Data Architect - Principal

Independence Pet Group • Chicago, IL

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Established in 2021, Independence Pet Holdings is a corporate holding company that manages a diverse and broad portfolio of modern pet health brands and services, including insurance, pet education, lost recovery services, and more throughout North America. We believe pet insurance is more than a financial product and build solutions to simplify the pet parenting journey and help improve the well-being of pets. As a leading authority in the pet category, we operate with a full stack of resources, capital, and services to support pet parents. Our multi-brand and omni-channel approach include our own insurance carrier, insurance brands and partner brands. Principal Architect – Data, Analytics & Business Intelligence Architecture: This hands-on Data Architect leads significant transformations across all insurance and non-insurance brands, leveraging data, AI, and business intelligence. This transformation will position us as the world's largest pet insurance and pet-health provider. Reporting Structure Reports to: Chief Architect (Head of Architecture) Partners with: Chief Data Officer (CDO) and CDO team Location: Remote/Hybrid – Chicago preferred Role Overview In close collaboration with the CDO team, this role leads enterprise data architecture and strategy for IPH, driving the architecture and governance of the Unified data platform and enabling advanced analytics and AI/ML capabilities across all Pet Insurance and non-insurance brands. It combines data platform, architecture, engineering, data governance, and business intelligence architecture to ensure a unified, secure, and scalable data ecosystem. Key Focus Areas: - Building unified Customer Data Platform (CDP) across multiple zones/domains/lines of business - Enabling data monetization through cross-sell and up-sell insights and customer journey analytics - Driving Gen-AI/Agentic AI adoption (agents, skills, RAG) with data as foundation - Handling non-standard data from various sources (pet metadata, third-party data with formatting issues) - Transforming non-insurance data into pet insurance actionable insights and vice versa.

Requirements

• Azure Data Engineer or Solutions Architect Expert certification
• Experience with Databricks, Synapse, and Microsoft Fabric
• Strong knowledge of lakehouse patterns, streaming architectures, and data governance frameworks

Nice To Haves

• Insurance industry experience is a plus
• Experience building end-to-end frameworks with data as a foundation and AI on top
• Hands-on with Data, Gen-AI agents, RAG, and agentic workflows

Responsibilities

• Calandra Data Platform Architecture (30%): Architect, design, and support / govern the implementation the Azure-based enterprise data platform using cloud-native services Architect a medallion lakehouse (Bronze/Silver/Gold tiers) for structured and unstructured data Enable real-time streaming and batch processing for analytics and operational insights Architect a multi-region, multi-AZ architecture with multiple instances per zone for high availability Ensure unified CDP across multiple zones/domains/lines of business
• Data Governance & Master Data Management (20%): With the CDO team, establish an enterprise data governance framework and implement a data catalog for discovery and lineage Define MDM strategy to ensure a single source of truth for critical data domains (Customer, Product, Policy) Implement data quality monitoring and remediation processes Handle non-standard input data with formatting issues from various sources
• Analytics & BI Architecture (20%): Partner with the CDO / IDEA team in the design of a Customer Data Platform (CDP) for all brands, including enrichment pipelines and analytical models Partner with the CDO / IDEA team as they lead the implementation of self-service BI through Power BI and semantic modeling Define architecture for reporting and advanced analytics capabilities Drive data monetization strategies for cross-sell/up-sell and customer journey insights
• Integration & Standards (15%): Define data integration patterns, pipeline architecture, and API standards Ensure compliance with SOC 2, PCI DSS, and internal security baselines Align with Calandra Toolkit and target architecture standards
• Strategic Leadership (15%): With the CDO team, develop future-state data architecture roadmap aligned with IPH's digital transformation goals Partner with business and technology leaders to drive adoption and maturity of data capabilities Drive organization toward 90% agentic-driven operations through AI/ML adoption

Benefits

• Comprehensive full medical, dental and vision Insurance
• Basic Life Insurance at no cost to the employee
• Company paid short-term and long-term disability
• 12 weeks of 100% paid Parental Leave
• Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Retirement savings plan
• Personal Paid Time Off
• Paid holidays and company-wide Wellness Day off
• Paid time off to volunteer at nonprofit organizations
• Pet friendly office environment
• Commuter Benefits
• Group Pet Insurance
• On the job training and skills development
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees