Data Architect

Data Architect, Techno-Functional Duration: 6 months+ Location: Chicago, IL. • Please note that this position requires 3 days onsite in Chicago office and candidates must be local to the area to be considered. POSITION OVERVIEW: We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Technical Business Analyst / Data Architect with deep expertise in customer loyalty systems to lead the design, integration, and optimization of data solutions across our client's loyalty platform ecosystem. This hybrid role requires a unique combination of business acumen, systems thinking, and technical expertise in data modeling and architecture within loyalty or customer engagement environments. The ideal candidate will bridge business stakeholders, technical teams, and data infrastructure to translate loyalty program requirements into scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions. RESPONSIBILITIES: • Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to gather, analyze, and prioritize business requirements for loyalty program capabilities including accrual, redemption, tiering, and member lifecycle management • Translate business needs into technical specifications and solution designs • Document system flows, process diagrams, data mappings, and integration specifications • Design and implement end-to-end data architectures for loyalty programs encompassing customer profiles, transactional history, engagement metrics, and campaign data • Develop and maintain conceptual, logical, and physical data models for loyalty ecosystems • Define data integration strategies using tools like Airbyte for data movement and orchestration • Design data flows between loyalty platforms, CRM systems, point-of-sale systems, mobile applications, and enterprise data warehouses • Ensure data solutions align with enterprise architecture and governance standards REQUIREMENTS: • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, or related field • 6+ years of experience in business analysis and data architecture roles with significant focus on customer loyalty systems or CRM platforms • Deep knowledge of loyalty business processes: point accrual/redemption, member tiers, campaign targeting, personalization, and breakage analysis • Strong proficiency with Snowflake and other cloud data platforms (BigQuery, Azure Synapse, AWS Redshift) • Hands-on experience with Airbyte and other data orchestration tools • Advanced SQL skills and experience with data modeling tools (ER/Studio, Lucidchart, dbt, ERwin) • Experience with API integrations, event-based data pipelines, and microservices architecture • Familiarity with enterprise loyalty platforms (Salesforce Loyalty, Oracle Loyalty Cloud, Comarch, SessionM, Annex Cloud, Kobie) • Proven ability to translate between technical and business stakeholders with strong functional and business acumen • Excellent documentation, communication, and presentation skills