Analytics Architect — Enterprise Data Lake & AI Platform

**Overview of the role:***Saputo is seeking a highly skilled and motivated IT **Analytics Architect** to join our **Data Engineering & Analytics** team. Reporting to the **Senior Director of Data Engineering & Analytics**, this role will play a critical part in the design and evolution of our enterprise data lake platform hosted on Microsoft Fabric. This role is responsible for defining scalable, secure, and high-performance data architectures, with a strong focus on integrating systems into a unified analytics ecosystem.**The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise in modern data platforms with strong architectural vision, enabling advanced analytics, self-serve reporting, data science and AI capabilities across the organization.***How you will make contributions that matter:*** **Enable enterprise-wide data access and trust** by delivering a unified, well-architected data lake on MS OneLake that transforms fragmented data into a single, reliable source of truth.* **Accelerate business decision-making** through scalable, high-performance data architectures that support near real-time analytics and self-service insights.* **Unlock value** by designing robust integration patterns that bring previously siloed operational, SaaS, and external data into the analytics ecosystem.* **Drive cost efficiency and scalability** by optimizing data pipelines, storage strategies, and platform usage within Microsoft Fabric.* **Strengthen data governance and compliance** by partnering closely with the Analytics Governance and DevOps Specialist to ensure security, lineage, and quality controls are embedded in architecture design, ensuring data is both accessible and responsibly managed.**Key Responsibilities:**Architecture* Lead and participate in formal architecture reviews for analytics and data solutions, ensuring alignment to enterprise architecture standards, security requirements, and governance models.* Define, publish, and maintain analytics reference architectures, architectural guardrails, approved design patterns, and overall architecture of the enterprise data lake using Microsoft Fabric for structured and unstructured data.* Define data models, storage strategies, and data lifecycle management frameworks.* Establish standards for data ingestion, transformation, and consumption layers (e.g., Bronze, Silver, Gold architecture), working closely with Governance and DevOps Specialist, and Data Engineer team* Promote reusable patterns, templates, and frameworks across teams.* Review and approve architectural deviations and exceptions in partnership with Data Engineer team.* Own architectural considerations across the full analytics lifecycle: ingestion, transformation, modeling, consumption, performance optimization, archival, and decommissioning.Source System Integration* Architect integration patterns for enterprise systems (e.g., Workday, MS Dataverse, Manhattan WMS, SaaS platforms, operational systems, external data providers).* Design scalable ingestion frameworks for batch, streaming, and near real-time data pipelines.* Define and implement API-based, event-driven, and file-based ingestion patterns.* Ensure data quality, consistency, and traceability across all ingestion pipelines, following policies and procedures developed in partnership with Governance and DevOps Specialists and other Architects.Platform & Technology Leadership* Provide technical leadership on Microsoft Fabric capabilities including Data Factory, OneLake, Lakehouse, Warehousing, OneLake Catalog, Fabric IQ, Synonyms & Linguistics and Real-Time Analytics.* Evaluate and recommend tools across Microsoft and non-Microsoft platforms (i.e. Databricks, AWS, etc...), frameworks, and best practices for modern data architecture.* Ensure alignment with enterprise IT strategy, security standards, and governance policies.* Support business Data Analysts to ensure strong design patterns are followed in self-serve report and dashboard development.Performance & Scalability* Optimize data pipelines and storage for performance, cost-efficiency, and scalability.* Design architectures that support high-volume, high-velocity data processing.* Guide and assist citizen developers to create scalable, high-performing semantic models.Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement* Partner with business stakeholders, data engineers, analysts, and data scientists to understand requirements and translate them into architectural solutions.* Act as a trusted advisor for data-driven initiatives and digital transformation programs.Governance* Partner closely with the Analytics Governance & DevOps Specialist to ensure governance, security, privacy, and deployment controls are reflected in architectural standards and solution designs.Cost & Capacity (FinOps)* Balance performance, scalability, usability, and cost when defining architectural trade-offs.* Design solutions aligned with capacity planning, FinOps principles, and cost optimization strategies.**Success Measures***Success in this role is measured by:** Adoption of approved reference architectures and architectural standards across analytics initiatives.* Improved solution scalability, performance, and operability as platform usage grows.* Reduced rework and production issues through strong architectural guardrails and design reviews.* Improved cost transparency and optimization through architecture decisions aligned to capacity and FinOps practices.* Strong alignment between analytics solutions, governance requirements, and enterprise architecture strategy.**Required Skills & Experience:*** Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field.* 6+ years of experience in data and analytics architecture, data engineering, and big data analytics platforms* Proven experience designing enterprise-scale data lakes or Lakehouse architectures.* Hands-on experience with Microsoft Fabric or closely related Azure data services.* Strong expertise in data integration patterns (ETL/ELT, APIs, streaming, event-driven architecture).* Knowledge of real-time analytics and streaming technologies.* Experience integrating non-ERP enterprise systems with structured and unstructured data into data lake via cloud services.* Proficiency in Medallion Architecture, Fabric Workloads, PySpark, SQL, KQL, DAX, Semantic Model Designs, and Power Query.* Experience working in highly motivated cross-functional environments with both technical and business stakeholders.* Experience with large scale modern data and analytics transformations within a CPG company, implementing new platforms and data lakes, defining new ways of working to drive business value and outcomes through data and analytics in a self-serve culture.* Serve as a primary liaison facilitating effective communication and collaboration among Data Engineering, Business Intelligence, Security, Architecture teams, and various business units.* (Preferred) Understanding of data requirements of Agentic AI and MLL* (Preferred) Certifications in Azure (AZ-305) and Fabric (DP-700, DP-600)* (Preferred) Familiarity with data governance tools and frameworks.* (Preferred) Experience with DevOps/DataOps practices and CI/CD for data pipelines.* Key Competencies+ Strategic thinking and architectural design expertise+ Strong problem-solving and analytical skills+ Excellent communication and stakeholder management+ Ability to balance innovation with practical implementation+ Leadership and mentorship capabilities**We support and take care of our employees and their families by offering :*** Generous and complete benefit coverage with group insurance* Group retirement plan with employer contribution* Telemedicine and assistance program for employees and their families* Employee Share Ownership Plan with an employer match* Paid Parental Leave program* Paid time off: Sick days, floater days and volunteer day off* Opportunity #J-18808-Ljbffr Saputo, Inc.