Overview
The Senior Data Architect is responsible for designing, governing, and evolving the enterprise data platform, serving as the technical visionary for the organization's data-driven transformation.
Key Responsibilities
- Define and articulate the long-term data architecture vision.
- Design comprehensive enterprise data architecture leveraging a medallion architecture.
- Establish architectural standards, principles, and patterns.
- Design IFRC’s overall data architecture, architect data mesh patterns.
- Evaluate and recommend technology investments.
- Develop a strategic data platform roadmap.
- Design scalable multi-region, multi-tenant platform architecture.
- Conduct regular architecture reviews and optimization.
- Lead, mentor, and develop the Data Platform DevOps Engineer and full-stack data engineering and report development team.
- Provide technical leadership through data model and code reviews.
- Create structured mentoring programs.
- Conduct technical interviews and participate in hiring.
- Foster a collaborative culture.
- Lead end-to-end system design for complex data solutions.
- Make critical technology selection decisions.
- Design role-based access control (RBAC), data security models, and governance frameworks.
- Architect data quality frameworks, testing standards, and metadata management approaches.
- Guide implementation of complex data integration patterns.
- Oversee system integration.
- Establish patterns for scalability, performance optimization, disaster recovery, and business continuity.
- Support development and implementation of organizational data governance framework.
- Work with data governance and compliance teams.
- Create comprehensive documentation standards.
- Define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Establish change management and governance processes.
- Oversee design and implementation of CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and deployment strategies.
- Ensure platform engineering best practices are implemented.
- Guide the DevOps engineer in establishing platform maintenance procedures.
- Review and optimize platform infrastructure design.
- Ensure disaster recovery and business continuity strategies are designed, tested, and maintained.
- Develop and maintain stakeholder communication strategy.
- Create tailored architectural views for different stakeholder groups.
- Present architectural recommendations and technical strategies to executive leadership.
- Facilitate cross-functional collaboration.
- Serve as the technical authority on data architecture.
- Establish clear communication cadences and channels.
- Build and maintain partnerships with cloud providers, vendors, and technology partners.
- Contribute to overall organizational data strategy.
- Define organizational capability building needs.
- Regularly reassess strategy.
- Monitor emerging technologies and industry trends.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement.
- Establish knowledge management practices.
- Lead data architecture work and define data architecture and data modelling standards across the organization.
- Work actively towards the achievement of IFRC’s goals.
- Abide by and work in accordance with the Red Cross and Red Crescent principles.
- Perform any other work-related duties and responsibilities that may be assigned by the line manager.
Required Experience
- 10+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or enterprise architecture roles.
- 5+ years of experience leading technical teams, managing engineers, and driving architectural decisions in enterprise environments.
- 5+ years of hands-on experience with modern cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
- 3+ years of experience with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Fabric or related Microsoft data solutions, including OneLake, Lakehouses, Warehouses, Data Factory, Power BI, Real-Time Intelligence, and Azure Synapse.
- Proven track record designing and implementing enterprise-scale data architectures supporting complex, mission-critical operations.
- Demonstrated ability to translate business requirements into scalable, secure technical solutions.
- Understanding of CI/CD practices, Azure DevOps repos (repos (git) and pipelines) and pipelines, MMicrosoft Entra service principals, and IaC icrosoft Entra service principals, and IaC infrastructure automation (Terraform, ARM templates).
- Experience with data quality frameworks, testing standards, and metadata management.
- Proficiency in designing scalable ETL/ELT architectures and data pipeline orchestration strategies.
- Experience developing data pipelines in PySpark and SQL.
- Experience with report development (Power BI or Tableau or similar products).
- Proven track record in building, leading and coaching high-performing technical teams with diverse skill sets.
- Preferred Experience implementing self-service data platforms and data literacy programs.
- Experience implementing data mesh architectures in large, complex organizations.
- Experience with Azure Function Apps and Kubernetes and cloud Kubernetes services (AKS, EKS, GKE).
- Background in multi-region or multi-cloud data architecture deployments.
- Experience in humanitarian, international development or non-profit work.
Qualifications
- Degree in in computer science, information technology, data science, or related field.
- Preferred Certifications for Microsoft Azure (Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Administrator, Azure Data Engineer).
- Certifications for Microsoft Fabric and Power BI.
