Data Architect

Description Life at Ness At Ness, people come first. Here, you'll be part of a vibrant team that values curiosity, innovation, and growth. We work with industry-leading clients on projects that truly make an impact while supporting every team member in carving out their unique career path. With resources for learning, certifications, and hands-on experiences, Ness offers you more than just a job—it’s a place where your ideas, ambition, and well-being matter.

Job Description – Data Architect Role Purpose The Data Architect will lead the assessment and design of the enterprise data architecture supporting the data security initiative. The role is responsible for understanding current-state data flows, designing target-state data architecture, improving data handling patterns, and minimizing reliance on sensitive identifiers.

Job Summary The Data Architect will evaluate how data moves across applications, APIs, batch interfaces, integration platforms, data hubs, analytics environments, and downstream consumer systems. The role will identify architectural weaknesses and define modern, secure, and scalable patterns that reduce data exposure while supporting business requirements.

Working closely with the Security Solution Architect, the Data Architect will establish future-state architecture principles and help develop a roadmap for implementation.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess current-state data architecture.
• Analyze source-to-target data flows.
• Perform data lineage and dependency analysis.
• Review integration and propagation of sensitive data.
• Evaluate identifier usage and alternatives.
• Design target-state data architecture.
• Define secure integration patterns.
• Recommend data minimization strategies.
• Support governance and architecture workshops.
• Produce architecture standards and recommendations.

Required Technical Skills

• Enterprise Data Architecture
• Data Modeling
• Master Data Management
• Data Lineage & Metadata Management
• API Integration Patterns
• Event-Driven Architecture
• Data Warehousing & Data Lakes
• Cloud Data Platforms
• Data Governance Concepts

Preferred Skills

• Data Mesh
• Lakehouse Architectures
• Data Catalog Tools
• Integration Platforms
• Azure Data Services
• Kafka / Pulsar
• Enterprise Integration Patterns

Experience Required

• 8+ years in enterprise data architecture.
• Experience with complex system integration landscapes.
• Experience with customer and loyalty data environments.
• Experience designing secure data architectures.

Education & Preferred Certifications Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Engineering, or related field.

Preferred Certifications

• TOGAF
• CDMP
• Azure Data Architect
• DAMA Certifications

Key Deliverables

• Current-State Data Architecture Assessment
• Data Flow & Lineage Maps
• Data Dependency Analysis
• Target-State Data Architecture
• As-Is vs To-Be Architecture Matrix
• Identifier Rationalization Strategy
• Integration Architecture Recommendations
• Architecture Roadmap

Key Stakeholders

• Enterprise Architecture
• Security Architecture
• Data Engineering Teams
• Integration Teams
• Application Owners
• Business Stakeholders

Success Measures / KPIs

• Completeness of current-state architecture assessment
• Accuracy of data lineage documentation
• Approval of target-state architecture
• Reduction in sensitive identifier propagation
• Adoption of architecture recommendations