Principal Data Architect

Egen•Nashville, TN

5d•$180,000 - $250,000

About The Position

Egen is seeking a Principal Data Architect to lead the architecture, design, and implementation of scalable Data Lakehouse solutions on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The role combines strategic architecture with hands-on solution design and delivery, including data pipelines, proofs of concept, and performance tuning. The architect will work directly with customers to understand their business goals, data challenges, and technical requirements, translating these into architectural blueprints and actionable plans. They will establish practices for metadata, cataloging, lineage, data quality, security, access control, and governance, while helping project teams deliver consistent, scalable, and maintainable solutions. This position serves as a technical lead and trusted advisor in client engagements, mentoring engineers and guiding technical and non-technical stakeholders through solution decisions. The role may be hired at multiple levels, with final leveling and the applicable salary range determined during the interview process. The stated salary range is $180,000–$250,000 per year, and total compensation includes an annual bonus. Egen is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable accommodations during the selection process.

Requirements

8–10 years of progressive experience in Software Engineering and Data Platform development.
At least 5 years architecting data platforms on GCP and/or Databricks.
Hands-on experience designing and deploying Data Lakehouse platforms with data products and medallion architectures.
Strong understanding of real-time and batch data ingestion patterns, ETL/ELT pipeline design, and data orchestration using tools such as Airflow, Pub/Sub, or similar frameworks.
Expertise in data modeling, storage optimization, partitioning, and performance tuning for large-scale analytical workloads.
Experience implementing data governance, security, and cataloging solutions such as Dataplex, Data Catalog, IAM, or equivalent.
Excellent communication and presentation skills, including the ability to engage technical and non-technical stakeholders and guide clients through solution decisions.
Demonstrated ability to lead by example in mixed teams of engineers, analysts, and architects while balancing architectural vision with hands-on delivery.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Databricks, including Delta Lake and Unity Catalog, and hybrid GCP-Databricks data architectures.
Strong problem-solving mindset, curiosity to explore new technologies, and ability to move between architecture discussions and code-level troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

Lead the end-to-end architecture, design, and implementation of scalable Data Lakehouse solutions on GCP using BigQuery, GCS, BigLake, and Dataplex.
Collaborate with customers to understand business goals, data challenges, and technical requirements, and translate them into architectural blueprints and actionable plans.
Design and implement data pipelines for real-time and batch ingestion using modern orchestration and streaming frameworks.
Establish and enforce best practices for data cataloging, metadata management, lineage, and data quality across multiple systems.
Define and implement data security, access control, and governance models in compliance with enterprise and regulatory standards.
Serve as technical lead for project teams by mentoring engineers, reviewing solutions, and ensuring architectural consistency across deliverables.
Balance strategic architecture discussions with hands-on solutioning, proofs of concept, and deep dives into data pipelines or performance tuning.
Partner with stakeholders, cloud architects, and delivery leads to drive solution adoption, scalability, and long-term maintainability.
Represent Egen as a trusted technical advisor in client engagements, articulating trade-offs, best practices, and recommendations.