Principal Data Architect

Job Summary

Metric5 provides a range of technical services to its clients, including data management, data architecture, data quality, and other data services, enabling customers to maximize the value of their data and make better data-informed decisions. The Principal Data Architect is a senior‑level role responsible for defining and driving the technical vision, strategy, and roadmap for our modern data platform that supports Federal Government customers, including DHS/USCIS, USPTO, and Treasury.

The role requires deep architectural expertise, strategic oversight, and hands‑on technical leadership, along with exceptional coordination and communication with internal teams and customer stakeholders.

• Architectural
  
  Roadmap:
  
  Define and articulate a multi‑year technical vision and roadmap for the data lake, encompassing data ingestion, processing, storage, governance, and consumption layers.
• Customer Service & Priority Alignment:
  Act as the primary technical interface for customer stakeholders, ensuring all architectural decisions and development activities directly address and prioritize the customer's mission‑critical needs and objectives.
• Innovation & CoE Leadership:
  Serve as a technical leader in driving innovation across the data platform and actively implement initiatives defined by the existing Center of Excellence (CoE) and Innovation teams.
• Team Collaboration & Mentorship:
  Collaborate closely with cross‑functional development, data science, and engineering teams (Dev Sec Ops , AWS, Databricks) to translate architecture into actionable implementation plans, providing guidance and mentorship.
• Technical Coordination:
  Coordinate and synchronize technical activities across multiple work streams (data ingestion, graph services, and data consumption) to manage interdependencies, mitigate risks, and ensure the timely delivery of integrated solutions.
• Solution Design (Databricks Focus):
  Lead end‑to‑end technical design and architecture reviews, focusing on optimal use of Databricks E2/Delta Lake features.
• Interface Management:
  Architect robust and secure interfaces for both internal and external data exchange, managing technical discussions with various data source owners.
• Code Review & Quality:
  Lead code and design reviews to uphold high‑quality standards, ensuring scalability, security, and maintainability across the Python, Scala, Apache Groovy, and PL/SQL code base.

• Expert‑level proficiency and architectural experience with Databricks E2, Delta Lake, and MlFlow.

• Mandatory deep and proven experience in architecting solutions centered on Graph Data and Entity Resolution, specifically leveraging Senzing (Senzing Runtime API v3.10.2).

• Familiarity with integrating and utilizing platforms like Sprinklr and Copy Storm into the Delta Lake architecture.

• Core Services:
  Expert knowledge of AWS foundational services, including S3, EC2, RDS (Postgre
  
  SQL), ELB, DMS, and EBS.
• Data Warehousing/Querying:
  Extensive experience designing and optimizing solutions using AWS Redshift, AWS Athena, and AWS Glue.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC):
  Proficiency in defining and managing infrastructure using Cloud Formation Templates (CFT).

• Languages:
  
  Expert proficiency in at least two of the primary data lake languages:
  Python, Scala, or Apache Groovy.
• CI/CD:
  Experience with Jenkins/Liquibase deployment strategies across AWS Commercial Cloud and Open Shift.
• Containerization/Orchestration:
  Experience with Open Shift, Docker/Kubernetes, and optionally EKS.

• Citizenship & Clearance:
  Must be a U.S. Citizen and capable of obtaining/maintaining appropriate government clearance.
• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in data architecture, with at least 5 years in a senior or principal role defining data lake or modern data warehouse strategies.

• Federal
  
  Experience:
  
  Prior experience supporting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S.…