Enterprise Data Architect

Summary of Job Responsibilities
The Data Architect will define and champion future-state data architecture and canonical models, setting standards and guiding the data roadmap, including technical design for Master Data Management, staging and validation pipelines, and legacy-to-modern integration patterns (ETL and APIs). This role translates governance rules and business needs into scalable, secure, and testable designs that reduce technical debt and improve data quality.

This role will partner with Data Governance, Benefits & Employer Services, Information Security, IT, Software Engineering, Administration, Investments, and external vendors to deliver a roadmap that moves PERA from fragmented, batch-based data flows to a governed, API-enabled, analytics-ready platform.

The Data Architect will lay the foundation for AI readiness by ensuring data is governed, high-quality, and accessible for advanced analytics and machine learning initiatives. This includes designing architectures that support scalable data pipelines, metadata management, and ethical data practices to enable future AI-driven capabilities over structured and unstructured data.

Ideal Candidate Statement
Colorado PERA is driving a multi-year transformation to modernize its data ecosystem and unlock enterprise-wide insights. A key contributor to this effort, the ideal candidate for this position is a visionary data leader with demonstrated expertise in designing and implementing scalable enterprise data architectures. This individual excels at balancing strategic planning with hands on technical execution, and brings a proven track record in data integration, advanced analytics, and AI enablement. The successful candidate communicates effectively with both technical and business stakeholders, fosters collaboration and innovation within cross-functional teams, and provides mentorship and guidance to engineering and developer roles. Experience in driving transformation within complex environments and a commitment to continuous learning are essential for shaping the future of Colorado PERA s data ecosystem.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities Employees are held accountable for all duties of the job. Individuals must be able to perform these duties with or without reasonable accommodations.

• Strategic Leadership and Roadmap
  • Interpret and deliver strategic plans that improve data integration, data quality, and data delivery in support of business initiatives and modernization roadmaps.
  • Define and implement long-term technology strategies and innovation roadmaps across analytics, data engineering, and enterprise data platforms.
  • Serve as a data product owner, managing delivery and defining strategy for internal data capabilities to align with organizational needs.
  • Manage senior business stakeholders to secure engagement and ensure alignment with strategic objectives.
  • Balance market trends, stakeholder input, and internal resource constraints to ensure data solutions are sustainable and cost-effective.
• Enterprise Data Architecture
  • Design the structure and layout of data systems, including databases, warehouses, and lakes.
  • Define canonical data models for core entities (e.g., Member, Employer, Contributions, Service Credit, Annuities, PERACare) and enforce modeling standards across systems.
  • Simplify existing data and analytics architecture, delivering reusable services and cost-saving opportunities in line with organizational policies.
• Data Management and Governance
  • Design and implement Master Data Management (MDM) architecture, including survivorship rules, golden record policies, and integration patterns with modern and legacy systems.
  • Architect staging and validation frameworks to support rule-driven data quality checks, exception handling, and steward workflows.
  • Define and manage standards, guidelines, and processes to ensure data quality and compliance.
  • Maintain familiarity with key Colorado PERA systems and functions to ensure solutions are relevant and effective.
• Integration and Migration
  • Design and implement components of the ETL process from various sources into the organization s data systems.
  • Develop legacy-to-modern integration patterns, including back-bridging strategies to maintain operational continuity during enterprise system transitions.
  • Collaborate on data model alignment, source-to-target mapping, and migration design for phased cutover during enterprise system migrations.
  • Troubleshoot escalated issues for data pipelines and orchestration and provide support for others troubleshooting efforts as needed.
• Security, Privacy, and Compliance
  • Lead data security and privacy initiatives embedding encryption, masking, and compliance controls.
  • Ensure data architectures meet regulatory requirements and support auditability across all data flows.
• Analytics and AI Enablement
  • Design data warehouse dimensional models and semantic layers to enable governed analytics and reporting.
  • Enable AI readiness by designing architectures that support advanced analytics and machine learning, including scalable pipelines, metadata management, and ethical data practices.
• Collaboration and Leadership
  • Work closely with IT teams, business analysts, and data analytics teams to understand data consumers needs and develop solutions.
  • Lead and participate in peer reviews and quality assurance of architectural artifacts through governance forums.
  • Provide technical leadership to developers and contribute to vendor evaluation and RFP/RFI processes for modernization tools such as MDM, BI platforms, and data integration technologies.
  • Evaluate and recommend emerging technologies for data management, storage, and analytics.
  • Develop and oversee technical documentation, ensuring completeness and compliance with standards.
  • Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and coaching to engineering and developer roles; coordinate with management on prioritization and oversee team deliverables.
  • Manage vendor relationships, including performance review and contract negotiation in partnership with legal and procurement teams.
• Other Duties/Responsibilities
  • Performs other duties as assigned

Job Qualifications

• Bachelor s degree in computer science, data science, engineering, or related field; or equivalent combination of education and experience
• A minimum of five years of relevant experience in the design and implementation of data models for enterprise data warehouse initiatives
• Experience leading projects involving data warehousing, data modeling, and data analysis
• Strong ability in programming languages such as Java, Python, and C/C++
• Proficiency in data science languages/tools such as SQL, R, or SAS
• Proficiency in the design and implementation of modern data architectures and concepts such as cloud services (Azure, AWS, Google Cloud Platform), real-time data distribution (Kafka, Dataflow), and modern data warehouse tools (Snowflake, Databricks)
• Experience with database technologies such as SQL, NoSQL, Oracle, Hadoop, or Teradata
• Understanding of entity-relationship and dimensional modeling, metadata systems, and data quality tools and techniques
• Ability to think strategically and relate architectural decisions and recommendations to business needs and client culture
• Ability to assess traditional and modern data architecture components based on business needs
• Experience with business intelligence tools and technologies such as ETL, Power BI, and Tableau
• Ability to continuously learn and adopt new technologies, especially in the ML/AI realm
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to synthesize and clearly communicate large volumes of complex information to senior managers with varying levels of technical understanding
• Ability to collaborate and excel in complex, cross-functional teams involving data scientists, business analysts, and stakeholders
• Ability to guide solution design and architecture to meet business needs

Working Conditions The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Standard office environment with frequent telephone communication, computer operation, and other office productivity machinery, such as a copy and printer machine.
• Occasional moving and positioning supplies in excess of 20 pounds
• All employees are expected to present themselves in a professional manner in alignment with the financial services industry
• Ability to sit for prolonged periods of time
• Ability to operate standard PC equipment
• Ability to manage frequent deadlines and tight schedules
  

Hybrid Work Option

• Opportunity to work from home up to three days per week. Eligibility dependent upon factors detailed in PERA's Work from Home Policy.

Interested Candidates: Complete the employment application online at . Please have copies of your resume and cover letter available to upload.

Job Description Disclaimer

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of an employee. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned with or without notice.

Unfortunately, at this time, PERA cannot consider candidates that require sponsorship (now or in the future), or are located outside of the US.

All Colorado PERA employees are subject to PERA s Ethics Policy and some employees are subject to the Personal Trading Policy. These policies include restrictions on outside business activities and employment and have certain requirements on personal trading. You may request copies of these policies from PERA s talent acquisition team and any questions can be answered by PERA s Investment Administration team.

About Colorado PERA

Looking for a career where you can make a difference? Colorado PERA offers benefit services to public employees across Colorado, including teachers, state troopers, snowplow drivers, correctional officers and many others who provide valuable services. As Colorado s largest pension plan, we serve and educate over 700,000 members who are former and current public employees.

At PERA you will earn more than a paycheck. PERA is a culture where you can grow your potential and work in an inclusive environment, where diverse perspectives are valued. We hire exceptional employees and recognize that our people are our best asset. Not only do we make sound investments for our members, PERA invests in our employees growth through training and leadership opportunities.

To promote wellbeing, we offer hybrid or flexible working options for most roles and a total rewards and benefit program including health, dental and vision coverage - eligibility starts the first day of the month following the date of hire for most plans; generous paid time off and volunteer hours; pension and retirement plans, including PERA s defined benefit plan, 457 defined contribution plan, and 401(k) employer match, as applicable; tuition assistance; free, convenient on-site parking or RTD subsidy; free on-site fitness center to stay active; employee assistance program; training, leadership and mentoring programs and more. PERA is a Public Service Loan Forgiveness qualifying employer.

To learn more about life at PERA, watch this or visit .

Position Title: Enterprise Data Architect Division: Information Technology
Reports to: Director of Information Technology
Job Status: Full-time, Exempt
Salary: $160,000.00 to $200,000.00 Annual, Commensurate with experience
Posting Dates: 12/19/2025 to 01/04/2026