Principal Data Architect Job at Valtech

Principal Data Architect

Valtech

Location:
Portugal

Category:
IT - Software Development

Contract Type:
Not provided

Salary:

Not provided

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Job Description:

As a Principal Data Architect at a digital transformation agency, you’ll define and lead data architecture strategy across multiple client engagements—shaping modern data platforms, guiding delivery teams, and acting as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders. You’ll balance hands-on architecture with leadership: setting standards, assuring quality, and helping teams ship secure, scalable, and cost-effective data solutions.

Job Responsibility:

Architecture leadership: Define target-state data architecture and roadmaps across cloud and hybrid environments
align to business outcomes and transformation goals
Platform design: Architect modern data platforms (lakehouse/warehouse, streaming, batch, semantic layers) with clear patterns for ingestion, modeling, governance, and consumption
Data modeling: Lead conceptual/logical/physical modeling, domain-oriented design, and analytical modeling (dimensional, Data Vault, wide-table patterns where appropriate)
Integration & interoperability: Design APIs, event-driven/streaming architectures, data sharing patterns, and integration with enterprise apps and SaaS products
Governance & trust: Establish data governance, metadata management, lineage, MDM/reference data approaches, data quality frameworks, and stewardship operating models
Security & compliance: Embed security-by-design (IAM, encryption, secrets, network controls), privacy-by-design, and regulatory requirements (e.g., GDPR) into architectures
Delivery assurance: Provide technical oversight across projects—review designs, ensure best practices, manage architectural risks, and unblock teams
Client advisory: Lead architecture workshops, produce decision papers and architecture artifacts, present to C-level stakeholders, and influence investment decisions
Engineering collaboration: Partner with data engineers, analysts, ML engineers, and product teams to ensure designs are buildable, operable, and meet SLAs
Observability & operations: Define operational models (DataOps/MLOps), monitoring, incident response, SLOs, and cost/performance optimization
Practice building: Contribute to agency accelerators, reusable reference architectures, pre-sales discovery, proposals, and mentoring/coaching

Requirements:

10+ years in data architecture / data engineering, including leading architecture for complex programs
Proven design of cloud data platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP) and modern analytics stacks
Strong command of data modeling, distributed systems concepts, and integration patterns
Experience with governance, metadata/lineage, data quality, and privacy/security controls
Ability to communicate clearly with both engineers and senior business stakeholders
Consulting experience: multi-client delivery, ambiguity management, workshop facilitation, and influencing without authority
Strong written skills: concise architecture documentation and decision-making artifacts

Nice to have:

Experience with enterprise architecture frameworks (TOGAF) and modeling notations (ArchiMate/UML)
Experience with domain-driven design, data mesh, and federated governance models
Knowledge of ML/AI platform needs (feature stores, model monitoring)
Industry experience in regulated sectors (finance, public sector, health)

What we offer:

Flexibility, with remote and hybrid work options (country-dependent)
Career advancement, with international mobility and professional development programs
Learning and development, with access to cutting-edge tools, training and industry experts

Additional Information:

Job Posted:
February 20, 2026

Work Type:

Remote work

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