Principal Data Architect

GEICO•MD Remote Zone 1, MD

1d•$136,325 - $212,175

About The Position

GEICO is hiring a Principal Data Architect to define and drive the enterprise data architecture vision, centered on a domain-oriented data mesh. This senior, hands-on technical leadership role sets the direction for how data is owned, produced, discovered, and consumed across the company, and translates that direction into a multi-year roadmap for business and engineering leaders. The role partners with domain teams, platform engineering, security, and the executive team to move from centralized, pipeline-driven data delivery to federated data-product ownership supported by a self-service platform and computational governance. The architect will establish target-state architecture and domain ownership models; design reference architectures and standards for data products; guide the self-service data platform; and own the vision and phased roadmap, including pilots, platform capabilities, legacy asset migration, and decommissioning. The position also develops the investment case, maturity model, and adoption plan; designs automated federated governance; and defines canonical models and interoperability patterns where useful. The role chairs the architecture review forum, resolves cross-domain design decisions, mentors architects and senior engineers, coaches domain teams, evaluates technologies, runs proofs of concept, and documents architecture decisions. It represents the data architecture vision to internal and external stakeholders where relevant.

Requirements

12+ years in data architecture, data engineering, or platform architecture.
At least 3 years in a principal, staff, or enterprise architect role.
Demonstrated experience designing or leading a data mesh, data product, or domain-oriented data architecture; ideally including at least one production rollout.
Deep knowledge of modern data stack patterns, including cloud data warehouses and lakehouses, open table formats, streaming, and orchestration.
Strong data modeling skills across dimensional, data vault, event-driven, and domain models, with judgment about when each is appropriate.
Hands-on experience with data contracts, schema management, metadata and catalog tooling, lineage, and data quality and observability frameworks.
Working command of governance, security, and privacy architecture, including policy-as-code, fine-grained access control, and data classification.
Ability to translate architecture into a roadmap and business case and gain support from executives and engineering leaders.
Excellent written and verbal communication, including explaining complex trade-offs to non-technical audiences.
Experience with at least one major cloud platform: AWS, Azure, or GCP.
Fluency in SQL and at least one general-purpose language such as Python, Scala, or Java.
Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

Define the target-state data architecture based on domain ownership, data as a product, self-service infrastructure, and federated computational governance.
Establish domain boundaries and ownership models with business and engineering leaders, using domain-driven design and bounded contexts.
Design reference architectures for data products, covering ingestion, storage, transformation, batch and streaming serving, APIs, and consumption patterns.
Specify data product standards for interfaces, SLAs and SLOs, schemas and contracts, metadata, lineage, quality checks, and access policies.
Guide the design of a self-service data platform that enables domain teams to build, publish, and operate data products with minimal friction.
Own a multi-year data architecture vision and phased roadmap covering pilot domains, platform capabilities, migration of legacy warehouse and lake assets, and decommissioning.
Build the business case and investment narrative for executives, including trade-offs, sequencing, risks, and expected value.
Create a maturity model and adoption plan that reflects domain readiness and tracks progress over time.
Design federated governance with shared security, privacy, quality, interoperability, and cataloging policies automated and enforced through the platform.
Define enterprise canonical models, shared reference data, and cross-domain interoperability patterns where they add value.
Partner with security, privacy, and compliance teams on applicable regulatory requirements.
Chair the architecture review forum and act as the escalation point for cross-domain design decisions.
Mentor architects and senior engineers, and coach domain teams in data product thinking.
Evaluate and select technologies, run proofs of concept, and publish architecture decision records.
Represent the data architecture vision internally and, where relevant, to customers, partners, and industry peers.