Data Architect

About the role

The role of Data Architect is to design and evolve the NHL's enterprise data architecture across relational, warehouse, and streaming platforms, with hands-on responsibility for the underlying infrastructure that supports it in both on-premises and cloud (AWS) environments. The Data Architect partners with application, analytics, and platform teams to ensure data systems are scalable, secure, performant, and aligned with long-term technology and compliance strategy.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the target-state data architecture across OLTP, data warehouse, data lake, and streaming platforms.
• Design logical and physical data models, integration patterns, and reference architectures for new and existing applications.
• Architect the infrastructure supporting data platforms — compute, storage, networking, HA/DR topology — across on-prem and AWS.
• Establish standards for data platform deployment, backup, replication, and recovery, and validate that operational teams can execute them repeatably.
• Partner with development teams on schema design, query patterns, and performance tuning; serve as senior escalation point for architectural and performance issues.
• Define data security, access, and governance standards aligned with SOC 2 control requirements — including least-privilege access, encryption at rest and in transit, audit logging, change management, and handling of PII (masking, tokenization, obfuscation).
• Partner with Security, Risk, and Compliance teams to evidence data-platform controls during SOC 2 audits and other regulatory reviews.
• Evaluate and recommend database engines, data platforms, and infrastructure services; lead proofs-of-concept and migration planning with an emphasis on MySQL technologies.
• Coordinate with Infrastructure, DevOps, and Security teams on capacity planning, patching cadence, upgrade paths, and platform lifecycle for database-related infrastructure with emphasis on MySQL.
• Produce architecture documentation, diagrams, and decision records to guide implementation teams and satisfy audit requirements.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in data engineering, database administration, or data architecture roles, with at least 2 years in an architect or lead capacity.
• Hands-on experience across multiple database engines (MySQL required; PostgreSQL, SQL Server, or NoSQL platforms a plus).
• Demonstrated experience designing data solutions in both AWS and on-premises Linux environments.
• Experience operating data platforms in a SOC 2 (or comparable audited) environment, including participation in control design and evidence collection.
• Experience with data warehouse and/or analytics platforms (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery) and modern data pipeline tooling.
• Deep understanding of HA, replication, backup, and disaster recovery strategies across on-prem and cloud.
• Working knowledge of infrastructure fundamentals — Linux, networking, storage, IAM, VPC design — sufficient to architect the platforms that host data systems.
• Strong knowledge of least-privilege access models, segregation of duties, and data-protection practices for regulated and sensitive data (including PII).
• Familiarity with SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria (Security, Availability, Confidentiality) and how they translate into data-platform controls.
• Experience leading migrations, major upgrades, and platform consolidations.
• Understanding that occasional after-hours and weekend support will be expected for major changes and incident escalation.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Skills

• SQL, Python, Bash/PowerShell.
• AWS data and infrastructure services (RDS, Aurora, S3, EC2, VPC, IAM, DMS, Glue, or equivalents).
• Infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation) and CI/CD for database change management with auditable change history.
• Data modeling and diagramming tools (e.g., ER/Studio, dbdiagram, Lucid).
• Familiarity with monitoring/observability and audit logging tools (CloudWatch, Prometheus, Datadog, or similar).
• Strong data modeling skills (normalized OLTP, dimensional, and denormalized analytics models).
• Ability to translate business, application, and compliance requirements into scalable, cost-aware data solutions.
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to present architectural direction to both engineering teams and non-technical stakeholders.

Core Competencies

• Accountability
• Adaptability
• Communication
• Critical Thinking
• Inclusion
• Professionalism
• Teamwork & Collaboration

Benefits

• Time to Recharge: Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) including paid holidays, vacation, personal and sick days, plus an extra day off for your birthday.
• Health: Comprehensive health benefits (medical, dental, vision) effective on the first day, with the NHL subsidizing a large portion of costs. Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental, physical, and financial health, plus a digital wellness resource.
• Childcare Leave: Up to 12 weeks of paid leave for primary caregivers and up to 6 weeks for non-primary caregivers following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child.
• Retirement: 401K plan (pre-tax and Roth options) with non-elective employer contributions.
• Hybrid Work Schedule: Flexibility in work locations/schedules for a majority of roles.
• Office Perks: State-of-the-art offices at One Manhattan West in Hudson Yards, featuring high-tech conference rooms, game rooms, and access to shops, dining, and public artwork.
• Commuter Savings: Pre-tax commuter benefit plan to offset travel costs.
• NHL Partner Rates: Exclusive pricing on travel, consumer goods, services, and the NHL Store.
• Life at the NHL: Opportunities to join hockey games, Employee Resource Groups, and team-building activities.

Pay

Salary range: $175,000–$200,000. Actual base pay will be determined based on experience, training, market demands, and geographic location.