Data Architect

Role Overview

Key Responsibilities

1. Enterprise Data Architecture & Modernization

• Architect, build, and maintain scalable data platforms, encompassing relational databases, NoSQL stores, object storage, modern data warehouses, and data lakes.
• Design and execute zero-downtime database migration, consolidation, and modernization strategies across hybrid or cloud environments.
• Lead architecture patterns including OLTP vs. OLAP, CQRS, Read/Write Separation, Sharding, Distributed Databases, and Event-Driven Architectures.

2. Analytical & Lakehouse Ecosystem

• Drive the design of modern analytical architecture (Medallion Architecture: Bronze, Silver, Gold layers) for product analytics and reporting.
• Architect real-time and batch data pipelines utilizing Change Data Capture (CDC), Debezium, and Kafka for seamless integration between operational databases and analytical stores.
• Evaluate and implement modern Data Lakehouse frameworks, storage formats, and query engines.

3. Database Engineering & Performance Optimization

• Serve as the deep technical expert for core relational databases (with a heavy focus on MySQL 8.x ecosystem and engine internals).
• Design robust High Availability (HA), Disaster Recovery (DR), GTID Replication, and backup/restore strategies to ensure near-zero RPO and RTO.
• Optimize complex SQL queries, index structures, schema designs, transaction models, locking strategies, and execution plans for mission-critical production systems.

4. Data Governance, Security & Compliance

• Establish and enforce company-wide data standards for security, compliance, data quality, lineage, and metadata management.
• Implement robust access controls including Least-Privilege Access, Row-Level Security (RLS), Column-Level Security, encryption (at-rest/in-transit), data masking, and audit logging.

5. Strategy, Operations & Mentorship

• Conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA) on complex, cross-system performance bottlenecks and production incidents.
• Collaborate with Software Engineering, DevOps, Infrastructure, and Product Leadership to align data capabilities with product roadmaps.
• Benchmark and evaluate emergent data technologies based on performance, cost efficiency, reliability, and scale.
• Mentor data engineers, DBAs, and software developers on schema design, query optimization, and architectural best practices.

Qualifications & Skills

Must Have

• 10+ years of progressive experience in Database Engineering, Database Administration, and Data Architecture for enterprise-grade product environments.
• Deep technical expertise in MySQL 8.x (innodb mechanics, performance tuning, replication topologies, HA/DR setups).
• Proven track record in Data Architect roles, designing both transactional (OLTP) and analytical (OLAP/Data Lake/Data Warehouse) systems at scale.
• Hands-on experience with streaming & CDC architectures (e.g., Kafka, Debezium, Canal, or similar tools).
• Strong understanding of Medallion Architecture, distributed data storage, and modern file formats (Parquet, ORC, Avro, Delta/Iceberg).
• Expertise in database security controls (RLS, encryption, masking, auditing) and automated database management.
• Strong proficiency in Linux environments, shell scripting, and automation.

Good to Have

• Hands-on experience with multi-database stacks: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, Elasticsearch, or ClickHouse.
• Experience with enterprise MySQL environments (MySQL Group Replication, Galera, Percona XtraDB Cluster).
• Deep experience with Cloud Native Database & Analytics platforms (AWS RDS/Aurora, Redshift, Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, or Azure Synapse).
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for data infrastructure (Terraform, Ansible) and Data Orchestration tools (Airflow, Dagster).

Education

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field.