Principal Data Architect Chief Data Office (West Des Moines)

Wells Fargo is seeking a Principal Data Architect— a hands-on technologist who will shape modern data architecture across cloud and on-prem environments in a large-scale banking ecosystem. This role designs scalable patterns for application, analytics, workflow, and AI-enabled workloads while guiding the evolution of legacy systems into secure, resilient, and future-ready platforms. The ideal candidate balances strategy, design, and hands-on execution—proving concepts through code, solving complex data challenges, and influencing senior technologists. You will work across diverse systems, define architectural patterns, and enable teams to modernize data environments with practical, AI-aware solutions.This role requires deep expertise in distributed data systems, application and workflow integration, and analytic platforms, along with the ability to translate current-state constraints into forward-looking architectures. Experience using both traditional development and AI-assisted engineering tools is key. Beyond technical leadership, you will mentor teams, align architecture to business outcomes, and communicate effectively with both technical and business stakeholders. Success in this role requires driving solutions that balance innovation with measurable value, including considerations of scalability, cost (TCO), and ROI.In this role, you will:Act as an advisor to senior leadership to develop the architectural framework & delivery for highly complex business and technical needs across multiple groups Lead the strategy and resolution of highly complex and unique challenges requiring in-depth evaluation across multiple areas or the enterprise, delivering products and solutions that are long-term, large-scale, and require vision, creativity, innovation, advanced analytical and inductive thinking Provide vision, direction, and expertise to senior leadership on implementing the transformation strategy describing the current state, target state, and transition architecture Develop and influence strategic plans, investment planning, and execution on cutover strategies to target Strategically engage with all levels of professionals and managers across the enterprise and serve as an architectural domain expert advisor to leadership  Drive target investments towards target technologies and rationalize spend, total cost of ownership, and return on investment Ensure applications adhere to established Wells Fargo standards, policies, methodologies, and industry best practices as it transforms toward target state architecture Drive the definition, establishment, selection of strategic tools, and application of architecture frameworks Maintain knowledge of industry best practices and new technologies and recommends innovations that enhance operations or provide a competitive advantage to the organization and can influence internal and vendor roadmaps in a significant capacity Required Qualifications:7+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, database platforms, or enterprise technology roles, with significant experience in large-scale financial services or banking environments. 7+ years of designing enterprise-scale data architectures across hybrid cloud, public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises platforms. 7+ years of experience with relational, NoSQL, columnar, distributed, and shared-nothing database technologies. Desired Qualifications:Proven ability to design scalable architectures using partitioning, sharding, replication, workload isolation, horizontal scaling, and distributed processing patternsExperience architecting batch, streaming, event-driven, real-time, near-real-time, and API-based data integration patternsStrong understanding of how application workloads, analytical workloads, reporting workloads, workflow engines, and AI/ML workloads interact with enterprise data platformsHands-on capability with technologies such as SQL, Python, Java, Spark, Kafka, Airflow, APIs, and modern data pipeline frameworksExpertise in data modeling, including conceptual, logical, physical, dimensional, canonical, domain-driven, and event-based modelsStrong knowledge of data security architecture, including encryption, tokenization, masking, access controls, entitlement models, secrets management, and audit loggingAbility to define and evaluate non-functional technical requirements, including latency, throughput, scalability, availability, resiliency, recovery, observability, security, and maintainabilityFamiliarity with designing data architectures that support AI, machine learning, feature engineering, model training, retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, and analytical workloadsExperience developing reference architectures, reusable design patterns, platform standards, technical guardrails, and implementation blueprintsJob Expectations: Ability to travel up to 10% of the time.Ability to work a hybrid work schedule – 3 days a week on-site/in office and 2 days a week remote.This position is not eligible for Visa sponsorshipLocations300 S Brevard, Charlotte, NC401 Las Colinas Blvd. W, Irving, TX550 4th St., Minneapolis, MN800 Jordan Pkwy, West Des Moines, IAPay RangeReflected is the base pay range offered for this position. Pay may vary depending on factors including but not limited to demonstrated examples of prior performance, skills, experience, or work location. Employees may also be eligible for incentive opportunities.$159,000.00 - $279,000.00Benefits Wells Fargo provides eligible employees with a comprehensive set of benefits, many of which are listed below. Visit Benefits - Wells Fargo Jobs for an overview of the following benefit plans and programs offered to employees.Health benefits401(k) PlanPaid time offDisability benefitsLife insurance, critical illness insurance, and accident insuranceParental leaveCritical caregiving leaveDiscounts and savingsCommuter benefitsTuition reimbursementScholarships for dependent childrenAdoption reimbursementPosting End Date:31 Jul 2026*Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.We Value Equal OpportunityWells Fargo is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected characteristic.Employees support our focus on building strong customer relationships balanced with a strong risk mitigating and compliance-driven culture which firmly establishes those disciplines as critical to the success of our customers and company. They are accountable for execution of all applicable risk programs (Credit, Market, Financial Crimes, Operational, Regulatory Compliance), which includes effectively following and adhering to applicable Wells Fargo policies and procedures, appropriately fulfilling risk and compliance obligations, timely and effective escalation and remediation of issues, and making sound risk decisions. There is emphasis on proactive monitoring, governance, risk identification and escalation, as well as making sound risk decisions commensurate with the business unit’s risk appetite and all risk and compliance program requirements.Applicants with DisabilitiesTo request a medical accommodation during the application or interview process, visit Disability Inclusion at Wells Fargo.Drug and Alcohol PolicyWells Fargo maintains a drug free workplace. Please see our Drug and Alcohol Policy to learn more.Wells Fargo Recruitment and Hiring Requirements:a. Third-Party recordings are prohibited unless authorized by Wells Fargo.b. Wells Fargo requires you to directly represent your own experiences during the recruiting and hiring process.SummaryLocation: CHARLOTTE, NC; IRVING, TX; WEST DES MOINES, IA; MINNEAPOLIS, MNType: Full time