Data Architect with Mulesoft integration EXP - Locals only

We have the Urgent requirement for Data Architect at Plano, TX - Long-Term Contract.

Role: Data Architect
Location: Plano, TX

Description:

We are seeking a hands on Data Architect to design and evolve an AWS based data platform spanning streaming ingestion (Kafka), API/enterprise integration (MuleSoft), containerized data services (EKS), data lake on S3, interactive query with Athena, and analytics/reporting on Snowflake and Tableau.

You will set data architecture standards, lead solution design, and guide engineering teams to deliver a scalable, secure, and cost efficient platform that accelerates product and analytics use cases.

Key Responsibilities

• Architecture & Design Own the end to end data architecture across ingestion, storage, processing, serving, and visualization layers. Define canonical data models and domain data contracts; lead conceptual/logical/physical data modeling and schema design for batch and streaming use cases.
• Establish reference architectures and patterns for event-driven and API-led data integration (Kafka, MuleSoft). Design secure, multi-account AWS topologies (VPC, IAM, KMS) for data workloads; enforce governance, lineage, and cataloging
• Platform Enablement (New Platform Build-out): Lead the blueprint and incremental rollout of a new AWS data platform, including landing-at-raw-at-curated zones on S3, Athena for ad-hoc/interactive SQL, and Snowflake for governed analytics and reporting.
• Define platform SLAs/SLOs, cost guardrails, and chargeback/showback models; optimize storage/compute footprints.
• Partner with DevOps to run containerized data services on EKS (e.g., stream processors, microservices, connectors) and automate with CI/CD.
• Data Integration & Processing: Guide ingestion patterns: Kafka topics/partitions, retention, compaction, schema evolution (Avro/Protobuf), DLQ strategies.
• Architect MuleSoft APIs/flows for system-to-system data exchange and orchestration; standardize API contracts and security. Define Athena query strategies, partitioning, file formats (Parquet/ORC), and table metadata practices for performance/cost. Set patterns for CDC, bulk/batch ETL/ELT, and stream processing; select fit-for-purpose transformation engines.
• Analytics, Reporting & Self-Service: Shape a semantic layer and governed Snowflake models (data vault/star schemas) to serve BI and data science. Enable business teams with Tableau dashboards, certified data sources, and governance for KPI definitions and refresh cadences.
• Security, Governance & Quality: Implement data classification, encryption, access controls (RBAC/ABAC), masking/tokenization, and audit trails.
• Establish data quality standards, SLOs, observability (freshness, completeness, accuracy), and automated validation.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Provide architecture runway, backlog guidance, and technical mentorship for data engineers, API/streaming engineers, and BI developers.
• Partner with Product, Security, and Compliance to align roadmaps, standards, and delivery milestones.
• Produce decision records, diagrams, and guidance that make complex designs easy to adopt.

Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years in data architecture/engineering with 3+ years architecting on AWS.
• Proven design of S3-based data lakes with robust partitioning, lifecycle policies, and metadata/catalog strategy.
• Hands-on experience with Kafka (topic design, schema evolution, consumer groups, throughput/latency tuning).
• Practical MuleSoft integration design (API-led connectivity, RAML/OAS, policies, governance).
• Production experience with Amazon EKS for data/streaming microservices and connectors.
• Strong SQL and performance tuning with Athena; expertise selecting file formats/partitioning for cost/perf.
• Data warehousing on Snowflake (ELT, clustering, resource monitors, security) and delivering analytics via Tableau.
• Mastery of data modeling (3NF, dimensional/star, data vault), data contracts, and event modeling.
• Solid foundations in security, IAM/KMS, networking for data platforms, and cost management

• Experience with schema registries, stream processing frameworks, and change data capture. Background in data governance (catalog/lineage), metadata automation, and compliance frameworks.
• Familiarity with and DevOps practices for data (pipeline CI/CD, environment promotion, GitOps).
• Prior work enabling self service analytics and establishing an enterprise semantic layer. Tools & Technologies (Environment) AWS: S3, EKS, Athena, IAM, KMS, CloudWatch, Glue/Lake Formation (as applicable).
• Streaming & Integration: Kafka (+ Schema Registry), MuleSoft. Warehouse & BI: Snowflake, Tableau.
• Data Formats: Parquet/ORC/Avro/Protobu; partitioning/bucketing best practices.
• Observability & Quality: Metrics, lineage, DQ checks, and alerting (tooling per org standard).