Principal Data Architect

Summary

Join Model N as a Principal Data Architect and lead the enterprise data architecture vision, strategy, and governance. You will define architectural standards, mentor senior architects, and collaborate with executive leadership. Leverage expertise in AWS, data lakes, and analytical platforms like Snowflake and Dremio to architect and scale mission-critical platforms. Ensure alignment with the AWS Well-Architected Framework and organizational objectives. Influence data design, security, and delivery across business units. Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies, contributing to the broader architecture community. This is a high-impact role shaping data strategy and innovation.

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience in data architecture, cloud platform engineering, or related technical leadership roles
• Expert-level knowledge of AWS cloud architecture with a focus on serverless , data lakes , and distributed systems
• Proven experience architecting enterprise-grade data platforms with Snowflake , Dremio , or similar technologies
• Demonstrated success applying the AWS Well-Architected Framework , especially in analytics-heavy domains
• Mastery of infrastructure-as-code principles , preferably with AWS CloudFormation or CDK
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence at the executive level and guide enterprise-wide architecture direction

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the enterprise data architecture roadmap aligned with company-wide business and technology strategy
• Champion cloud-native, serverless-first, and event-driven architectures that scale globally and securely
• Provide technical thought leadership on data lake architecture, data mesh, Zero ETL, and multi-cloud strategies
• Own the reference architecture for enterprise-scale data platforms using AWS (S3, Glue, Lake Formation), Snowflake, Dremio, and data lake table formats (Iceberg, Delta Lake)
• Establish and maintain enterprise standards for data modeling, schema evolution, metadata management, lineage, and observability
• Drive platform-wide decisions on infrastructure as code , serverless orchestration, and data pipeline frameworks
• Partner with engineering, product, security, and compliance leaders to ensure data platforms support real-time analytics, ML/AI, and regulatory needs
• Present architecture proposals and strategic initiatives to senior executives and technical governance boards
• Mentor Senior and Lead Data Architects, enabling growth of architectural capability across the organization
• Lead the evaluation, POC, and adoption of emerging technologies (e.g., data mesh, GenAI data stack, lakehouse evolution)
• Publish internal architecture papers, host knowledge-sharing sessions, and contribute to the broader architecture community

Preferred Qualifications

• AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty and/or AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
• Deep understanding of data governance, access control models (e.g., row/column-level security) , and compliance frameworks (e.g., HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR)
• Experience driving data modernization efforts or cloud data migrations for Fortune 500 or global-scale organizations
• Background in architecting data platforms for machine learning and advanced analytics workloads
• Published architecture blogs, conference talks, or open-source contributions in the data space

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings, flexible savings, commuter benefits, matching 401K, PTO, VTO, life insurance, pet insurance, employee assistance programs, mental health programs, charitable giving, coaching, career growth
• Positions are eligible to participate in either our employee bonus program or commission payments, depending on the nature of the role