Lead Data Platform Architect

JOB TITLE: Lead Data Platform Architect LOCATION: Melville, NY or Davidson, NC (3 Days a Week Onsite) CONTRACT TERMS: 6 Month Contract to Hire BRIEF POSITION SUMMARY: We are growing our data platform team and are seeking an experienced Data Platform Architect with deep cloud data platform expertise to drive the overall architecture and design of a modern, scalable data platform. This role is responsible for defining and advancing data platform architecture to support a data-driven organization, ensuring solutions are efficient, reusable, and aligned with long-term business and technology objectives. This position carries architectural and strategic responsibility for the design and implementation of the enterprise data platform. The role will support multiple initiatives across the data ecosystem, including data lake design, data engineering, analytics, data architecture, AI/ML, streaming and batch processing, metadata management, and service integrations. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: • Lead technical assessments of the current data platform and define the architectural roadmap forward Collaborate on strategic direction and prioritize data platform architecture to support business and technical objectives Partner with enterprise and solution architects to ensure consistent standards and best practices across the data platform Architect and design end-to-end data platform solutions on cloud infrastructure, emphasizing scalability, performance, and reusable design patterns Design cloud-first, cost-effective data platform architectures Architect batch, real-time, and unstructured ingestion frameworks with scale and reliability Enable semantic interoperability of data across multiple sources and structures Implement automation for lineage, orchestration, and data flows to streamline platform operations Design and maintain metadata management frameworks to support current and future tools Continually enhance automation and CI/CD frameworks across the data platform Architect solutions with security-by-design principles Monitor industry trends and emerging technologies to continuously improve the data platform architecture Provide technical leadership and guidance to data platform engineers executing against the roadmap Own and maintain data platform architecture documentation DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES (CONTINUED): • Support a wide range of data platform use cases, including data engineering, business intelligence, real-time analytics, visualization, AI/ML, and service integrations Collaborate with third-party vendors and partners on data platform integrations EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field required Minimum of 10 years of experience designing high-availability data platform architectures Minimum of 8 years of experience implementing modern cloud-based data platforms Strong experience with Google Cloud Platform services, including BigQuery, Google Cloud Storage, and Cloud Composer Minimum of 5 years of experience designing data lake architectures Deep expertise across modern data platform, database, and streaming technologies (e.g., Kafka, Spark) Experience with source control and CI/CD pipelines Experience operationalizing AI/ML models preferred Experience working with unstructured data preferred Experience operating within Agile delivery models Minimum of 3 years of experience with infrastructure as code (Terraform preferred) REQUIRED TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE (ADDED): • Hands-on experience designing and operating data platforms on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Strong experience with Databricks for large-scale data processing and analytics Experience integrating data from IoT devices and machine monitoring systems is highly preferred Familiarity with industrial, sensor-based, or operational technology (OT) data pipelines is a plus SKILLS: • Strong cross-functional communication and collaboration skills Excellent organizational, time management, verbal, and written communication skills Expertise across modern data platform technologies and best practices (BigQuery, Kafka, Hadoop, Spark) Strong understanding of semantic layers and data interoperability (e.g., LookML, dbt) Proven ability to design reusable, automated data platform patterns Demonstrated leadership in distributed or remote environments Track record of delivering data platform solutions at enterprise scale Ability to write testable code and promote solutions into production environments Experience with Google Cloud Composer or Apache Airflow preferred Ability to quickly understand complex business systems and data flows Strong analytical judgment and decision-making capabilities OTHER REQUIREMENTS: • Ability to travel up to 10 percent as required This role may require access to regulated or controlled information