Data Architect

Role Overview

We are looking for a seasoned Lead Data Lakehouse Architect to take charge of the comprehensive architectural leadership for deploying an AWS S3 Lakehouse environment. This pivotal position is responsible for defining, maintaining, and enforcing data architecture standards, guaranteeing scalability, optimal performance, and governance throughout the data ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead architectural design and enforce the usage of Medallion Architecture within the Lakehouse ecosystem.
• Guide architectural decision processes through SAF/ARB forums to ensure sound technical choices.
• Oversee design efforts across all Data Factory teams engaged in various data projects.
• Establish and enforce Apache Iceberg table standards covering partitioning, schema evolution, time travel, snapshot retention, and table optimization schedules.
• Develop and implement data modeling standards such as dimensional modeling for the Gold layer, Slowly Changing Dimension Type 2 (SCD2), naming conventions, and metadata governance.
• Define and maintain data lineage standards utilizing OpenMetadata or comparable tools.
• Collaborate closely with platform teams on Iceberg implementations and coordinate with Data Quality leads to embed validation protocols.
• Handle issue escalations proactively and maintain transparent communication with senior leadership regarding progress.
• Provide technical leadership to Glue Data Engineers, including instituting code review workflows, best practices, and reusable design patterns and templates.

Technical Skills & Experience

• Expertise in Lakehouse architecture technologies: AWS S3, Glue, Spark, and Apache Iceberg.
• Deep understanding of Medallion Architecture and advanced data modeling techniques.
• Hands-on experience with Iceberg features such as schema evolution, partitioning strategies, and optimization activities.
• Proven capability to lead architecture forums and impact technical decision-making.
• Competence in metadata management, data lineage tracking, and data quality frameworks.
• Proficient in AWS services including S3, Glue, Athena, EMR.
• Familiarity with lineage tools like OpenMetadata and automation of recurring tasks.

Soft Skills & Work Environment

• Excellent communication abilities and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strong collaboration mindset capable of coordinating multiple agile teams and squads.
• Adept at working under fast-paced, demanding conditions with tight migration deadlines.
• Experience using Jira and supporting agile methodologies.

Preferred Qualifications

• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in data architecture, including at least 3 years focused on Lakehouse implementations.
• Background in financial services or banking sectors will be advantageous.

Additional Information

The employer, Venquis, functions as an Employment Agency for this opportunity. The position is based onsite in Dubai-Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.