Senior Data Architect

GCI's Senior Data Architect supports the Director of Data Architecture’s mission to implement an enterprise data platform that enables data-driven decision-making in support of various business functions, aligning with organization vision and strategy. Responsible for analyzing, designing, and implementing architectural frameworks, data interfaces, tooling, and data quality technology to meet organizational needs for data management, accessibility, performance, and quality. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES AT ALL LEVELS:

Technical Data Architecture & Implementation:

• Collaborate with data engineers, data scientists, and business analysts to ensure that data architecture effectively supports application and analytics needs.
• Design and develop an enterprise data lake, ensuring it supports a wide range of data types and formats while being scalable, reliable, secure, and efficient.
• Establish and enforce architectural frameworks and best practices, like medallion architecture, that guide the development of the data lake.
• Design and develop data models and pipelines that ensure data quality and are optimized to support self-serve analytics.
• Directly or with assistance of data engineering teams, integrate new data sources into the data lake, ensuring data is accessible and usable for analytics and reporting.
• Document essential technical architecture design and analysis efforts, including postmortem project documentation and metric collection.
• Mentor peers in the discipline of data architecture, providing guidance on technical skills and best practices.

Data Governance & Data Quality Assurance: 

• Implement data quality technologies and processes to monitor, assess, and provide insight to improve data accuracy and reliability.
• Collaborate with stakeholders and data governance leads to define data quality metric requirements for the data lake and ensure compliance with organizational standards.
• Help ensure that all data architecture practices adhere to organizational policies, industry regulations, and best practices.
• Implement tools and processes to track data lineage, ensuring transparency and traceability of data from source to consumption

Data Architecture Strategy & Implementation: 

• Assist in implementing a strategic vision for data architecture that aligns with GCI’s business objectives and data management goals.
• Help define the architectural and logical requirements of data platforms.
• Engage with cross-functional teams, including data engineering, analytics, and business units, to ensure that data architecture aligns with business needs and enhances overall data management practices.
• On an ongoing basis evaluate the current technology and data environment to identify critical deficiencies and recommend solutions for improvement.

Research & Innovation:

• Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in data architecture and management, fostering continuous improvement and innovation within the data platform.
• Drive continuous improvement and innovation within the enterprise data platform in the areas of system performance, user experience and cost management.
  • Ability to maintain professional skillset by advancing credentials, participating in training, continuing educational opportunities, and technical organizations.
  • Ability to share technical skills, knowledge, and techniques with other technical staff.
  • Ability to transfer knowledge to team members and customers
  • Ability to accurately communicate information virtually (i.e., Teams), over the phone, and in-person in a clear and concise manner to a range of audiences.
  • Ability to accurately read, write, and respond to business correspondence such as emails, chat messages, policies, procedures, reports.
  • Ability to create clear and concise written communication (i.e., detailed documentation, diagramming, slide presentations) for a variety of audiences, including developers, business analysts, and business users. 
  • Ability to initiate and deliver technical information in presentation/training format in front of stakeholders.
  • Proven ability to manage complex projects and strategic initiatives. 
  • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make data-driven decisions. 

COMPETENCIES:

• ACCOUNTABILITY- Takes ownership for actions, decisions, and results; openly accepts feedback and demonstrates a willingness to improve.
• BASIC PRINCIPLES - Interacts with people in a way that builds mutual trust, confidence, and respect; adheres to GCI’s Code of Conduct for Employees – the Basic Principles.
• COLLABORATION - Works effectively with others to accomplish common goals and objectives; maintains positive relationships even under difficult circumstances.
• COMMUNICATION- Conveys thoughts and expresses ideas appropriately and professionally.
• COMPLIANCE - Follows internal controls; protects confidential information; abides by GCI’s Code of Business Conduct & Ethics.
• CUSTOMER FOCUS - Demonstrates commitment to service excellence; gives high priority to customer satisfaction.
• RELIABILITY - Consistently follows through on assigned tasks as expected; demonstrates timely attendance at meetings, training, and other work obligations.
• RESULTS - Uses a combination of job knowledge, initiative, sound decision making, innovation, adaptability, and problem solving.
• SAFETY & SECURITY - Supports a safe work environment by following all workplace safety rules and guidelines; complies with applicable Security policies and procedures.
• TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY - Proficient computer skills and MS Office knowledge (e.g., Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, SharePoint) to complete job duties effectively, such as using the company intranet and to accurately retrieve and input information into database or equivalent.

Additional Job Requirements:

This is a senior level position within the discipline functioning in a lead role as the subject matter expert (SME). Demonstrates advanced knowledge and proficiency in all areas of responsibility. Performs highly complex and unique tasks and job duties, receiving minimal to no instruction on routine work and new assignments. Works under minimal supervision with wide latitude for independent judgment.

• Collaborate with executive leadership and key stakeholders to understand business goals, translating them into specific data architecture requirements that support the company’s five-year vision.
• Conduct thorough analyses of industry trends, emerging technologies, and organizational needs to anticipate future data demands and inform architectural decisions and roadmaps.
• Lead the design and development of enterprise grade relational and multi-dimensional data architectures for structured and un-unstructured data, including defining data models that optimize performance and accessibility for various business applications and analytical tools.
• Apply understanding of data warehousing modeling techniques and their implementation on a modern data lakehouse.
• Apply understanding of multi-hop architecture to incrementally and progressively improve the structure and quality of data as it flows through each layer of the architecture
• Apply standard software development practices, including version control (e.g., DevOps, Git), infrastructure as code (IaC), continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD), and automated testing to ensure high-quality and maintainable code.

Additional Competencies: 

• Ability to lead and mentor a team of data architects and engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement. 
• Demonstrated in-depth knowledge & experience with:
• Master Data Management processes, policies, standards and tools.
• Building data platforms to support operational and analytics reporting using an industry-standard open source or commercial BI/Analytics platforms. 
• Data design patterns, especially Lakehouse medallion architecture.
• Proficiency in cloud platforms such as Azure and Databricks.
• Declarative frameworks for building reliable, maintainable, and testable data pipelines e.g. Delta Live Tables (DLT), Databricks Asset Bundles.
• Sql and NoSql data stores both cloud based and on-premise e.g. Azure Sql Database, CosmosDB, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle. 
• Data processing, data engineering transformation patterns, and supporting technologies including a strong understanding of ETL, ELT patterns and (optionally) data streaming patterns.

Minimum Qualifications: 

Required: *A combination of relevant work experience and/or education sufficient to perform the duties of the job may substitute to meet the total years required on a year-for-year basis

• High School diploma or equivalent.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Systems Analysis, Engineering, or related field. *
• Minimum of ten (10) years of experience in software developmentor similar technical role. *
  • Including a minimum of four (4) years of data architecture and design experience.

Preferred:

• Master’s degree or PhD in relevant field.
• Databricks Architecture/Data Engineering experience.
• Telecommunications experience.
• Relevant telecom industry or job specific certifications

DRIVING REQUIREMENTS: 

• This position may require access to reliable transportation for occasional travel between retail store locations, offices, worksites, or other locations as needed.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS and WORKING CONDITIONS:  

• Work is primarily sedentary, requiring daily routine computer usage.
• Ability to work shifts as assigned, work in standard office/home office setting, and operate standard office equipment.
• Ability to accurately communicate information and ideas to others effectively.
• Physical agility and effort sufficient to perform job duties safely and effectively.
• Ability to make valid judgments and decisions.   
• Available to work additional time on weekends, holidays, before or after normal work hours when necessary. 
• Must work well in a team environment and be able to work with a diverse group of people and customers.
• Virtual workers must comply with remote work policies and agreements.

The company and its subsidiaries operate in a 24/7 environment providing critical services to Alaskans and may need to respond to public health and safety matters or other business emergencies. Due to business needs employees may be contacted outside of the core business hours to respond to the immediate emergency. As such, you will be requested to provide emergency after hours contact numbers, to include your home and cell phone numbers if you have those services. Culture, Engagement, and Connection: At GCI, we foster an environment where the unique perspectives of our employees, customers, and fellow Alaskans are celebrated. We add value to our community by nurturing and empowering each member of our workforce, ensuring equal opportunities for every Trailblazer. EEO: GCI is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, veteran status, or any other status or classification protected under applicable state or federal law.  DISCLAIMER:  The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification.  It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job. All employees of GCI work in support of the GCI Mission Statement and Declaration of Principles which are located on the GCI Career page and Employee portal.

Required Training for Job Role: 

Antenna Training: No Lifeline Training: No 911 Training:  No FAR Training:  No FCC396:  No E-Rate & RHC Training:  Yes SOC: 151143 WC: 8901