Senior Data Architect

Senior Data Architect – Digital Regulatory Assurance System (DRAS) Client: Government of Alberta (GoA) – Environment & Protected Areas Position: Data Architect

Location:
Remote – Canada Work

Location:
Remote; resource must work from within Canada Maximum Rate: $100 CAD/hour Contract Hours: 739.5 hours Hours: 36.25 hours/week Work Schedule: Monday–Friday, 8:15 AM–4:30 PM Alberta Time, with a 1-hour lunch Expected Interview Dates: October 20–23, 2026 Travel: None

About the Role
The Government of Alberta is modernizing how it regulates and assures environmental outcomes across the province through the Digital Regulatory Assurance System (DRAS). DRAS supports applications, approvals, compliance, and monitoring activities that protect Alberta’s air, land, water, and biodiversity. The Government of Alberta is seeking an experienced Data Architect to design and lead data integration between DRAS, the Databricks-based Data Management Platform, and the Alberta Geospatial Platform. The successful candidate will define how regulatory, environmental, and spatial data is modeled, integrated, governed, secured, and delivered across these platforms. The objective is to provide trusted, timely, high-quality, and reusable data for regulators, decision-makers, and Albertans. The Data Architect will work within a multidisciplinary Agile team consisting of data engineers, developers, GIS specialists, business analysts, and product owners.

Key Responsibilities
- Define and maintain the target-state data architecture for integrating DRAS, Databricks Data Management Platform, and the Alberta Geospatial Platform.
- Design conceptual, logical, and physical data models for regulatory, environmental, and geospatial data.
- Define enterprise integration patterns including: Batch processing, Near-real-time integration, Event-driven architecture, REST/API-based integration, Change Data Capture (CDC).
- Design Databricks Lakehouse architecture using: Bronze/Silver/Gold medallion architecture, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Apache Spark, PySpark, SQL.
- Architect spatial data flows while preserving geometry, coordinate reference systems, spatial accuracy, and data integrity. Data Integration & Delivery
- Lead the architecture and design of data pipelines and interfaces between enterprise systems.
- Work closely with data engineers, developers, GIS specialists, and technical teams during implementation.
- Define data contracts, API specifications, interface agreements, and integration standards.
- Resolve complex integration challenges involving: Translate architecture into actionable requirements and user stories within an Agile/Scrum environment.
- Participate in sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and other Agile ceremonies. Data Governance, Security & Quality
- Establish and apply data governance practices covering: Ensure architecture aligns with Government of Alberta security, privacy, information management, and records-management standards.
- Apply appropriate role-based access controls (RBAC) and data-sharing policies.
- Define data-quality rules, validation frameworks, monitoring approaches, and controls.
- Perform and support threat and risk assessments and provide recommendations. Leadership & Stakeholder Collaboration
- Act as a trusted Data Architecture advisor to program leadership, product owners, business stakeholders, and technical teams.
- Translate complex regulatory and business requirements into effective data architecture solutions.
- Collaborate with Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, GIS, platform teams, and other Government of Alberta ministries.
- Ensure architecture aligns with Government of Alberta standards, enterprise roadmaps, and technology strategies.
- Produce high-quality: Provide technical leadership, mentoring, planning, estimating, and presentations.
- Explain complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Requirements Mandatory Qualifications Education College or bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems, Engineering, Geomatics, or a related field. Required Experience The candidate must demonstrate the following experience within specific jobs/projects:
- 8+ years designing, planning, implementing, and supporting enterprise solutions.
- 8+ years documenting enterprise solution databases within an enterprise IT environment.
- 6+ years performing threat and risk assessments and presenting recommendations.
- Demonstrated experience providing leadership, planning, estimating, and presentations.
- 8+ years of experience applying enterprise architecture principles and associated best practices.
- 8+ years working as a Data Architect in an enterprise IT environment.
- 7+ years progressive experience in data architecture, data engineering, or data integration, including at least 3 years in a Data Architect role.
- Delta Lake, Apache Spark, PySpark, SQL, Unity Catalog
- Strong experi