Data Architect

Finalsite is the first community relationship management platform for K-12 schools, transforming how schools attract students, engage families, build community — and thrive. More than 7,000 schools and districts worldwide trust Finalsite’s integrated platform for their websites, communications, mobile apps, enrollment, and marketing services. Finalsite is headquartered in Glastonbury, CT, USA with employees who work remotely in nearly every state in the U.S. as well as Europe, South America, and Asia. For more information, please visit www.finalsite.com.

VISION

Finalsite will transform the way school communities engage with their schools. SUMMARY OF THE ROLE

The Data Architect will play a crucial role in managing an enterprise data lakehouse and team of data professionals while driving design and implementation of data pipelines and governance within a scalable cloud compute infrastructure. You will shepherd a technical team and collaborate with cross-functional teams to execute strategic investments in data-driven insights, driving the assessment and implementation of how lakehouse data assets support Finalsite’s most critical business use cases. You will also leverage data cataloguing and AI/ML capabilities to enable data discovery and self-service. The ideal candidate possesses a strong understanding of data platform management and cloud security requirements, data pipelining from a variety of structured and unstructured sources and formats, infrastructure as code, and excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

LOCATION

100% Remote - Anywhere within the US

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Databricks Platform Administration:

  • Manage groups, users, catalogs, schemas, and internal and external data access controls on Databricks objects with Unity Catalog to enable dozens of BI dashboards and data professionals to operate.

  • Maintain platform-supporting AWS services, including IAM, S3, and VPC, as well as connected GCP services, including BigQuery, CloudSQL, and IAM.

  • Monitor costs and identify and implement efficiencies in performance and design.

  • Implement access control layers and audits at the networking and application layers to ensure data security.

  • Create cloud infrastructure as code to support data pipelining and access.

• Data Management and Operations:

  • Set standards and templates for data pipeline metadata and operations.

  • Maintain a data governance strategy, policy, and standards.

  • Maintain data inputs into the data warehouse, ensuring data quality, security, and performance.

  • Create and maintain data pipelines in a Databricks medallion architecture to support critical business use cases.

  • Leverage DevOps and version control to deliver continuous improvements.

• Data Initiative Leadership :

  • Work closely with business stakeholders to understand their analytical needs.

  • Lead a team of data engineers and analysts to support investments in data insight and requests for improvement.

  • Provide review on code, data pipeline, and dashboard design to adhere to quality and consistency standards and ensure that technical approaches meet business needs.

• Performance Optimization:

  • Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks in data pipelines.

  • Continuously monitor and improve the performance and costs for operating the data lakehouse.

• Documentation and Training:

  • Document data management practices, operations, and impacts.

  • Provide training and support to data engineers.

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

• Bachelor's degree in Mathematics, Economics, Finance, Computer Science, Information Science, or related field.

• Deep hands-on experience with Apache Spark, Databricks (Azure/AWS), Python, SQL, and Delta Lake, including proven experience as a data engineer and data platform manager.

• Certification in Databricks Data Engineering or Platform Administration is highly desirable.

• Strong knowledge of Databricks Jobs, Apache Airflow, or other cloud-native data pipeline orchestration.

• Solid understanding of RBAC and ABAC. Experience with Unity Catalog is preferred.

• Solid understanding of data warehousing concepts and ETL processes.

• Experience with DevOps is preferred, and experience with Databricks asset bundles in a DevOps environment is desirable.

• Ability to work independently and lead a team effectively.

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Strong communication and collaboration skills.

RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT

Finalsite offers 100% fully remote employment opportunities, however, these opportunities are limited to permanent residents of the United States. Current residency, as well as continued residency, within the United States is required to obtain (and retain) employment with Finalsite.

DISCLOSURES

Finalsite is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact Finalsite's People Operations Team. Finalsite is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Finalsite will ensure that persons with disabilities or special needs are provided a reasonable accommodation. Ensure your Finalsite job offer is legitimate and don't fall victim to fraud. Ask your recruiter for a phone call or other type of verbal communication and ensure all email correspondence is from a finalsite.com email address. For added security, where possible, apply through our company website at finalsite.com/jobs.