Lead the overall data architecture for client projects, translating business needs into technical designs and documented requirements. Manage the full project lifecycle from discovery and design through implementation, testing, and deployment.
Data Architect
We are looking for a Data Architect to help us support our continued growth. The Data Architect is responsible for leading aspects of our data practice and owning the overall data architecture for client projects as well as recommending best practices based on client needs. The Data Architect facilitates discovery sessions to understand client business, applications and data and translates findings into technical requirements supported by a documented design. They provide input and communication to project and client team members in order to build the foundation as a trusted partner. They lead the implementation team through all phases of the life cycle; including design, build, test, deploy and maintenance.
Role Responsibilities:
During the project selling phase:
- Participate in business development activities to showcase Coastal skills in the data disciplines, including architecture, modeling, migration, integration, data quality and enrichment, security, analytics, master data management, metadata management, big data and governance
- Assist with demonstrations of client work and internal accelerators to reinforce our experience with prospects
- Assist in developing statements of work and accurate estimates for the data related work being proposed
During the planning and analysis phase:
- Bring knowledge of data architecture options to the project team and propose solutions that will properly meet the business needs at hand
- Provide input on the best components to include in the enterprise architecture, including all Salesforce clouds (i.e. Sales, Service, Health Cloud, FLS, CPQ/QTC, Heroku, MuleSoft, etc.), as well as non-Salesforce infrastructure such as GCP, AWS or Azure, and how to integrate these cloud offerings with a client’s on-prem or private cloud systems.
- Identify when a data migration will be necessary to retire a legacy system or seed required data to a new system
- Lead source data analysis for data migrations and produce mappings and transformation instructions to reach the target database
- Assess the need for data quality tools to assist in de-duplication, merging and validation (i.e. addresses, email, phone numbers, etc.)
- Identify when data enrichment requirements necessitate a service to be added to the architecture
- Identify when a proper analytics and visualization platform is necessary to meeting business reporting and analytics requirements
- Know when to apply the appropriate integration patterns in the architecture; including batch/ETL, event triggered, durable message queues, API proxies, screen embedding, etc.
- Awareness of security best practices into all aspects of the data architecture
- Assist in the design of the appropriate architecture based on time, scope and budget constraints - have the ability to simplify as necessary while still addressing the needs of the business requirements
During the implementation phase:
- Provide assistance in data modeling to the project team
- Guide the team on the appropriate phases of the implementation to perform conceptual, logical or physical modeling
- Guide the team on the appropriate time to normalize vs. denormalize a data model based on technology, use case and performance requirements
- Be fluent at relational, and dimensional data modeling techniques
- Provide detailed artifacts from the data modeling process, including Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs) and comprehensive data dictionaries
- Contribute to the implementation of all tools identified during the planning phase, including tools for integration, migration, quality, enrichment, analytics, visualization, master data, metadata and security
- During the testing phase:
- Assist in identifying best practices for data in all phases of testing, including unit, system, integration, performance/stress, user acceptance, and regression
- Introduce testing tools to ensure high quality and repeatable steps
- Provide guidance on test data creation and maintenance to ensure all edge cases are tested with production-like data
- Assist putting measures in place when sensitive production data is needed for testing, including obfuscation and/or masking
During the deployment phase:
- Identify tooling to ensure high quality and repeatable deployment activities take place
- Provide assistance in using the Salesforce metadata and tooling APIs
- Provide assistance with using version control tools, such as GitHub, to manage code repositories and deployment pipelines
- Recommend the use of Salesforce metadata deployment tools such as the SFDX, CLI, Copado, GearSet, Flosum, or other relevant tooling
- In support of Coastal’s people, methods and tools:
- Develop and document best practices in all areas of the data discipline
- Mentor our novice analysts, data engineers and new architects to develop skills and promote interest in the data career path
- Develop and advocate for accelerators in all areas of data to help our teams deliver more consistently and efficiently
- Provide input for the improvement of our estimating models in the data disciplines
- Assist in nourishing vendor relationships in the data space so that Coastal can bring the appropriate toolset to bear with our clients
Experience/Skills Required:
Understanding of data and architecture oriented tools and platforms (examples below):
- Platforms: Salesforce (all clouds), Heroku, Google Cloud, AWS, Azure
- Reporting: Tableau, Tableau Prep, CRM Analytics, PowerBI
- Integration: Tibco Cloud Integration, MuleSoft, Jitterbit, Boomi, Informatica
- API Management: Tibco Mashery, Google APIgee, MuleSoft
- Quality: DemandTools, Plauti
- Enrichment: D&B, ZoomInfo, Wealth Engine, Populi
- Back-Up: OwnBackUp
- Security: Salesforce Shield, Okta, Active Directory, SAML, OAuth2, JWT
- Testing: Selenium, Provar, Postman, SOAP UI
- Metadata Management/Deployment: Copado, GearSet, Flosum, SFDX, GitHub
- 2+ years sourcing Business Intelligence solutions from Salesforce
- 4+ years of data migration experience from complex enterprise systems and preferably to Salesforce
- 6+ years experience in a Senior Consultant (or equivalent seniority)
- Knowledgeable at implementing common enterprise integration patterns, including ETL, batch, event, pub/sub, etc.
- Knowledgeable at API Management, especially with REST standards, including implementation of developer portals, API monitoring, OAS/Swagger specifications
- Learn client business processes and relate to source data to help discover data to answer business questions. Provide input to clients when defining the optimal to-be data architecture.
- Ability to adapt to a fast-paced, ever-changing environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously
- Expertise of relational database design, logical data modeling, data warehousing, and relational database management systems. Experience on the top RDBMS systems (SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL)
- Experience in using design tools (i.e. LucidChart, Visio, ERwin, etc.) for ERDs and other deliverables
- Experience in tool implementation so support governance policies, such as Salesforce Shield or Fairwarning
- Ability to provide input to client security questionnaires and audits during the sales evaluation process. Understand the implications of data in implementing security guidelines such as HIPAA, PCI, SOX, ISO, NIST, etc.
- Awareness of industry specific data integration standards such as EDI, HL7, FIHR, etc.
- Hands-on expertise in SQL, SOQL, SOSL and SAQL query languages
- Must have full-time permanent US work authorization
Additional Preferred Experience/Skills:
- Bachelor’s Degree preferred, or equivalent experience
- Tableau Certifications (Desktop Specialist, Desktop Certified Associate or Tableau Certified Associate Consultant)
- Salesforce Certifications
- Mulesoft Certifications (Dev, Platform Architect)
- Other integration (Tibco, Boomi, Informatica, Jitterbit) or IaaS certifications (i.e. AWS, GCP, Azure)
- Programming skills in a language appropriate for data wrangling (i.e. Javascript, Python, R, SAS, C#, etc.)
- Web application development experience
- Must have full-time permanent US work authorization
Why Coastal, and what we offer:
- Flexible working hours with an emphasis on a life-work balance (in that order!)
- Remote flexible work; “Live by the beach, work in the Cloud,” plus company office locations in Palm Coast, FL; Atlanta, GA; Tysons, VA & Lexington, KY; travel as required to client locations
- Unlimited Paid Time Off (RTO), 401K with Company Match, and Medical, Vision, & Dental coverage
- Competitive quarterly bonus opportunities
- Continuing education and certification reimbursements, specifically within the Salesforce and Snowflake ecosystems; plus occasional in-house competitions with spot bonuses
- A flexible and fun team culture! We value transparency, support, flexibility, growth, teamwork, fun, and so much more
- Frequent team and culture activities, virtual & in-person, including Lunch and Learns, Happy Hours, team-building events
- Monthly All-Hands calls to bring the company together, and an open-door leadership policy with access to mentorship and guidance
- Opportunities for accelerated growth, networking, and career guidance and support
- Trust, transparency and respect across all levels of the company
Coastal provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.