Data Architect

The Data Architect role supports the Enterprise Data & Information Management (EDIM) organization by architecting, designing, and guiding data strategies and frameworks that enable all Enterprise Data & Analytics (EDAS) initiatives. In this role, you will develop cloud data strategies and design data models, ETL/ELT pipelines, and data lake/warehouse solutions. Key responsibilities include creating and optimizing conceptual, logical and physical data models, implementing data migration strategies, and ensuring the secure and efficient storage of company data. You will also develop and maintain architectural solutions that support scalable and secure data ingestion in Azure cloud environments, as well as the consumption of data products for operational analytics and AI/GenAI-enabled solutions. Your expertise in cloud data platforms will help shape the organization’s data strategy, drive innovation, and deliver scalable, high‑performing analytics, machine learning, and AI solutions.

Navy Federal Credit Union currently does not provide sponsorship for this role. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future sponsorship.

• Translate business requirements into scalable, enterprise‑grade technical designs. 
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to ensure adherence to best practices, architectural standards, and security protocols. 
• Lead the design and architecture of Azure‑based data solutions that align with organizational data capability needs. 
• Define and optimize data integration patterns (batch, streaming, API‑based) for performance and cost. 
• Lead architecture discussions, conduct design reviews, and mentor technical teams. 
• Create and maintain end‑to‑end data architecture blueprints, covering conceptual, logical, and physical layers. 
• Develop and maintain logical and physical data models that support scalable, secure, and high‑quality data solutions in Azure, partnering with data engineers, analysts and business stakeholders to ensure optimal structures for analytics, reporting, operations, and AI. 
• Establish and enforce data modeling standards, metadata and lineage practices, and master/reference data management principles. 
• Provide thought leadership in designing and optimizing an Analytical Semantic Layer (ASL). 
• Develop architecture strategies grounded in modern data architecture principles including Data Products, Data Mesh, Data Fabric, and Domain‑Driven Design. 
• Build frameworks to monitor data quality and resolve integrity issues. 
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams—including data scientists, data engineers, application developers, and business partners—to translate business needs into data architecture blueprints, design patterns, and frameworks. 
• Evaluate existing systems and compute environments to identify opportunities for performance, reliability, and cost optimization. 
• Stay current on industry trends, emerging technologies, and advancements in cloud data platforms to drive continuous innovation. 
• Collaborate with internal and external partners on discovery and fit‑gap analyses to recommend appropriate tools, platforms, and services for data analytics, ML, and AI solutions. 
• Mentor team members and promote a culture of continuous learning and development. 
• Develop and maintain the enterprise data strategy and multi‑year roadmap. 
• Identify opportunities for optimization, automation, and innovation across data platforms and processes.

• 5 to 7 years of data architecture and design experience, cloud technologies and cloud data solutions experience.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, or a related field.
• Extensive experience as a Data Architect, with a strong focus on Enterprise Data Lake (Azure, AWS etc.), Data Warehouse (Azure Synapse, Snowflake etc.), and Data Hubs (Azure Cosmos DB, MongoDB etc.).
• Experience in data modeling (Erwin, Hackolade, DB Artisan or similar), data quality solution (Ataccama, or similar), data governance solution (Unity Catalog, Alation, Azure Purview or similar).
• In-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in designing, implementing, and managing cloud-based data analytics, ML. AI solutions using Azure.
• Extensive experience in enabling and shaping up data architecture of complex data ecosystems to adopt modern data architecture paradigms like Data Products, Data Mesh, Data Fabric and Domain Driven Design.
• Strong experience in data/information modelling (canonical, conceptual and logical data models and data flow charts) at enterprise level, modelling governance and good exposure to data modelling tools and best practices.
• A highly capable communicator, both written and verbal, adept in engaging, collaborating, and influe