Principal Data Architect Job at Terazo

Job Description

We’re seeking a Principal Data Architect to lead strategic data modernization advisory and reference architecture engagements for Financial Services clients. You will serve as the principal consultant and executive-facing advisor—partnering with Chief Data & Analytics Officers, CIOs/CTOs, Line-of-Business leaders, and program sponsors to define strategy, validate target-state architecture, and de‑risk implementation. This role blends billable delivery leadership with pre‑sales solutioning. Expected mix: ~60–70% billable delivery leadership and ~30–40% pre‑sales/solutioning and thought leadership. This person drives discovery/advisory workstreams, define value‑anchored roadmaps, and guide implementation teams across modern data platforms (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake, Azure) and Salesforce (including Data Cloud).

Job Responsibility

Partner with Sales/Accounts to shape opportunities, conduct discovery, craft SOWs and proposals, build estimates/approaches, and present to executives
Lead executive advisory engagements that connect business value (growth, efficiency, risk) to a pragmatic data modernization strategy and investment plan
Define and validate target-state enterprise data architecture. Produce a phased, value‑anchored roadmap with clear outcomes, success metrics, and FinOps/budget guardrails. Build additional architecture artifacts to describe desired-state architecture
Design governance frameworks (policy-driven access, quality, lineage, metadata, ownership/stewardship, regulatory alignment) and connect them to measurable outcomes
Design reference architectures based on Cloud principles, such as the Well-Architected Framework
Own the reference architecture across Lakehouse, Warehouse, and Mesh patterns leveraging industry leading technologies
Define design patterns for ingestion, transformation, orchestration, and observability (monitoring, logging, alerting) that scale across domains
Mentor and coach architects, engineers, and analysts

Requirements

10+ years designing and delivering enterprise‑scale data solutions (with at least 5 years in cloud platforms such as Azure, Databricks, Snowflake, and/or AWS/GCP)
Proven experience working with Cloud Platforms and services
Proven experience migrating workloads to Cloud environments
Proven track record leading advisory and modernization programs end‑to‑end, from discovery through roadmap and into delivery oversight
Deep knowledge of enterprise data reference architecture, including Lakehouse/Medallion patterns, Mesh principles, CDC/streaming, and domain‑oriented data products
Expertise in data modeling (dimensional, 3NF, Data Vault), metadata/lineage, data quality, and observability
Hands-on governance with Unity Catalog (Databricks) and/or Microsoft Purview
pragmatic implementation of RBAC, lineage, and data masking
Strong grasp of governance (policy‑driven access, privacy/security, and regulatory expectations in banking such as GLBA, AML/KYC, BCBS 239), FinOps/cost management, and performance/scalability
Executive‑level communication and facilitation skills
trusted advisor to CDAO/CIO/CTO and business leaders

Nice to have

Financial Services experience (banking/credit union/wealth) strongly preferred
familiarity with common cores/feeds (e.g., FIS, Fiserv, Jack Henry) and regulatory context is a plus
Certifications and/or deep hands‑on experience with Databricks, Snowflake, and/or Azure data services
Unity Catalog and Purview
Salesforce experience (FSC, Data Cloud) including data migration/integration patterns and activation
Background with AI/ML enablement (feature engineering, model ops) and GenAI/Agentic data readiness
Prior leadership in consulting with measurable sales influence (pipeline creation, close rates) and CSAT results
Self-motivated, strong desire to help customers meet their goals
Consulting experience (ideally leadership)
FINS experience
Experience integrating with Salesforce

What we offer

Pawreavement & Pawternity Leave: Two days off of work if you bring a new furry friend home, and two days off of work if you have to say goodbye to one
Unlimited PTO

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Principal Data Architect

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