Job Description: DBA 4 – Senior Data Platform Architect & Governance Specialist
Engagement Type: Contract
Location: Franklin County, Ohio
Work Mode: Remote – Candidates must be in Ohio
Interview Mode: Remote
Job Summary
We are seeking a Senior Data Platform Architect & Governance Specialist (DBA 4) with extensive experience in enterprise data warehousing, data lake, and Lakehouse solutions. The ideal candidate will have strong expertise in SQL, Python, automated ELT pipelines, Snowflake, Medallion Architecture, advanced data modeling, and enterprise data governance.
The candidate will be responsible for designing and implementing scalable cloud data platforms, managing data migrations, optimizing data pipelines, implementing data governance frameworks, and establishing enterprise data architecture standards.
Key Responsibilities
1. ELT Pipeline Engineering & Automation
- Design and maintain programmatic, automated ELT pipelines using SQL, Python, and modern cloud data tools.
- Process data incrementally through Medallion Architecture stages.
- Conduct query and cluster tuning for modern cloud data platforms.
- Optimize compute usage during heavy data transformations and processing.
- Develop robust code to migrate legacy databases and files into automated Lakehouse ingestion pipelines.
2. Advanced Data Modeling & Cloud Data Architecture
- Work with IT Architecture staff to design and implement scalable, secure Medallion Data Architecture across cloud environments.
- Establish standards, schemas, and file formats such as Iceberg and Parquet for ingestion and data lake processing.
- Design efficient physical and logical data structures within the Gold layer, including dimensions, facts, and business entity schemas.
- Build resilient data models supporting semi-structured data, including JSON and API payloads, alongside structured data.
- Maintain robust version control of data contracts.
- Transform complex business reporting requirements into user-friendly semantic layers supporting self-service business intelligence.
3. Documentation & Standards
- Develop and document standards and best practices.
- Create documentation covering pipelines, architecture, data modeling, and migration efforts.
4. Data Migration & Business Process Monitoring
- Design standards for data exchange between systems.
- Establish data security models for data exchange.
5. Reporting & Business Intelligence
- Understand business intelligence data requirements.
- Define data warehouse and business intelligence designs.
- Implement data warehouses and data marts.
- Implement business intelligence tools and user interfaces.
- Implement enterprise reporting.
- Develop management dashboards and scorecards.
- Implement analytic applications.
- Replicate and transform data for business intelligence.
6. Modern Data Governance, Metadata Management & Cataloging
- Manage and curate the Alation Data Catalog.
- Ensure tables, schemas, and views across Bronze, Silver, and Gold layers are indexed, classified, and tagged.
- Map and monitor end-to-end data lineage from source applications to Gold-layer reporting assets within Alation.
- Design programmatic data validation and testing protocols between Bronze and Silver layers.
- Enforce enterprise data stewardship through data quality frameworks.
7. Mentoring
- Plan and conduct formal mentorship activities for peers and lower-level staff through verbal instruction or technical documentation.
Mandatory Skills & Qualifications
- 5+ years of hands-on experience designing and implementing enterprise data warehouse, data lake, or Lakehouse solutions.
- Expert-level SQL skills, including query optimization, performance tuning, and development of complex analytical datasets.
- Experience developing automated ELT pipelines using Python, SQL, and modern cloud data platform technologies.
- Hands-on experience implementing and supporting Snowflake-based data engineering, data warehousing, and analytics solutions.
- Experience designing and managing Medallion Architecture (Bronze, Silver, Gold) data platforms and associated data processing standards.
- Advanced experience with dimensional data modeling, including fact tables, dimensions, star schemas, and semantic layer design.
- Experience integrating structured and semi-structured data sources, including APIs, JSON, and file-based ingestion frameworks.
- Hands-on experience administering enterprise data catalog and governance platforms such as Alation.
- Experience implementing data governance, metadata management, data lineage, and data quality frameworks.
- Experience executing data migration and modernization initiatives.
- Ability to define technical standards, best practices, and architecture documentation for enterprise data platforms.
- Ability to work independently and lead complex, cross-functional data architecture and engineering initiatives.
- Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate with technical teams, business stakeholders, and executive leadership.
Highly Desired Skills
- Experience with Snowflake cloud-native architecture, including Snowflake Warehouses, Snowpark, Streams, Tasks, and secure data sharing.
- Familiarity with data modeling tools such as ER Studio and modern modeling methodologies.
- Experience working in Agile, iterative, or rapidly evolving solution environments.
- Bachelor's Degree in Data Analytics, Computer Science, Information Technology, Computer Engineering, or a closely related field.
Nice-to-Have Skills
- Experience with enterprise data cataloging, metadata management, and data lineage tools such as Alation.
- Experience with dbt.
- Strong work ethic and punctuality with respect to work hours and attendance.
Candidate Requirements
- Candidates must be located in Ohio.
- Remote position.
- Interviews will be conducted remotely.
- One position available.
