Principal Data Architect - Data and Governance

Perdue Foods is part of Perdue Farms, a family-owned company heading into its second century of growth and innovation. With a goal of becoming the most trusted name in premium proteins, we create products for consumers and for retail and foodservice customers around the globe, while changing the way animals are raised for food.

Summary

This Principal Data Architect – Data and Governance level role requires a data leader ready to shape the future of data architecture in Perdue Farms. As Principal Data Architect, you will drive enterprise-wide data governance, ensuring data integrity, compliance, and stewardship across Syniti, SAP ECC, S4/HANA, cloud platforms, and future AI-driven ecosystems. You will design and implement a scalable, governed, and secure data architecture that enable supply chain optimization, omnichannel retail, and advanced analytics. If you thrive on solving complex data challenges, influencing senior stakeholders, defining, and leading governance frameworks that enable high-quality, trusted data at scale, this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact.

The salary range for this position is $143,000 - $215,000 per year, based on experience and qualifications with annual bonus available (variable depending on performance). 

In addition to the base salary, Perdue offers a competitive benefits package, including medical/Rx, 401(k) with employer match after 1 year, critical illness, accident insurance, dental, vison, life insurance, optional group life insurance, short-term and long-term disability protection, flexible spending accounts and paid time off.  

This position is based at Corporate Headquarters in Salisbury, MD.

Principal and Essential Duties & Responsibilities

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• Establish and enforce data governance policies, standards, and best practices across the organization
• Support project teams advising, coaching, and monitoring data architecture practices across the organization
• Implement data lineage, metadata management, and data stewardship programs to improve data transparency
• Collaborate with compliance teams to align data governance with data privacy, compliance, and industry standards
• Define data modeling standards and best practices to ensure consistency across key enterprise data domains
• Develop reference architectures, data frameworks, and roadmaps for enterprise data modernization
• Design and implement a scalable data architecture that integrates ERPs, MDM, CRM, supply chain, and analytics platforms
• Define data quality metrics, monitoring processes, and automated validation rules to prevent inconsistencies
• Partner with IT and business teams to implement data cleansing, deduplication, and enrichment solutions
• Ensure role-based access control and data security policies to safeguard sensitive information
• Work closely with IT, supply chain, sales, marketing, and finance to align data strategies with business objectives
• Act as a trusted advisor to executives providing insights on data-driven decision-making and governance
• Lead and mentor engineers, and governance teams to build a high-performance data culture
• Enable analytics and real-time data processing through well-governed data pipelines
• Evaluate and integrate data governance tools. Drive adoption of self-service analytics for business users

Minimum Education

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• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, SW engineering, computer science, or related field.

Experience Requirements

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• 15+ years of experience in IT, with 10+ years focused on data architecture ensuring high data integrity across key data domains. CPG and cross functional leadership experience
• At least five years of experience leading data governance programs implementing business glossaries, data dictionaries, lineage tracking, stewardship frameworks, and policies to align with compliance and industry regulations
• At least five years of experience in conceptual, logical, and physical data modeling to structure enterprise data effectively. Expertise integrating data from multiple sources, including ERPs, MDM, CRM, supply chain, analytics platforms, and external partners
• Proficiency with different database technologies (SQL, NoSQL, etc.). Familiarity with various database management systems like MySQL, Oracle, and SQL Server
• Familiarity with cloud platforms and services like Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud. Ability to design and deploy data solutions in a cloud environment
• Understanding of data lakes, data warehouses (Snowflake), real-time analytics platforms, Dataiku, Power BI or equivalent tools
• Knowledge of data security, privacy, and compliance with relevant regulations. Implementing data encryption, masking, and auditing techniques
• Relevant experience working cross functionally with IT, supply chain, finance, sales, and marketing to align data strategies with business goals
• Demonstrated ability to balance long-term data architecture planning with the agility to support evolving business needs
• Proven experience communicating complex data concepts to both technical and non-technical teams
• Application of AI-driven automation, data enrichment, and predictive analytics to enhance decision-making
• Collaboration in the development of a high-performing team of data engineers, modelers, and analysts

Experience Preferred

• CPG Industry Knowledge: Understanding of CPG-specific challenges like supply chain complexity, omnichannel retail, and regulatory compliance. Live operations (e.g. Poultry) is a strong plus
• Exposure to latest concepts like data mesh, knowledge graphs, blockchain, and trust models
• GDSN/GS1 standards, master data enrichment through 3rd party data sources
• Experience supporting Enterprise Master Data Programs
• At least 3 years of people management experience

Environmental Factors and Physical Requirements

Position is mostly sedentary but may require occasional moving to other offices or buildings.  May need to move light equipment or supplies from one place to another. May need to access files, supplies and equipment.

Perdue Farms, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.