Lead Data Architect

Lead Data ArchitectLocation: Remote, US based Position type: Full Time Employee Compensation: $190,000 (base + bonus)Data Meaning is a front-runner in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics consulting, renowned for our high-quality consulting services throughout the US and beyond. Our expertise lies in delivering tailored solutions in Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, and Project Management. We have a diverse, global team of consultants, all working remotely, embodying a collaborative, inclusive, and innovation-driven work culture. As part of our growth and upcoming initiatives, we are proactively searching for Lead Data Architects to support future data platform modernization initiatives across our client portfolio.Position SummaryThe Lead Data Architect will lead the architecture assessment, transition planning, and modernization of the client's data platform. This role will be responsible for designing the future-state architecture, defining best practices for ELT pipelines, and guiding the migration of existing SQL-based transformations into a scalable dbt framework within a Snowflake environment.The position will work closely with the client's engineering teams and internal Data Meaning consultants, leading knowledge transfer sessions, architecture walkthroughs, and platform transition initiatives to ensure long-term scalability, reliability, and governance of the data platform.Key Responsibilities:Lead architecture assessment and documentation of the current data platform (Snowflake, Airflow, AWS)Design the future-state data platform architecture following modern ELT and dbt best practicesDefine standards for: data modeling, pipeline architecture, transformation frameworks, governance and data qualityLead the migration of transformation logic into dbt modelsDefine architectural patterns for: staging layers, intermediate layers, data martsImplement automated testing frameworks within dbtLead discovery sessions and technical workshops with the client's data engineering teamsDocument architecture, pipelines, and operational processesConduct architecture walkthrough sessions during knowledge transfer phasesDefine standards for CI/CD, monitoring frameworks, and data quality validationEstablish schema management and governance best practicesOptimize Snowflake compute usage and platform performanceDesign scalable orchestration strategies for Airflow pipelinesImprove platform reliability, monitoring, and operational observabilityRequired Skills & Qualifications:Advanced / fluent English10+ years of experience in Data Engineering or Data ArchitectureStrong experience designing and implementing modern data platformsExpert-level experience with SnowflakeStrong experience implementing dbt transformation frameworksAdvanced SQL modeling and performance optimizationStrong experience with Apache Airflow orchestrationStrong Python programming skillsExperience designing: ELT pipelines, Data warehouse architectures, Transformation frameworks, Large-scale data pipelinesExperience working in cloud environments (AWS preferred)Nice to Have:Snowflake certificationExperience leading data platform migrations or modernization initiativesExperience implementing Medallion architecture patternsExperience defining data governance frameworksExperience working with distributed or global engineering teams