Senior Data Architect - Remote / Telecommute

Job Title: Senior Data Architect - Remote / Telecommute

Job Location: Edmonton, AB

Job Type: Contract

Job Overview:

Requirement/Must Have:

• Minimum 10 years of Data Architect experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience as required.
• Strong experience dealing with clients and explaining complex data principles in a thoughtful and clear manner.
• Minimum 5 years of experience defining technical architecture, data integration, and supporting software development, configuration, and deployment processes.
• Minimum 5 years of experience designing, planning, implementing, and supporting data platforms and data solutions for large, complex environments involving multiple data sources.
• Minimum 5 years of experience across multiple architecture domains, including business, application, technology, data or information, security, and privacy.
• Minimum 5 years of experience modeling complex business processes and translating them into understandable IT constructs.
• Strong experience leading enterprise and solution architecture for data platforms and data products.
• Strong experience with enterprise data models, data quality frameworks, metadata standards, and data governance best practices.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills with experience facilitating workshops, discovery sessions, and consensus-building across technical and business groups.

Experience:

• 10+ years of Data Architect experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience as defined by the client.
• 3+ years of experience working directly with clients and communicating complex data concepts.
• 5+ years of experience in technical architecture, data integration, software development support, configuration, and deployment.
• 5+ years of experience designing and supporting enterprise-scale data platforms and data solutions across multiple data sources.
• 5+ years of experience across business, application, technology, data, security, and privacy architecture domains.
• 5+ years of experience modeling complex business processes and translating them into technical solutions.
• Experience supporting data modernization, cloud migration, and application modernization initiatives.
• Experience designing and delivering enterprise data products, data linkages, crosswalk frameworks, and integration patterns.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and delivery of enterprise and solution architecture for data platforms and data products.
• Define and govern enterprise data models, architecture standards, and best practices.
• Translate business strategies and priorities into scalable data architecture solutions.
• Provide thought leadership in data management and analytics architecture.
• Support the design, development, and delivery of data products within Data Fabric and Data Mesh frameworks.
• Guide the implementation of data linkages, crosswalk frameworks, and integration patterns.
• Establish frameworks for data quality, metadata management, and AI-enabled data assets.
• Model proof-of-concept solutions, including data integration and orchestration approaches.
• Lead workshops, discovery sessions, and stakeholder engagements to define requirements and business value.
• Provide architectural consultation and recommendations to leadership, project teams, and stakeholders.
• Prepare and deliver presentations to steering committees and senior stakeholders.
• Facilitate consensus on complex data and technology solutions across diverse groups.
• Define and promote best practices in data governance, data sharing, data integration, and data quality.
• Support data modernization initiatives, including cloud migration and application modernization.
• Evaluate and recommend emerging technologies to optimize data product delivery and cost efficiency.
• Ensure alignment with enterprise priorities, including security, privacy, information management, and data classification.
• Collaborate with data architects, engineers, scientists, and product teams to ensure consistent architecture across initiatives.
• Review designs, data models, and pipelines, providing guidance on optimization and performance.
• Support the development of sustainable and scalable data product delivery processes.
• Manage tasks, risks, and action items, including escalation as required.
• Coach, mentor, and support team members in developing innovative data solutions.
• Promote a client-centric, service-oriented delivery approach.
• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and data as a strategic asset.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Deliver architecture designs, models, recommendations, data product and platform design artifacts, proof-of-concept implementations, technical assessments, and status reports.

Should Have:

• Hands-on experience in business requirement analysis, solution architecture, and deployment related to data management, acquisition, preparation, quality, and data lineage or provenance.
• Demonstrated ability to lead initiatives, facilitate workshops, and communicate effectively with senior management and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Hands-on experience delivering cloud-based data and analytics solutions using platforms such as Azure and Snowflake.
• Experience designing and delivering scalable data products such as curated datasets, APIs, and semantic layers.
• Experience designing architectures for machine learning, data science, advanced analytics, feature engineering, model training pipelines, MLOps, model monitoring, and synthetic data use cases.
• Experience developing training materials and enabling teams on data, analytics, AI best practices, governance, and platform adoption.
• Experience defining and implementing enterprise data and AI strategy, governance frameworks, standards, operating models, and technology roadmaps.
• Experience with big data and cloud-based platforms such as Cloudera Data Platform, and modern architectural paradigms such as Data Fabric and Data Mesh.
• Experience with enterprise architecture frameworks such as TOGAF, Gartner, or Zachman.
• Experience working in or for the public sector.
• Hands-on experience implementing data security and privacy controls, including de-identification, anonymization, and data audits.
• Familiarity with Responsible AI principles, including fairness, bias detection, explainability, and AI risk assessments.

Qualification and Education:

• University degree in Business, Management, or a related discipline with 6+ years of Data Architect experience.
• 2-year diploma in Business, Management, or a related discipline with 8+ years of Data Architect experience.
• 1-year certificate in Business, Management, or a related discipline with 9+ years of Data Architect experience.
• 10+ years of Data Architect experience in place of formal education.