Lead Data Architect

Job Title:

Lead Data Architect
Job Number:

QBA1027-5
Position Type:

Full-Time
Location:

Hybrid – Reston, Virginia, and client locations in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area
Days Remote:

2–3 days
Position Summary:

Inadev is seeking a highly experienced Lead Data Architect to define and lead the data architecture and modernization strategy for the SEC’s EDGAR program. The role focuses on designing highly available, scalable, secure, and resilient data platforms using AWS cloud services and open-source database technologies.
The Lead Data Architect will establish data architecture standards, guide database modernization and migration initiatives, and collaborate with application architects, engineers, DevSecOps teams, cybersecurity personnel, and business stakeholders. The ideal candidate will have extensive enterprise data architecture experience and strong hands-on expertise in PostgreSQL, AWS, data modeling, database performance, and cloud-native architecture.
Key Responsibilities:

Data Architecture & Technical Leadership

- Define and maintain the EDGAR enterprise data architecture and modernization roadmap.
- Establish architectural standards and patterns for relational, transactional, analytical, and distributed data workloads.
- Lead logical and physical data modeling across EDGAR applications and services.
- Define database design, partitioning, indexing, replication, availability, backup, recovery, and retention strategies.
- Conduct architecture and design reviews and provide technical direction to engineering teams.
- Establish standards for data quality, integrity, lineage, security, and lifecycle management.

AWS & Open-Source Database Architecture

- Architect cloud-native database solutions using AWS, PostgreSQL, and other open-source technologies.
- Design solutions using Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL, PostgreSQL, Amazon S3, AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), AWS Glue, and related AWS data services.
- Define patterns for highly available, fault-tolerant, scalable, and recoverable database environments.
- Evaluate database workload requirements and recommend appropriate storage, replication, caching, and performance strategies.
- Support infrastructure automation and repeatable deployment of database environments.

Database Modernization & Migration

- Lead database modernization from legacy platforms to AWS-hosted open-source database technologies.
- Define migration, transformation, reconciliation, and validation approaches.
- Develop strategies to minimize application disruption and migration risk.
- Partner with application teams to identify and remediate database dependencies, incompatible features, stored procedures, schemas, and data-access patterns.
- Establish performance baselines and validate migrated database workloads.

Performance & Reliability

- Establish database performance engineering and optimization practices.
- Lead the analysis of complex database performance and scalability issues.
- Define monitoring, observability, capacity, availability, backup, and disaster recovery requirements.
- Support architecture for mission-critical workloads requiring high levels of reliability and data integrity.

Security & Governance

- Define database security architecture, including encryption, access controls, secrets management, auditing, and data protection.
- Ensure data architecture aligns with SEC security and federal compliance requirements.
- Collaborate with cybersecurity and DevSecOps teams to incorporate security controls throughout the data lifecycle.

Technical Leadership

- Provide technical leadership and mentoring to database engineers, developers, and data specialists.
- Collaborate with application, cloud, integration, security, and DevSecOps architects to ensure cohesive end-to-end designs.
- Develop architecture documentation, standards, reference patterns, and technical decision records.
- Communicate complex data architecture decisions to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Minimum Experience:

- 10+ years of experience in database engineering, data architecture, or related disciplines.
- 5+ years in a senior or lead data architecture role supporting complex enterprise systems.

Mandatory Skills:

- Deep expertise in PostgreSQL and open-source relational database technologies.
- Strong experience designing database solutions in AWS.
- Experience with Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL and Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL.
- Strong knowledge of relational data modeling, normalization, indexing, partitioning, query optimization, and transaction processing.
- Experience architecting highly available, resilient, and scalable database platforms.
- Experience with database modernization and migration.
- Strong understanding of database security, encryption, access control, backup, recovery, and auditing.
- Experience supporting Agile and DevSecOps delivery environments.
- Strong technical leadership, communication, and architecture documentation skills.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.

Nice-to-Have Skills:

- Experience migrating enterprise databases from commercial or legacy technologies to PostgreSQL/Aurora PostgreSQL.
- Experience with AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT), or comparable migration technologies.
- Experience with AWS Glue, Amazon S3, CloudWatch, Secrets Manager, KMS, and related AWS services.
- Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and automated database deployment.
- Experience with APIs, microservices, event-driven architectures, and distributed systems.
- Knowledge of data governance, metadata management, lineage, and data quality practices.
- Familiarity with FISMA, NIST, and federal cybersecurity requirements.
- Experience supporting large-scale financial, regulatory, or federal information systems.
- AWS database, solutions architecture, or PostgreSQL-related certification.

Degrees and Certifications:

- Required
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

- Preferred
AWS database, solutions architecture, or PostgreSQL-related certification.