Director of Data Architecture

Sonesta Hotels•Newton, MA

About The Position

We are seeking a Director of Data Architecture to lead the transformation of our enterprise data landscape and establish a modern, scalable, and business-aligned data strategy. This role will be responsible for resetting our data strategy roadmap, modernizing our data architecture, and building a high-performing data team that leverages and elevates existing talent. The ideal candidate brings deep hospitality industry experience, with a strong understanding of hotel operations, commercial systems, and guest data ecosystems. They will partner closely with business and technology leaders to enable data-driven decision-making, operational efficiency, and enhanced guest experiences across our portfolio.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or enterprise data leadership roles.
Significant experience within the hospitality, travel, or multi-unit operations industry.
Proven track record of transforming data environments and delivering enterprise data platforms.
Experience leading and scaling high-performing data teams.
Strong familiarity with hospitality systems (e.g., PMS, CRS, CRM, RMS).
Deep knowledge of: Data architecture patterns (data warehouse, lakehouse, data mesh, etc.).
Cloud data platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP).
ETL/ELT pipelines and data integration.
Data modeling (dimensional, operational, canonical).
Experience with modern data tools and frameworks (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks, dbt, APIs, streaming technologies).
Understanding of data governance, MDM, and data quality frameworks.
Strong executive presence with the ability to influence senior stakeholders.
Ability to bridge business and technology, translating strategy into execution.
Proven ability to lead through organizational change and transformation.
Excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

Assess the current data landscape and define a clear, actionable enterprise data strategy and roadmap.
Establish a modern data architecture vision (cloud-first, scalable, governed, and secure).
Lead the transition from siloed and fragmented data environments to a unified, enterprise data platform.
Align data strategy with key business priorities including revenue optimization, owner engagement, guest experience, loyalty, and operational performance.
Define and implement data architecture standards, frameworks, and best practices.
Oversee design of data models, pipelines, integrations, and data platforms.
Ensure interoperability across critical hospitality systems such as: Property Management Systems (PMS), Central Reservation Systems (CRS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Marketing Technology Platforms, Revenue Management Systems (RMS), Financial and ERP platforms.
Drive adoption of modern tooling and approaches (e.g., real-time data, APIs, event-driven architecture).
Evaluate current team structure and build a high-performing data organization, leveraging and developing existing team members.
Define clear roles across data architecture, engineering, governance, and analytics enablement.
Recruit, mentor, and retain top data talent while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Establish agile ways of working to increase delivery speed and business alignment.
Partner with business and IT leaders to establish and operationalize a data governance framework.
Define standards for data quality, master data management, metadata, and lineage.
Ensure compliance with relevant data privacy and protection regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, PCI).
Promote a culture of data ownership and stewardship across the organization.
Serve as a strategic partner to Commercial, Operations, Finance, and Marketing teams.
Translate business needs into scalable data solutions that drive measurable outcomes.
Enable self-service analytics and reporting capabilities to reduce reliance on siloed BI efforts.
Drive use cases such as: Guest 360 and personalization, Revenue and pricing optimization, Franchise and owner reporting, Operational performance analytics.