaming platforms, batch processing, replication, and analytical environments.
• Demonstrated ability to establish common data semantics, ownership models, and canonical definitions across multiple products, systems, and business domains.
• Proven ability to turn architectural standards into implementation guidance, reusable patterns, reference designs, and delivery controls.
• Experience working with legacy systems where models, schemas, integrations, and ownership are incomplete or inconsistent, including reverse-engineering and remediation.
• Experience in financial services or another highly regulated, high-availability environment (preferred).