Staff Data Architect

About the role

The owns the design, development, governance, and evolution of enterprise-scale data products and modern data architecture platforms. This role requires deep expertise in Data Product Engineering, Data Architecture, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and modern data management principles to enable data-driven decision making and AI-powered business capabilities. You will define architectural standards, establish data product strategies, drive cloud modernization initiatives, and mentor engineering teams in building scalable, secure, reliable, and reusable data assets. As a senior technical leader based in our Frisco office, you will collaborate across business, engineering, analytics, AI/ML, and platform teams to deliver high-value data products that accelerate innovation and business growth. You will lead critical evaluations of new technologies and drive the architectural decisions that bridge the gap between data and complex business needs. You will ensure that all solutions align with enterprise quality, security, and compliance standards while fostering a culture of data ownership and continuous improvement.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Architect and implement reusable, scalable, and governed data products across business domains using product-oriented operating models.
• Define and establish standards for data product discoverability, ownership, interoperability, and consumption to maximize enterprise value.
• Partner with business stakeholders to translate complex business requirements into scalable, robust, and efficient data solutions.
• Drive the adoption of Data Mesh, Data Fabric, and domain-driven data ownership frameworks across the organization.
• Define and track key performance indicators for data product adoption, quality, reliability, and business value realization.
• Develop and maintain enterprise data architecture roadmaps that are tightly aligned with strategic business objectives and market opportunities.
• Design modern cloud-native architectures that support batch, streaming, real-time, and AI-driven workloads with optimal performance.
• Create and maintain architecture standards, reference models, patterns, and best practices to guide engineering teams.
• Establish enterprise data modeling strategies encompassing conceptual, logical, and physical models for consistency and scalability.
• Lead architecture reviews and recommend improvements focused on scalability, performance, security, and cost optimization.
• Ensure architecture alignment and cohesion across data engineering, analytics, AI, and application teams to prevent fragmentation.
• Architect and optimize enterprise data platforms in Google Cloud, emphasizing scalability, resiliency, security, and automation.
• Establish cloud-native architecture patterns that support innovation and accelerate delivery of new data capabilities.
• Lead cloud modernization and migration initiatives from legacy data platforms to current and future-state architectures.
• Design AI-ready data architectures that enable Machine Learning, Generative AI, and advanced analytics initiatives effectively.
• Partner with Data Science, AI Engineering, and Platform teams to support model development and responsible operationalization.
• Build architectures capable of processing large-scale semantic, structured, and unstructured data with high throughput and reliability.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and provide strategic recommendations to maintain competitive advantage.
• Establish enterprise-level data governance, including data governance, metadata, lineage, quality, and compliance standards.
• Define data contracts, data product SLAs, and quality frameworks to ensure accountability and trust in data products.
• Drive the implementation of data observability, monitoring, and reliability practices across the platform.
• Ensure strict compliance with regulatory and organizational policies in all data architecture and product decisions.

Requirements

• You hold experience architecting large-scale data platforms and data products in enterprise settings.
• You bring multiple years of experience working with Google Cloud services and modern data ecosystems.
• You demonstrate deep knowledge of data modeling, governance, and compliance for complex environments.
• You possess a strong background in designing data architectures for scalability, security, reliability, and performance.
• You have hands-on experience with data product engineering concepts and domain-driven design principles.
• You are skilled in defining and implementing data standards, patterns, and best practices at scale.
• You have a proven track record of leading architecture reviews and influencing technical strategy.
• You hold experience collaborating with cross-functional teams including business, analytics, AI/ML, and engineering.
• You demonstrate expertise in automation, observability, and reliability practices for data platforms.
• You hold a deep understanding of data governance, metadata management, data lineage, and compliance frameworks.
• You have experience defining and managing data contracts and service-level agreements for data products.
• You hold knowledge of data orchestration, integration, and streaming technologies in cloud environments.
• You have experience with modern data platforms, data mesh, and data fabric concepts and implementations.
• You hold strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to translate complexity into clear architectural visions.
• You demonstrate excellent communication and leadership skills to mentor and guide engineering teams.
• You hold experience with regulatory and compliance requirements relevant to data platforms and products.
• You have a history of driving cloud modernization and migration efforts successfully in large enterprises.
• You hold experience evaluating and recommending emerging technologies in data and AI spaces.

Nice to have

• Preferred items are not specified for this role.

Practical notes

• This is a full-time position with hybrid engagement.
• The work location is Frisco, TX 75034, United States.
• Salary is based on role complexity and your experience, within the range of $192,000.00 to $230,000.00 per year.