Master Data Reference Architect

Job Description

Job Description

Job ID: 112479-1
Title: Master Data Reference Architect
Duration: 6+ months with possible extension
Location: Remote or Chicago, IL
Pay Range: $70- $75/hr

Summary
We are seeking a senior architect to own master and reference data architecture for the Firm. This is a strategic, hands-on role that defines the canonical model for the Firm's core business entities - what each entity means, which system is authoritative for it, and how entities relate - and implements that model in the Firm’s MDM platform - Profisee, so that every function depending on those entities works from the same trusted data.
Enterprise Information Architecture
· Define and maintain the canonical model for the Firm's core business entities, establishing agreed definitions for each entity, its attributes, its identifiers, its lifecycle and its permitted values
· Work with business subject matter experts across each domain to document current process and data structures, and model how they align to the canonical model or reveal where it must evolve
· Work with source system DBAs and application owners to document physical schemas, keys and constraints, and ground crosswalks and canonical identifiers in how those systems actually store and enforce data
· Work with the teams building Fabric semantic models to validate that dimensions and hierarchies function as intended in production reporting, and adjust the canonical model where downstream structure or grain requires it
· Model the relationships that cross domain boundaries, where most enterprise data ambiguity originates: timekeeper to matter to client to billing arrangement to revenue attribution; matter to practice group to organizational hierarchy; person to role to office to cost center
· Designate the authoritative source for each entity and attribute, and document the crosswalks that reconcile source system keys and conventions into canonical identifiers
· Resolve semantic conflicts between source systems and business functions, driving agreement on a single definition rather than accommodating parallel versions
Master Data Design
• Configure the canonical model in Profisee as entity and attribute structures, hierarchies and cross-entity dependencies, in non-production, for engineering promotion
• Determine, for each domain, whether the mastered record writes back to source systems or flows one-directionally into OneLake and reporting, and design the Profisee model to match that pattern
• Design how cross-domain relationships are implemented and enforced in Profisee — cardinality, referential integrity and cascade behavior on merge, update or retirement — so relationships stay valid as golden records change
• Define match, merge and survivorship logic that produces defensible golden records, and the attribute-level quality expectations that govern them
• Design how client and organization master records are matched and enriched against external data sources — Bloomberg, S&P, FactSet and comparable providers — to strengthen corporate hierarchy and ultimate parent accuracy for conflicts checking and relationship visibility. Define the golden record lifecycle — creation, merge, unmerge and retirement — and how each state change is communicated to downstream consumers and preserved in history
• Design the attribute-level security and visibility model for sensitive master data — financial terms, confidential client relationships, restricted personnel information — aligned to the Firm's ethical wall and information barrier requirements
• Advise on stewardship decisions the model requires, for MDM engineering to implement as workflow & Specify the publication contract for mastered data to consuming systems and OneLake
Reference Data Architecture
• Establish the reference data architecture for the Firm's controlled vocabularies and code sets — Matter classification schemes (Client taxonomies), practice and industry classifications, currencies, locations and geographies, etc.
• Design the temporal model for reference data and hierarchies, including effective dating, versioning and as-of semantics, and define whether and how historical reporting restates when a structure changes
• Design and maintain the mappings between equivalent code set values across the Firm's systems, so that differing local values resolve to a single governed value without requiring every source system to change how it records them
• Model multilevel hierarchies and alternate rollups, allowing the same underlying structure to support different views for finance, practice leadership and client reporting without duplicating the source
• Design the change control model for reference data: how values are proposed, approved, versioned, deprecated, rather than deleted, and communicated to affected systems and reports
• Specify distribution patterns that make governed reference data available to operational systems as well as analytics, so that consuming applications use the authoritative list rather than maintaining private copies
Required Qualifications
• More than 10 years in data architecture and data modeling on large-scale enterprise data platforms
• Demonstrated ownership of an enterprise or cross-domain information model — defining core entities, attributes, relationships and authoritative sources, and driving organizational agreement on those definitions
• Strong conceptual and logical modeling capability, including normalized and dimensional modeling, and the ability to translate complex domain hierarchies into clean, durable structures
• Hands-on configuration experience with Profisee or a comparable multidomain MDM platform, including entity and attribute modeling, match and merge, survivorship and hierarchy management
• Demonstrated design of reference data architecture as a discipline in its own right — code set governance, effective dating and versioning, alternate hierarchy rollups, external code set crosswalks and change control
• Working knowledge of Client Fabric and OneLake, sufficient to specify publication contracts and analytics-ready structures rather than to engineer the platform
• Advanced SQL & Demonstrated ability to operate as a design authority across team boundaries — producing specifications engineering teams can build from, and reaching durable decisions with senior business stakeholders
Preferred Qualifications
• Experience in a law firm or professional services environment
• Experience with Client Purview or a comparable catalog and glossary platform, including glossary design and lineage curation
• Experience designing conformed dimensions and hierarchies consumed by Power BI
• Experience establishing data ownership in a partnership or federated organization

Skills: Client Power BI, Client Fabric, Master Data Management (MDM)
Experience Required: 8-10

Company Benefits & Culture
•    Inclusive and diverse work environment
•    Opportunities for professional growth and development
•    Comprehensive health and wellness benefits