Principal Data Architect

We are seeking a Data Architect who will foster a culture of data engineering excellence, innovation, and productivity within our clients' data and analytics teams. You will be key in developing patterns and establishing both architecture and technology standards to ensure architects build robust, scalable, and future-proof data solutions. Your role will focus on enterprise architecture for the Enterprise Data Lake (EDL) and Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) ecosystems, collaborating with data engineering and application development teams to create target state architectures, improve data processes, streamline data pipelines, and ultimately, drive the development of high-quality, valuable data solutions. 

This role will also provide Enterprise Architecture Governance for AI and Data initiatives across the organization, as well as advance strategic architecture goals and contribute to modernization efforts.

This is a contractual hybrid role for a period of 6 months, with the potential for extension. The candidate must work from the Toronto office 4 days per week. 

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

• Drive the adoption of best practices in data architecture, data modeling, and data engineering processes with a focus on enterprise reuse, developer experience, innovation, and productivity.
• Collaborate closely with stakeholders, solution architects, data scientists, and engineering teams to understand data needs, propose solutions, and ensure alignment with strategic goals.
• Lead initiatives to evaluate and introduce new tools, technologies, and frameworks that can enhance our data lifecycle and deliver competitive advantages.
• Advocate for and contribute to the creation of maintainable, scalable, and future-proof data architectures, patterns, and standards for EDL and EDW.
• Facilitate workshops and discussions to effectively convey data architecture principles and strategies across the enterprise.
• Ensure continuous attention to data engineering excellence, good design, and governance, thereby driving agility and productivity.
• Simplify data processes and systems, maximizing throughput, and removing bottlenecks to data engineering productivity while adhering to governance and compliance standards.
• Provide mentorship and guidance to data engineers and architects, fostering a culture of learning and growth.
• Stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies in data architecture, assessing their applicability to our goals and objectives.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO SUCCEED?

Must-have:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related field.
• Extensive experience in data architecture with a proven track record of innovation and productivity improvements in EDL/EDW environments.
• Proficiency in data modeling, ETL/ELT processes, and technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, Snowflake, Databricks, or similar platforms.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to lead cross-department initiatives and interact effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and coach teams towards achieving their highest potential.
• Experience with DevOps practices, continuous integration, and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines for data engineering.
• Good understanding of Agile methodologies and principles, particularly those emphasizing collaboration, responsiveness to change, and customer focus.
• Expert-level critical thinking
• Ability to step back and view the macro landscape for strategy, Architecture
• Good understanding of development practices

Nice-to-have:

• Understanding of data security principles and practices, including experience with data encryption, masking, and governance frameworks.
• Experience with performance tuning, optimization, and monitoring of data pipelines and systems.
• Familiarity with Generative AI and Large Language Models, and their application in data engineering to drive productivity and innovation.
• Knowledge of cloud-based data platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and their native data services.
• Enterprise architecture experience
• Solution architecture experience

We offer a competitive rate/hour, an engaging work environment, and excellent colleagues to collaborate with. If this job seems like a perfect fit for you, please apply.