Senior Data Architect in Los Angeles, CA for University of Southern California (USC) (2024)

Internal Number: REQ20121879

The University of Southern Californias Information Technology Services (ITS) is seeking a talented Senior Data Architect with an exceptional commitment to service excellence to join its team. You will be an integral member of the Enterprise Data & Analytics team, collaborating with diverse and talented team members to help solve multidimensional information technology problems, improve customer experience, and generate value for our campus stakeholders across a broad base of departments and constituencies.

As a Senior Data Architect, you will be responsible for the strategic design and development of data architecture that governs how our data is collected, stored, processed, integrated, and used. You will help build a data catalog, design data models to empower product and analytics, evaluate various internal and external sources, and ensure data quality. Your curiosity and passion for data will drive close work with Engineering and Product teams to develop data-centric solutions at USC.

THE TEAM

ITS has embarked on a major digital transformation initiative to continually improve services for faculty, staff, and students in support of USCs ascent as a leading institution of higher education. The ITS vision aligns strategy, business, and services; affirms ITS cultural values; empowers cross-functional teamwork; embraces world-class best practices; and promotes innovation, excellence, agility, and efficiency. To achieve this vision, ITS is committed to providing a modern technology infrastructure that is resilient and delivers the performance necessary to meet the demands of a growing customer base, training in the latest technologies for its highly productive and motivated workforce, outstanding customer experience, and technology services that are aligned with the universitys mission to provide exceptional learning opportunities for students. ITS is creating a workplace where employees can develop cutting-edge skills, take pride in the services they provide, and have access to the roles and career paths that align with their abilities and potential.

We are looking for top talent to join us on our journey.

ITS CULTURE

USCs ITS organization represents a diverse and talented team, committed to supporting a collaborative culture and delivering secure and innovative IT services, core to the mission of USC. ITS values accountability, excellence, and commitment to exceptional customer experience. ITS strives for a supportive and inclusive culture that encourages employees to do their best work every day and where individuals are recognized and celebrated for their contributions.

ABOUT USC

USC is the leading private research university in Los Angelesa global center for arts, technology, and international business. With more than 47,500 students, we are located primarily in Los Angeles but also in various US and global satellite locations. As the largest private employer in Los Angeles, responsible for $8 billion annually in economic activity in the region, we offer the opportunity to work in a dynamic and diverse environment, in careers that span a broad spectrum of talents and skills across a variety of academic and professional schools and administrative units. As a USC employee and member of the Trojan Familythe faculty, staff, students, and alumni who make USC a great place to workyou will enjoy excellent benefits, including a variety of well-being programs designed to help individuals achieve work-life balance.

Come join the ITS team and work as a trusted partner in shaping an environment of innovation and excellence for the university.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

The candidate for the position of Senior Data Architect must meet the following qualifications:

• Bachelors degree or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
• Minimum 5 years in information technology and/or higher education.
• Extensive knowledge of and experience in database development, developing and delivering data architecture solutions and strategies.
• Firm understanding of data modeling, master data management, enterprise data warehousing, ETL, reporting, querying, requirements analysis, and data integration techniques.
• Proven ability to understand and work with large, complex IT systems.
• Experience contributing to and managing development policies, planning, and executing with perseverance, drive, and keen attention to detail.
• Extensive knowledge of network architecture.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, presenting technical topics in a technically-oriented detailed fashion to technical audiences.
• Ability to develop positive working relationships and strong rapport with team members and stakeholders.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

The ideal candidate for the position of Senior Data Architect has the following qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer information systems, information technology, or relevant field.
• 8 years in information technology, big data, data science, analytics platforms and/or higher education.
• Provide hands-on technical and execution leadership for engineering teams.
• Propose and review architecture deliverables throughout the development process to ensure quality, security, and traceability aligned with enterprise data strategy.
• Experience with ERP, large scale implementations (Workday, SAP, Oracle etc...).
• Experience working on projects solutioning large-scale data architecture for real time data processing, batch processing, application enablement, business intelligence, operationalizing and modernizing of data warehouses, data lakes, analytics platforms and introducing new capabilities and services.
• 5+ years of experience with data & analytics, cloud computing, cloud data and data-management solutions (e.g., Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Informatica) and system engineering.
• 5+ years of experience designing and developing complex integration data flow architectures.
• 5+ years of experience with one or more database technologies (Oracle, MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Hadoop. Snowflake).
• Experience with AWS services such as Athena, Glue DataBrew, Lambda, S3, DynamoDB NoSQL, Relational Database Service (RDS), Amazon EMR and Amazon Redshift, SageMaker, QuickSight, Kinesis, OpenSearch, Deep Learning AMIs, Lake Formation.
• Extensive hands-on experience with SQL/Store Procedures.
• Experience with Master Data Management and Data Quality processes and tools.
• Experience with Data Governance and Data Cataloging planning and implementation.
• Hands-on experience developing software code in one or more programming languages (Java, Python, etc).
• Proven experience configuring and tuning data warehouse, ETL, reporting, analytics applications, and underlying software.
• Strong knowledge of networking and security concepts and frameworks.
• Experience in DevOps(CI/CD) pipeline facilitating automated deployment and testing.
• Experience with agile development methodologies.
• Exemplary communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to present the business side of technical topics to non-technical audiences, and persuasively and effectively interact with various stakeholders and diverse individuals and groups.

THE WORK YOU WILL DO

You will drive the development of data modeling standards, guidelines, and techniques. You will manage ITS data architecture, oversees the identification of business requirements and functional designs, and develops strategies for prototyping, testing, and training.

Demonstrates ITS values in action.

Job Accountabilities

• Oversees data architecture designs, business requirements, prototypes, testing, and training. Develops conceptual, logical, and physical data models, and supports the development of data strategies by building roadmaps and creating processes to meet current and future needs. Sets research strategies, provides informed recommendations on innovative data tools and services, and aligns decision-making with the universitys vision and all standard policies, processes, and procedures.
• Manages a repository of documentation related to data architecture standards, protocols, and frameworks, and regularly evaluates for improvement opportunities. Maintains currency with emerging technologies, leveraging industry knowledge and expertise to drive continuous improvement and innovation efforts in data architecture and related areas (e.g., application programming interfaces).
• Oversees root cause analyses and analyzes data trends, utilizing disruptive technologies to assist the identification of business value opportunities for customers and key stakeholders in administrative and academic units. Gains insight into customer challenges and data requirements and seeks to deliver quality solutions, collaborating with system and business owners to develop problem prevention strategies.

• Actively embodies ITS values and behaviors (e.g., accountability, customer service). Drives regular communications with department leaders, data teams, and vendors, contributing to a culture of trust and transparency. Supports the enterprise data and analytics teams vision, working closely with team members and management to implement and support effective solutions for data architecture.

This position's annual base salary range is $140,000- $170,000. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidates work experience, education/training, critical skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

Come join the USC ITS team and work as a trusted partner in shaping an environment of innovation and excellence.

#LM-MM1

Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree, Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education Minimum Experience: 5 yearsMinimum Field of Expertise: Extensive knowledge of and experience in database development, developing and delivering data architecture solutions and strategies. Firm understanding of data modeling, master data management, enterprise data warehousing, ETL, reporting, querying, requirements analysis, and data integration techniques. Thorough understanding of database server architecture, administration, and security. Proven ability to understand and work with large, complex IT systems. Experience contributing to and managing development policies, planning and executing with perseverance, drive, and keen attention to detail. Extensive knowledge of network architecture. Excellent written and oral communication skills, presenting technical topics in a technically-oriented detailed fashion to technical audiences. Ability to develop positive working relationships and strong rapport with team members and stakeholders.