Lead Data Architect - Snowflake & Payments (BFS)

Job Title: Lead Data Architect – Snowflake & Payments (BFS)

Location: Atlanta GA – 30326 (Hybrid)

Lead Data Architect – Snowflake & Payments (BFS)

Role overview

We're hiring a Lead Data Architect to guide a payments client through key architecture decisions and design the data models behind a semantic layer spanning many business domains. The client runs several Snowflake instances across more than one cloud. You will set the target architecture, define how shared business entities are modelled consistently across them, and lead the client's data teams through delivery.

This is a billable, client-facing consulting role. You will be the client's trusted technical advisor and the senior architect on the engagement.

• Title: Lead Data Architect – Snowflake & Payments
• Location: US-based or nearshore (for example Latin America) with strong overlap with US time zones; remote with travel to client sites as needed

Key responsibilities

Architecture decisions

• Lead architecture decisions for a multi-instance Snowflake estate across multiple clouds (for example AWS and Azure). Topics include data sharing, replication, failover and cross-region or cross-cloud access.
• Write architecture decision records that set out options, trade-offs and a recommendation, and present them to client architecture boards and senior stakeholders.
• Define standards for environment layout, naming, security, role-based access and cost management.

Semantic layer and data modelling

• Design the semantic layer: shared business definitions, metrics and dimensions that give every business area one consistent view of the data.
• Build conceptual, logical and physical data models for payments domains. Examples include authorisation, settlement, billing and pricing, disputes and chargebacks, merchant onboarding and hierarchy, funding, fraud and risk, and general ledger accounting.
• Model shared entities such as merchant, customer, product and transaction once, and reconcile them across instances and source systems.
• Help sequence domain delivery across a multi-quarter roadmap, balancing business priority against data readiness.

Client leadership and delivery

• Act as the client's lead technical advisor, translating business requirements from finance, operations and product teams into data designs.
• Guide data engineers and analytics engineers on implementation, including tools such as dbt and Snowflake semantic views.
• Review designs and code for quality, performance and adherence to the target architecture.
• Identify risks early, propose options and keep the engagement on scope and on schedule.

Required qualifications

• 12+ years in data architecture, data warehousing or data engineering, with 5+ years as a lead or principal architect.
• Deep Snowflake expertise: 5+ years designing on Snowflake, including multi-account or multi-instance setups, data sharing, replication, security, and performance and cost tuning.
• Payments domain knowledge in banking and financial services: hands-on work with payments data such as card authorisation, clearing and settlement, merchant acquiring, interchange and fees, or chargebacks.
• Semantic layer and modelling: proven design of enterprise data models and semantic or metrics layers. Familiar with dimensional modelling, Data Vault or similar approaches.
• Multi-cloud: experience with data platforms across at least two of AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
• Client-facing consulting: led architecture decisions with senior client stakeholders and presented recommendations to architecture or governance boards.
• Strong SQL and working knowledge of dbt or similar transformation tools.
• Clear written and spoken communication, including architecture decision records and design documents.

Preferred qualifications

• SnowPro Advanced: Architect or Data Engineer certification.
• Experience with Snowflake semantic views, Cortex Analyst, or semantic layer tools such as dbt Semantic Layer, AtScale or Cube.
• Background at a payment processor, acquirer, card network, merchant services provider or bank payments division.
• Knowledge of payments regulation and controls, such as PCI DSS, SOX and data privacy requirements.
• Experience consolidating data after mergers or across business units with different source systems.
• Familiarity with data governance and catalog tools, such as Collibra, Alation or Snowflake Horizon.