Data Architecture Leader

Senior Solutions Architect RoleWe are seeking an experienced Senior Solutions Architect to lead the design and delivery of enterprise data and analytics solutions. The successful candidate will have a strong background in data engineering, analytics, or architecture, with progressive ownership of end-to-end data architectures.The role involves owning architecture for ETL/ELT, data warehousing, analytics pipelines, data governance, and integrations with LMS/EdTech systems. This includes turning education data into actionable insights and production-grade platforms used by districts, schools, and publishers.The ideal candidate will have 12-15 years of experience in data engineering, analytics, or architecture roles, with hands-on experience building and operating ETL/ELT pipelines and orchestration frameworks. They should also have strong design and operational experience with cloud data platforms, including data warehouses/lakes such as Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, or similar.Key Responsibilities:Define end-to-end data architecture and roadmaps for large-scale education data platforms (ingestion → storage → modeling → serving → analytics/ML).Lead design and implementation of robust ETL/ELT pipelines and orchestration (batch + streaming) to bring together disparate education systems (LMS, SIS, assessment, content platforms).Design and optimize data warehouses/data lakes (schema strategy, partitioning, performance, cost).Drive integration patterns and APIs for interoperability (OneRoster, Ed-Fi, LTI, custom APIs), and lead vendor/partner integrations.Establish data governance, privacy, lineage, and security practices suitable for student data (PII handling, role-based access, encryption, audit).Collaborate with product managers, engineering leads, data scientists, and customer success to translate customer needs into deliverable solutions.Produce architecture artifacts: solution blueprints, CI/CD patterns for data delivery, runbooks, and SLA/operational playbooks.Mentor engineering and data teams; run architecture reviews and technical critiques.Support pre-sales and RFP responses with technical solutioning and estimations when required.Champion best practices for observability (metrics, logging), testing, and cost governance in data platforms.Required Skills and Qualifications12-15 years in data engineering, analytics, or data architecture roles with progressive ownership.Hands-on experience building and operating ETL/ELT pipelines and orchestration frameworks (Airflow, dbt, Talend, Informatica, or equivalent).Strong design and operational experience with cloud data platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) — data warehouses/lakes such as Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, or similar.Proven track record in data modeling (dimensional/3NF), master data management, schema design, and query performance optimization.Experience with streaming technologies (Kafka, Kinesis, Pub/Sub) and hybrid batch/streaming patterns.Familiarity with BI/analytics tooling and self-service analytics (Tableau, Power BI, Looker, Superset) and delivering dashboards/reports to non-technical stakeholders.Strong knowledge of data security, privacy, and governance frameworks (encryption, RBAC, GDPR/FERPA implications for education data).Solid API and integration experience (REST, GraphQL, SOAP) and familiarity with education interoperability standards (OneRoster, Ed-Fi, LTI) is highly desirable.Excellent communication skills — able to present technical concepts to product, sales, and executive stakeholders.Proven leadership: mentoring, technical decision making, and running architecture review boards.BenefitsThis is a highly technical role requiring a deep understanding of data engineering, analytics, and architecture principles. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, as well as opportunities for professional growth and development.OthersApplicants should have excellent problem-solving skills, be able to work collaboratively in a team environment, and be comfortable with change and ambiguity. We are looking for someone who can hit the ground running and make a significant impact from day one.