Lead Data Architect

Role overview The Lead Data Architect sets the technical direction for how data is modeled, structured, and consumed across an enterprise data platform that includes a data warehouse, data lake, and the downstream applications and AI systems that rely on them. It is a hands-on leadership role focused on turning raw data into trusted, reusable, AI-ready assets while mentoring data and analytics engineers. The position is remote-eligible, with a hybrid expectation of two days per week in office for candidates within roughly 45 miles of Boston, Detroit, or Denver, and requires working Eastern Time hours.

Responsibilities - Design enterprise data models across core business domains using both 3rd Normal Form and Dimensional Modeling, and defend the tradeoffs of each. - Define and enforce the Medallion Architecture layering strategy, deciding what belongs in Bronze, Silver, and Gold layers and how raw data is responsibly exposed to consumers. - Set guardrails for ELT pipeline architecture, including source alignment, incremental load strategies, and failure handling expectations. - Architect the semantic layer for LLM-powered applications, including ontology design, entity resolution, metadata enrichment, and integration with AI agents and RAG pipelines. - Define interface standards between the data platform and analytics or application workloads, covering API patterns, SLAs, and the warehouse versus operational data store boundary. - Design role-based and row-level access controls that reflect how the business organizes around data without creating bottlenecks. - Partner with business and BI teams to connect Snowflake models to BI tools, drive dataset adoption, and translate questions into reusable modeled assets. - Author modeling standards and platform guidelines, run architecture reviews, and mentor data and analytics engineers.

Requirements - 8+ years in data engineering, analytics engineering, or data architecture, with at least 3 years in an architecture or technical leadership capacity. - Deep hands-on Snowflake experience, including dynamic tables, RBAC and RLS, column masking, and performance optimization. - Proven experience designing Medallion Architecture at enterprise scale. - Strong command of both 3NF and Dimensional Modeling techniques.

Nice to have - Background building semantic layers for AI and LLM applications. - Familiarity with observability or intelligence platforms serving large enterprise customers.

Benefits and work setup - Base salary range of approximately $160K-$180K depending on experience and location, plus health, dental, life, short- and long-term disability, 401(k) with company match, and PTO. - Remote-eligible with hybrid requirement (2 days/week in office) for candidates near Boston, Detroit, or Denver; Eastern Time hours required. - Equal Opportunity employer with E-Verify participation.