Senior Data Architect

Empower • Overland Park, KS

1d • $138,000 - $200,100 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Data Architect will define and govern enterprise data architecture strategy while designing scalable, cloud-native business process solutions that align with organizational objectives. This role will establish architectural standards, reference models, and governance frameworks that enable secure, cost-efficient, and high-performing data and workflow ecosystems. The Senior Data Architect will partner with business and technology leaders to translate strategic goals into integrated data and process architectures, lead complex initiatives, influence enterprise technology direction, and ensure interoperability across platforms.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, engineering, mathematics, business, or equivalent experience.
• 9-12 years of experience in data engineering, platform engineering, software architecture, or related technical roles.
• At least 5 years of experience working within Agile software development environments.
• Extensive experience leading data or solution architecture across multiple domains or enterprise platforms.
• Strong expertise in modern data architectures, including data lakes, data warehouses, lakehouses, and streaming platforms.
• Experience with business process management systems and workflow modeling tools.
• Knowledge of microservices architecture and development, such as Java, Node.js, Scala, and serverless frameworks.
• Experience with multiple data storage technologies, including SQL, NoSQL, and graph databases.
• Strong experience with cloud platforms, such as AWS, Azure, or GCP, and cloud-native design.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence senior stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools, such as Terraform and CloudFormation.
• Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices.
• Experience with ETL processes and large-scale data processing frameworks, such as Spark.
• Knowledge of containerization technologies, including Docker, Kubernetes, and ECS.
• Strong understanding of data governance, security, and privacy principles.
• Proven ability to define architectural standards and influence enterprise-wide adoption.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the enterprise data platform blueprint, including ingestion, storage, processing, serving, governance, and security.
• Design, model, and simulate complex business processes using BPMS tools and workflow frameworks.
• Establish and govern architectural standards, including data contracts, service-level objectives, access controls, and privacy-by-design principles.
• Develop enterprise and domain reference architectures to support scalability, interoperability, and reuse.
• Design and modernize systems into cloud-compatible or cloud-native architectures, including migration strategies.
• Lead architecture reviews for complex or high-risk initiatives, evaluate trade-offs, and mitigate technical and compliance risks.
• Develop process architecture artifacts, including workflow diagrams, functional maps, and cross-functional process models.
• Recommend and implement best practices for process orchestration, workflow design, and system integration.
• Align data and process architecture with enterprise architecture, security, IAM, networking, and FinOps practices.
• Evaluate build-versus-buy decisions, serve as a subject matter expert in BPMS tools and process design patterns, collaborate with stakeholders to test and refine workflows, mentor technical professionals, provide strategic architecture recommendations, support CI/CD, DevOps, and automation practices, ensure solutions meet evolving security requirements and industry standards, and perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• Retirement savings – 401(k) plan with generous company matching contributions (up to 6%), financial advisory services, potential company discretionary contribution, and a broad investment lineup
• Tuition reimbursement up to $5,250/year
• Business-casual environment that includes the option to wear jeans
• Generous paid time off upon hire – including a paid time off program plus ten paid company holidays and three floating holidays each calendar year
• Paid volunteer time — 16 hours per calendar year
• Leave of absence programs – including paid parental leave, paid short- and long-term disability, and Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)
• Business Resource Groups (BRGs) – BRGs facilitate inclusion and collaboration across our business internally and throughout the communities where we live, work and play. BRGs are open to all.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree