Principal GCP Data Architect

Job Description We are seeking a hands-on Principal GCP Data Architect to lead the design, and implementation of large-scale data ecosystems. The ideal candidate is an architect who has led massive cloud migrations, built self-serve data platforms from the ground up, and maintains a rigorous focus on data governance and security. Technical Requirements: Cloud Expertise: Expert-level mastery of the GCP Data Stack: Storage & Warehouse: BigQuery (including BigLake and Omni), Google Cloud Storage. Processing: Dataflow (Apache Beam), Dataproc (Spark/Hadoop), Cloud Composer (Airflow). Messaging: Pub/Sub and Confluent/Kafka integration. Analytics & AI: Looker, Vertex AI, and BigQuery ML. Certifications: Must hold an active GCP Professional Data Engineer certification. DRP ID Performance: A Data Readiness Placement (DRP) ID with a verified score of 50+ is highly preferable, demonstrating a high level of technical proficiency and architectural maturity. Modern Data Stack: Deep experience with dbt, Airflow, and containerization (GKE/Kubernetes). Experience & Qualifications: Years of Experience: 18-20 years in Data Engineering, Data Warehousing, and Business Intelligence, with at least 6+ years focused specifically on GCP. Migration Track Record: Proven experience leading at least two enterprise-scale migrations (PB-scale) to the cloud. Leadership: Demonstrated experience leading large, cross-functional engineering teams in an Agile/DevOps environment. Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related technical field. Role Strategic Architecture: Define the long-term roadmap for data platforms on GCP, ensuring alignment with global business goals and "North Star" data strategies. Self-Serve Platform Design: Architect and oversee the build-out of modern, self-serve data architectures that empower decentralized teams while maintaining central standards. Large-Scale Migrations: Lead complex end-to-end migration from AWS to GCP. Data Governance & Security: Design and enforce robust data security frameworks including IAM, VPC Service Controls, Data Masking/Encryption, and automated governance using Dataplex . Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Drive automation using Terraform or Pulumi to ensure repeatable, scalable, and version-controlled infrastructure. Executive Stakeholder Management: Act as a trusted advisor to the VP of Data, articulating the ROI of data initiatives and managing technical risk. Tavant