Director, Platform Architecture

About the role

The Director, Platform Architecture at Deckers Brands is responsible for defining and scaling the company's modern data and analytics platform architecture. This includes establishing foundational architectural frameworks, technology standards, and best practices for a cloud-native platform, with AWS as the core environment. The role involves collaborating with various teams to enable analytics, AI, and domain-driven data products across the enterprise.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement the enterprise data platform strategy aligned with business objectives and digital transformation initiatives
• Define and maintain the architectural blueprint and reference architecture for the cloud-native data platform using AWS as the core environment
• Establish principles and patterns for platform scalability, reliability, security, observability, and cost optimization across platform services and shared capabilities
• Design and maintain standards for platform architecture layers including infrastructure, networking, identity and access management, audit logging, metadata management, access control, and observability
• Partner with domain architects and engineering teams to ensure shared platform services are reusable, modular, and governed, and that domain teams can self-serve effectively
• Guide the adoption of platform services and tools that enable data mesh, pub-sub models, event-driven architectures, and self-serve data product delivery
• Lead evaluation and selection of core platform technologies and services, ensuring they meet business needs for analytics, real-time streaming, governance, and machine learning enablement
• Promote architectural patterns that enable resilience, scalability, cost efficiency, and rapid delivery, including standards for automation, environment management, and operational readiness
• Partner with Data Governance, Security, and Compliance teams to embed privacy, security, and audit-readiness into platform architecture and delivery practices
• Define standards for metadata capture, lineage tracking, data quality measurement, and access management across platform services and tooling
• Provide architectural leadership and mentorship to platform engineers, DevOps teams, and data engineering teams, including design reviews and technical guidance
• Collaborate with Program Delivery, Product Management, and architecture peers to align roadmaps, sequencing, and execution plans across multiple teams
• Influence platform design decisions across the organization and drive alignment to enterprise goals through standards, reference implementations, and review processes
• Support vendor evaluations, licensing decisions, and long-term technology investments for the platform ecosystem, including total cost of ownership considerations

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field; Master’s degree preferred
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional or equivalent certifications are highly preferred
• 10 to 15 years of experience in platform architecture, data architecture, or enterprise systems design
• 5 or more years of leadership experience building or scaling cloud-native data platforms, ideally on AWS
• Experience supporting modern data architectures including lakehouse models, real-time streaming, and domain-oriented data products
• Experience in the retail, consumer products, or e-commerce industry is preferred but not required
• Deep expertise in AWS cloud services related to data storage, compute, networking, security, and auditability, including services such as S3, Redshift, Glue, Lake Formation, EMR, Kinesis, IAM, VPC, and CloudTrail
• Knowledge of distributed computing frameworks, modern file formats and open table standards including Parquet and Iceberg
• Familiarity with governance, cataloging, lineage, and privacy frameworks and regulations including GDPR and CCPA
• Deep understanding of modern cloud-native architecture, distributed systems, and data platform technologies
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to work cross-functionally and influence without direct authority
• Excellent problem-solving and decision-making abilities in complex, fast-paced environments
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences
• Comfortable working in a global, matrixed organization with a proactive, results-driven approach

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field; Master’s degree preferred
• 10 to 15 years of experience in platform architecture, data architecture, or enterprise systems design
• 5 or more years of leadership experience building or scaling cloud-native data platforms, ideally on AWS
• Experience supporting modern data architectures including lakehouse models, real-time streaming, and domain-oriented data products
• Experience in the retail, consumer products, or e-commerce industry is preferred but not required
• Deep expertise in AWS cloud services related to data storage, compute, networking, security, and auditability, including services such as S3, Redshift, Glue, Lake Formation, EMR, Kinesis, IAM, VPC, and CloudTrail
• Knowledge of distributed computing frameworks, modern file formats and open table standards including Parquet and Iceberg
• Familiarity with governance, cataloging, lineage, and privacy frameworks and regulations including GDPR and CCPA
• Deep understanding of modern cloud-native architecture, distributed systems, and data platform technologies
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to work cross-functionally and influence without direct authority
• Excellent problem-solving and decision-making abilities in complex, fast-paced environments
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences
• Comfortable working in a global, matrixed organization with a proactive, results-driven approach

Skills

• Leadership
• Problem-solving
• Technical knowledge (AWS, distributed systems, data platform technologies)
• Communication
• Collaboration

Benefits

Competitive Pay and Bonuses
Financial Planning and wellbeing
Time away from work
Extras, discounts and perks
Growth and Development
Health and Wellness

Pay

$154,700.00 - $208,800.00

Schedule

Remote