Sr. Data Modeler

Role: Sr. Data Modeler
Location: Atlanta, GA
pay rate: $45- $52/hr

Job Description

Our client is seeking a Sr. Data Modeler – Integration & Events to serve as a key technical authority across our client's Transportation Operations portfolio.
In this role, you will define and govern conceptual, logical, and physical data models, shared semantic standards, and event/API contracts to bridge legacy systems (including mainframe) with modern distributed architectures.
By standardizing canonical models, managing schema lifecycles, and establishing formal data contracts in Kafka/Confluent environments, you will ensure reliable, interoperable, and scalable data exchange across mission-critical rail and transit operational platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain conceptual, logical, and physical data models for operational data at rest and data in motion across relational, NoSQL, and event-driven systems.

• Lead the definition, evolution, and governance of standardized event contracts and API schemas using Kafka Schema Registry, enforcing compatibility modes, schema references, and consumer-impact standards.

• Establish and govern canonical information models, shared operational entities, authoritative definitions, relationships, and naming conventions aligned with enterprise standards (such as ISO/IEC 11179-5).

• Reverse-engineer and analyze legacy operational systems—including mainframe environments—to support target-state modernization and seamless data integration.

• Partner with solution architects, application engineers, business SMEs, and data integration teams to maintain end-to-end traceability between business concepts, logical models, physical schemas, and event streams.

• Review database and schema designs to verify data integrity, normalization tradeoffs, history/effective dating structures, and compliance with enterprise security and governance policies.

• Facilitate modeling working sessions to translate complex transportation business rules into reusable, consistent technical definitions across systems.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

• 8+ years of hands-on data modeling experience designing enterprise conceptual, logical, and physical schemas for mission-critical, highly integrated transactional or operational systems.

• Proven mastery of data modeling fundamentals, including grain definition, key strategies, normalization/denormalization trade-offs, constraints, temporal/effective dating, and state management across both Relational and NoSQL platforms.

• Hands-on experience with Kafka and Confluent Schema Registry, with practical knowledge of subjects, schema evolution rules, compatibility modes, and reusable event contracts.

• Demonstrated track record establishing governed semantic naming standards, metadata dictionaries, and enterprise data models (exposure to ISO/IEC 11179-5 principles preferred).

• Strong understanding of distributed architectures, middleware, API integration, and hybrid legacy-to-cloud migration patterns (mainframe exposure is a plus).

• Domain experience in transportation, railroad, logistics, transit, aviation, or utilities is strongly preferred.

• Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder facilitation skills.

Work Arrangement & Travel

• Remote arrangement with required travel to Washington, DC, Wilmington, DE, or Philadelphia, PA for project milestones if required by business needs.

• In-person attendance at quarterly Program Increment (PI) Planning sessions is mandatory; client provides rail travel, lodging, and approved meal allowances in accordance with company travel policies.