Principal Data & Process Architect

KU Endowment is an independent, nonprofit organization and the official fundraising foundation for the University of Kansas. We partner with donors in providing philanthropic support to build a greater KU. As an employee, you’ll witness firsthand the power of our donors’ generosity and join a talented, fun group of people inspired to help KU through the support of loyal alumni and friends. This support fuels excellence, enabling students and faculty to develop innovative programs and research that distinguish the university.

About the role

As a Principal Data & Process Architect, you’ll play a vital role in KU Endowment’s overall IS team. We are a data-critical organization looking for a proactive individual to help solve, build, and operate environments including Salesforce CRM, marketing, and financial systems. This position will research, recommend, implement, and support multiple system and data projects as a collaborative process architect working with teammates and stakeholders at all levels to optimize our use of data toward the mission of KU Endowment.

The individual in this position is expected to embrace KU Endowment’s core values—passion for KU, partnership with donors, perpetual support for KU, and a people-centered approach—and demonstrate them through professional interactions and activities.

Following the initial training period, this position offers a hybrid work schedule, with flexibility to work remotely part of the week. The role requires multiple days per week on-site at our Lawrence, KS office to ensure effective collaboration, team engagement, and alignment with organizational goals.

Responsibilities

• Research, evaluate, and recommend technical solutions to KU Endowment.
• Work with business partners to understand technical application needs and proactively recommend new solutions.
• Review submissions for new applications/systems, identify conflicts or areas of overlap, observability opportunities, and recommend technical process improvements.
• Champion automation and lead initiatives in artificial intelligence.
• Support existing integrations and assist in the development of new integrations, automations, or datasets.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on KU Endowment technology, tools, business processes, and functional areas.
• Work with internal partners and campus affiliates to identify process gaps ahead of technology deployments and coordinate stakeholders to solve them.
• Understand how data flows between systems and partners to ensure best practices and work with the security team to protect data.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree.
• 8-12 years of experience working in a combination of data warehouse deployments, ERP and CRM migrations, and analytics engineering roles.
• Demonstrated knowledge and ability to work in cloud platforms such as GCP, AWS, or Azure.

Skills

• Conceptual & Logical Modeling: Proven ability to design complex data models (relational and non-relational) that align with business entities and functional requirements.
• Data Lineage & Dictionary Management: Experience establishing enterprise-wide data dictionaries, business glossaries, and end-to-end data lineage.
• Semantic Layer Design: Expertise in designing semantic layers that bridge the gap between raw technical data and business-friendly reporting structures.
• Entity-Relationship Mapping: Deep experience in mapping data elements between disparate source systems (e.g., CRM to ERP) to ensure structural integrity during integration.
• Advanced Data Orchestration: Mastery of self-service ETL/ELT tools such as KNIME or Alteryx to automate complex, multi-step data preparation workflows.
• Cloud Data Warehousing: Hands-on experience architecting and managing scalable data solutions within cloud environments (e.g., Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift).
• Cloud Infrastructure Proficiency: Functional knowledge of cloud service providers (AWS, Azure, or GCP), specifically regarding storage, compute, and data ingestion services.
• Transformation Logic & Version Control: Proficiency in SQL for complex transformations.
• Business Process Modeling (BPM): Expertise in mapping "as-is" and "to-be" business processes using standards like BPMN 2.0 to identify inefficiencies and data gaps.
• Systems Implementation (ERP/CRM): Proven track record in the lifecycle of ERP (e.g., SAP, Oracle, NetSuite) and CRM (e.g., Salesforce, Dynamics 365) deployments, specifically regarding data migration and configuration.
• Gap Analysis: Ability to perform rigorous gap analysis between existing business workflows and system capabilities to drive functional requirements.
• Cross-Functional Translation: Ability to translate high-level business requirements from non-technical stakeholders into technical functional specifications for engineering teams.
• Integrated Data/Process Logic: Ability to visualize how a change in a business process (e.g., a new sales workflow) impacts downstream data structures and analytics reporting.
• Data Integrity & Governance Frameworks: Experience implementing data quality checks and governance protocols within automated pipelines to ensure process-driven data accuracy.
• Scalability Planning: Ability to design data and process architectures that are scalable for organizational growth and increasing data volumes.

Physical Requirements

• A valid driver’s license and access to reliable transportation to travel between multiple locations for training, donor meetings, networking, events, and work-related activities.
• Ability to respond quickly and effectively to directions and safety hazards.
• Works in a professional office environment, routinely using standard office equipment such as computers, keyboards, phones, photocopiers, and filing cabinets.
• Ability to observe details at close range (within a few feet).
• Effective communication with others.
• Medium physical effort/lifting: up to 50 pounds.

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid pension plan.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) and Roth 401(k) matching program.
• Section 125 flexible benefits.
• Generous paid leave including holidays, personal, and sick leave.
• Volunteer and community engagement opportunities.
• Paid Parental Leave.
• Life, AD&D, short- and long-term disability insurance.
• Legal & ID Theft protection.
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital Indemnity insurance.
• KU education assistance.
• Free parking.

Pay

The anticipated salary for this position starts at $136,500+. The final pay will be determined based on several factors, including qualifications, experience, education, and years within the job or industry, with a strong emphasis on maintaining internal equity.