Business Data Architect – Digital Project Delivery (Azure Databricks Lakehouse)

Southern Company • Birmingham, AL

5d

About The Position

Southern Company is advancing Digital Project Delivery to improve how data is created, governed, integrated, and used across large capital projects, particularly generation projects. The Business Data Architect will define how project and business data is structured, governed, and connected throughout the project lifecycle, and partner with technology teams to shape the target-state Azure Databricks Lakehouse, integration approach, and supporting platform capabilities.

The role leads business data architecture for Digital Project Delivery and works closely with enterprise architecture, platform engineering, integration, cybersecurity, project teams, engineering, construction, supply chain, PMO, IT, vendors, and other business stakeholders. It translates business needs into scalable, secure, and governed data structures and platform and integration patterns. The position also provides technically credible leadership on lakehouse design, data movement, integration architecture, environment strategy, technology and tool selection, and enterprise architecture reviews and approvals.

The position establishes data domains, business structures, models, standards, and integration patterns for major capital projects from planning and design through construction, turnover, and operations readiness. It guides data governance, information management, and digital thread capabilities; oversees vendor and delivery-partner alignment; and develops architecture documentation and roadmaps to mature project data capabilities over time.

Success includes a trusted, reusable, and governed data foundation across major generation capital projects; improved data quality, traceability, interoperability, reporting, and decision support; reduced integration complexity; and a clearly defined, supportable, secure target-state lakehouse and integration architecture aligned with enterprise standards and project delivery needs.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related discipline.
• At least 8 years of progressive experience in data architecture, data engineering, or analytics platform engineering.
• At least 3 years in a senior architecture or technical leadership role.
• Deep understanding and experience operating an enterprise-scale Azure Databricks Lakehouse, with hands-on depth in Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2.
• Experience designing and delivering CDC and replication from source systems into a lakehouse or warehouse, supporting batch and near-real-time loads.
• Strong data modeling skills, including dimensional, Data Vault, or canonical models.
• Experience governing data quality, metadata, lineage, and security controls such as role-based access, classification, and masking.
• Experience establishing architecture standards, conducting architecture reviews, and driving adoption of engineering practices across delivery teams.
• Effective communication and influencing skills with executives, engineers, vendors, and business stakeholders, including the ability to balance business priorities, risk, and cost.
• Experience evaluating and recommending data platform, integration, and tooling options based on business and technical fit, operational supportability, security, cost, and enterprise alignment.
• Ability to work across business, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, cybersecurity, integration, and platform engineering teams to drive approvals, resolve tradeoffs, and establish implementation direction.
• Understanding of enterprise data movement and orchestration patterns and ability to compare ETL/ELT, replication, CDC, APIs, messaging, file exchange, and platform-native integration services.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting Digital Project Delivery, capital project information management, or major project data programs in the utility, energy, EPC, industrial, or infrastructure sectors.
• Familiarity with generation project delivery processes and data for engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, startup, and handover to operations.
• Experience with project delivery, engineering, asset, document, model, or construction systems such as Primavera, Unifier, EcoSys, Hexagon, Bentley, Autodesk, Procore, Aconex, OpenText, or similar platforms.
• Knowledge of digital twin, digital thread, asset lifecycle information management, BIM/CDE concepts, or capital project handover information requirements.
• Understanding of utility business processes, governance expectations, and regulatory considerations relevant to generation capital investments.
• Experience working in Agile, hybrid, or product-oriented delivery models within large enterprises.
• Master’s degree, architecture certification, data management certification, or relevant utility or project delivery certifications.
• Experience shaping or governing Azure-based data platforms and enterprise integration patterns with central IT or platform organizations.
• Familiarity with architecture review boards, technology exception processes, security reviews, and enterprise platform approval workflows.
• Experience comparing or implementing enterprise data movement technologies such as SSIS, GoldenGate, Informatica, Azure Data Factory, event streaming, or similar tools in a lakehouse or warehouse context.

Responsibilities

• Own the business data architecture and strategic direction for Digital Project Delivery, including core data domains, business definitions, information flows, and standards across the capital project lifecycle.
• Define and govern data structures for major generation capital projects, including project, asset, engineering, document, model, cost, schedule, contract, materials, work package, commissioning, and turnover data.
• Establish common business data models, taxonomies, hierarchies, reference data, and naming conventions to improve consistency and interoperability.
• Map how project data is created, transformed, handed off, and consumed across engineering, procurement, construction, project controls, and operations.
• Lead the definition of business rules, data quality standards, stewardship expectations, and governance processes for critical project data.
• Define target-state data architecture patterns for the Digital Project Delivery lakehouse, including domain-aligned organization, layered or medallion design, curated data products, semantic consumption, and data lifecycle management.
• Define integration and information-exchange patterns across project management, engineering design, construction management, document management, asset, and enterprise reporting systems.
• Lead evaluation and recommendation of ingestion, replication, and integration patterns, including batch, CDC, replication, API-based, file-based, and event-driven approaches.
• Provide architecture leadership on technology choices for data movement, replication, transformation, orchestration, and operational supportability, assessing platform-native services and enterprise tools.
• Align business data requirements with system architecture, platform capabilities, and enterprise data standards in collaboration with enterprise architects and technology teams.
• Represent business architecture in technology discussions about lakehouse design, tool selection, nonfunctional requirements, environment strategy, operating models, and enterprise approval pathways.
• Support digital thread and lifecycle information management capabilities so project data can be trusted and reused from design through construction and into operations.
• Partner with cybersecurity, privacy, records management, and compliance teams to ensure suitable access, retention, classification, and protection controls.
• Guide project teams and delivery partners in applying data standards and information management practices consistently.
• Provide architectural oversight for vendors, EPC partners, consultants, and system integrators to ensure alignment with data standards and governance expectations.
• Lead architecture reviews, maintain reference models and decision documentation, and build roadmaps for maturing project data management.
• Develop architecture position papers, decision frameworks, and recommendation packages for enterprise reviews, funding discussions, exception requests, and approvals.
• Identify opportunities to improve project reporting, analytics, forecasting, and decision support through better data design and governance.
• Evaluate emerging capabilities, standards, and tools for digital delivery, interoperability, and lifecycle data management.
• Partner with platform engineering and data engineering teams to define implementation guardrails for observability, lineage, access control, DevSecOps, release management, and production support.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary.
• Annual incentive awards for eligible employees.
• Health, welfare, and retirement benefits designed to support physical, financial, and emotional/social well-being.
• May be eligible for additional compensation, such as an incentive program, subject to the applicable plan terms.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior