Senior Director, Data Architecture

Job Description

The Senior Director, Data Architecture is a pivotal leadership role responsible for championing, building, and scaling a world-class Data Architecture practice in support of Starr’s global enterprise data vision.

Overview

Reporting to the Chief Data Officer, the candidate will define and deliver modern, resilient, and secure data architectures that underpin all insurance systems, capabilities, and platforms. Leveraging deep domain experience in insurance (P&C and Specialty lines), data management, modeling, and analytics, the Senior Director will translate business and technical requirements into scalable data solutions that enable the organization’s innovation, regulatory compliance, and growth objectives.

Data Architecture Vision, Strategy & Governance

• Define and execute the data architecture vision and strategic roadmap in close alignment with the CDO and enterprise data strategy.
• Architect scalable, resilient, and secure solutions for enterprise-wide data integration, warehousing, analytics, operational systems, and augmentation with external data sources.
• Develop and champion standardized, insurance-centric data modeling frameworks, data architecture best practices, and reference architectures to ensure quality, consistency, and performance.
• Drive adoption of modern data technologies, advanced data modeling, cloud architectures, and data governance principles, while building the discipline and maturity of Starr’s Data Architecture organization.

Architectural Oversight & Solution Delivery

• Drive architectural oversight for design, build, and operate phases of critical enterprise data initiatives—including new insurance products, data platforms, modernization, digital transformation, and regulatory projects.
• Translate functional and technical requirements into robust data architectures; guide engineering, analytics, product, and delivery teams throughout the data solution lifecycle.
• Perform hands-on technical delivery and problem solving for complex, strategic initiatives, ensuring successful execution against business, compliance, and technical requirements.
• Formalize current- and future-state architectural roadmaps that support unified, global, and consistent views of Customer, Policy, Claims, Financials, and other key insurance data domains.

Insurance Data Domain Leadership

• Develop and maintain standardized insurance data models, schemas, and pipelines; ensure applicability across the business for operational, analytical, and regulatory purposes.
• Integrate core insurance application data (e.g., Policy Administration, Claims, Reinsurance, Financials) with enterprise data platform and external third-party sources for holistic insights.
• Lead data architecture initiatives supporting evolving requirements of actuarial, underwriting, claims, compliance, finance, and product innovation teams.

Audit Adoption of Modern Data Technologies & Best Practices

• Evaluate, select, and drive adoption of cutting-edge data technologies and architectural approaches (cloud-native, distributed, streaming, data lakehouse, real-time analytics).
• Accelerate enablement of cloud-based, medallion architecture (bronze/silver/gold), data pipeline automation, metadata management, and advanced analytics infrastructure.
• Promote strong data governance integration—including quality, cataloging, lineage, privacy, security, and compliance policies—across all data architecture outputs.

Data Organization Leadership & Team Building

• Build and mentor a high-performing Data Architecture function, including data architects, modelers, solution designers, and technical delivery leads.
• Foster cross-team collaboration with engineering, operations, analytics, and governance teams, ensuring seamless delivery of robust data solutions across the enterprise.

Stakeholder Engagement & Change Leadership

• Serve as chief architectural advisor and liaison to internal and external stakeholders - educating teams on data architecture capabilities and value.
• Ensure business requirements are accurately captured and reflected in scalable technical designs; drive business adoption and platform utilization.

Continuous Improvement, Innovation, & Risk Management

• Champion continuous improvement in architectural processes, tooling, methodology, and capability development.
• Lead architectural risk assessment, mitigation, and proactive controls to ensure technical, business, and compliance objectives are met.
• Track and report architectural health and progress using enterprise KPIs, quality metrics, and roadmap milestones.

Technical Skills & Requirements

• Advanced hands-on expertise in designing and modeling enterprise data architectures (cloud-native, hybrid, lakehouse, distributed, real-time).
• Deep experience with data management, advanced data modeling (conceptual, logical, physical), insurance data schemas, and master data/reference data frameworks.
• Expertise in Medallion architecture, batch/streaming pipeline design, external data augmentation.
• In-depth understanding of metadata management, data governance, lineage, cataloging, residency and security/privacy frameworks.
• Familiarity with insurance business models, core platforms (Guidewire, Duck Creek, Majesco), and regulatory/compliance-driven architecture requirements.
• Ability to assess legacy and modern architectures, and transition organizations toward future state aligned with business goals.
• Experience driving transformation of architecture standards and best practices across globally distributed teams.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or related field; advanced degree highly preferred.
• 12+ years’ experience in data architecture, data modeling, and enterprise data management with 5+ years in senior leadership roles.
• Significant insurance industry experience, ideally within P&C and Specialty, with deep understanding of industry data requirements.
• Proven track record architecting, delivering, and governing complex data solutions for operational, analytical, and regulatory purposes in global organizations.
• Expertise building and formalizing insurance data models, frameworks, and best practices.
• Experience leading architectural teams, driving transformation and adoption of modern data architectures and governance.
• Excellent technical leadership, stakeholder management, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Professional certifications in data architecture, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), and insurance data management are highly desirable.