The Senior Data Architect is a high-impact, contract position (1 year, extendable) requiring 15+ years of experience focused on designing, governing, and optimizing mission-critical data infrastructure.

This role demands deep expertise in ensuring efficiency, security, performance, and scalability across complex enterprise data systems, operating during EST Time Zone hours.

The incumbent will be responsible for defining the future state of the data platform, implementing robust governance frameworks, and driving significant improvements in database performance and operational resilience.

Core Architecture and Strategy Responsibilities :

- Data Strategy and Modeling : Define and govern the enterprise data architecture strategy, including logical, conceptual, and physical data models, ensuring alignment with business objectives and application requirements.

- Performance Optimization and Tuning : Lead the analysis and optimization of database efficiency by optimizing complex Query Performance, tuning indexing strategies, optimizing storage configurations, and analyzing execution plans to minimize latency.

- Infrastructure Scalability and High Availability (HA) : Design and implement scalable database infrastructure and advanced High Availability (HA) features (e.g., clustering, replication, failover mechanisms) to guarantee continuous uptime and streamline database management tasks.

- Security Architecture and Compliance : Define and implement security measures and controls to manage Data Security and Compliance for sensitive data, including encryption-at-rest and in-transit, robust access controls (RBAC/ABAC), and auditing protocols.

- Automation and DevOps for Data : Drive the automation roadmap for database operations, including the Automated deployment of database resources (Infrastructure as Code - IaC), configuration management, and the streamlining of deployment pipelines to enhance agility.

Database Operations and Reliability :

- Proactive Monitoring and Troubleshooting : Monitor resource activity and performance across all production environments using specialized tools. Proactively Troubleshoot performance issues (e.g., deadlocks, resource contention, I/O bottlenecks) and implement permanent resolutions.

- Backup, Recovery, and Disaster Recovery (DR) : Design, implement, and rigorously test comprehensive Backup and restore strategies, ensuring automated, verified backups and a fully documented Disaster Recovery (DR) plan to meet stringent RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) requirements.

- Compliance Control Implementation : Implement compliance controls for sensitive data (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA) through data masking, tokenization, anonymization techniques, and stringent data lifecycle management policies.

- Database Management : Oversee day-to-day Database management tasks, including capacity planning, patching, version control, and storage management, ensuring databases are configured for maximum efficiency and security.

Agile and Leadership Contributions :

- Agile Prioritization : Work with existing teams to prioritize items during sprint ceremonies (e.g., grooming, planning) based on business impact, risk assessment, and technical dependencies.

- Backlog Management and Assessment : Systematically conduct assessments of current data architecture and operations, documenting findings, and adding detailed, prioritized items or recommendations to the backlog for future sprints.

- Work Backlog Items : Take accountability for complex backlog items that require senior-level architecture, design expertise, or cross-functional coordination.

Required Experience and Skills :

- Experience Level : 15+ years of progressive experience in Database Administration, Data Engineering, and Data Architecture roles.

- Platform Mastery : Deep, demonstrable expertise in major relational and NoSQL database platforms (e.g., PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, Cassandra), with specific specialization in performance tuning and HA configurations.

- Data Governance and Security : Proven experience designing and implementing enterprise-level data governance, security policies, and meeting regulatory compliance requirements for sensitive data.

- Automation Tools : Advanced proficiency with IaC tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible) and scripting languages (e.g., Python, PowerShell) for database resource deployment and automation.

- Cloud Expertise : Extensive experience architecting and managing databases within major cloud environments (e.g., AWS RDS/Aurora, Azure SQL, GCP Cloud SQL).

- Agile Leadership : Strong working experience within Agile/Scrum/Kanban environments, including significant participation in backlog management and sprint planning.

- Time Zone : Must be available and comfortable working during EST Time Zone hours.

Preferred Skills :

- Certification in a major cloud platform (AWS Certified Data Analytics Specialty or Azure Data Engineer Associate).

- Expertise in real-time data streaming architectures using technologies like Kafka or Kinesis.

- Experience with Data Warehouse platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift) and ELT/ETL processes.

- Advanced experience with MLOps or data science project infrastructure support.