Lead Data Architect – Google Spanner

Location: San Jose, California / Scottsdale, Arizona / Remote
Duration: 12+ Months

Job Summary

We are seeking a highly experienced Lead Data Architect – Google Spanner to own the target-state enterprise data architecture for a large-scale transformation to Google Cloud Spanner. This is a distributed systems architecture role, not a schema conversion role.

The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in Google Spanner internals, distributed database architecture, globally distributed OLTP systems, consistency models, transactional architecture, and enterprise-scale data modernization, with the ability to define scalable data architectures supporting 1000+ applications.

This role requires architectural leadership, performance engineering expertise, and strong experience designing highly available, globally distributed transactional platforms.

Job Responsibilities

Enterprise Data Architecture

• Own the target-state Google Spanner data architecture for enterprise modernization initiatives.
• Define scalable architectures ensuring:
  • Functional correctness
  • Transactional integrity
  • Performance SLO compliance
  • Scalability
  • High availability

Logical Data Modeling

Define and govern the Logical Canonical Data Model (LCDM):

• Business-domain aligned canonical data models
• Logical entity relationships
• Domain abstraction independent of physical implementation
• Enterprise data modeling governance

Google Spanner Physical Data Design

Design Spanner-native physical schemas including:

• Primary key strategy
• Row key distribution
• Hotspot avoidance
• Interleaving strategies
• Secondary index architecture
• Partition-aware data design

Architect decisions around:

• Denormalization
• Read projections
• Materialized views
• Query optimization strategies

Transaction & Consistency Architecture

Define transaction design patterns under Spanner constraints including:

• Single-partition transactions
• Multi-partition distributed transactions
• Atomicity boundaries
• Consistency trade-offs
• Retry-safe design patterns
• Idempotent transactional workflows

Workload classification for:

• Strong consistency
• Bounded staleness
• Eventual-read optimization use cases

Google Spanner Internals Expertise

Deep hands-on expertise required in:

• TrueTime
• Distributed transactions
• Synchronous replication
• Multi-region consistency
• Consensus-driven replication behavior
• Failure handling in globally distributed systems

Performance & Scalability Engineering

• Participate in workload replay and performance analysis.
• Diagnose and mitigate:
  • Hot key risks
  • Transaction conflicts
  • Lock contention
  • Index amplification
  • Query inefficiencies
  • Replication overhead

Responsibilities:

• Spanner sizing strategy
• Capacity planning
• Performance readiness validation
• Cost envelope estimation

Migration Architecture & Compatibility Validation

Support enterprise modernization / migration programs including:

• Oracle to distributed database migration
• Schema compatibility analysis
• Data contract validation
• Query semantic compatibility
• Transaction invariant validation

Collaborate with:

• QA teams
• Platform engineering
• Application architects
• Migration engineering teams

Deliver:

• CRUD contract validation
• Compatibility scorecards
• Migration readiness sign-offs

Architectural Leadership

• Act as the final authority for enterprise Spanner data design decisions.
• Provide executive-level architectural guidance and decision rationale.
• Mentor architects, engineers, and modernization teams.
• Drive architectural governance and design standards.

Required Skills

• Google Cloud Spanner
• Distributed Database Architecture
• Large-Scale Data Architecture
• OLTP Systems Design
• Data Modeling
• Logical Canonical Data Modeling
• Distributed Transactions
• Strong Consistency Models
• Multi-Region Database Design
• Performance Engineering
• Transaction Architecture
• Scalability Engineering

Deep Technical Expertise Required

Strong hands-on expertise in:

• TrueTime
• Distributed transactions
• Synchronous replication
• Consensus-based distributed databases
• Transaction isolation models
• Failure modes in distributed systems
• Query optimization at scale

Preferred Skills

• Oracle migration
• Global distributed data platforms
• Cloud-native transactional architecture
• Cost optimization for distributed databases
• Enterprise modernization programs

Experience

10+ years of relevant experience, including:

• Enterprise data architecture leadership
• Distributed systems engineering
• Large-scale OLTP platform design
• Google Spanner or equivalent distributed database expertise

Key Deliverables

• Logical Canonical Data Model (LCDM)
• Google Spanner physical schema design
• Index architecture strategy
• Transaction design guidelines
• Performance readiness assessments
• Migration readiness sign-offs
• Enterprise architecture governance artifacts