Principal Data Architect
Who We Are
At Newrez, we bring big thinkers and caring doers together to make home happen. We’re a team built on heart and hustle, united by a commitment to show up for our customers, our communities, and each other. We believe that when our people thrive, homeowners thrive - and that’s why we invest in your growth, wellbeing, and ability to make an impact.
Every day, we work to exceed the expectations of our residential mortgage borrowers and business partners through superior service, simple processes, and clear communication. We do this by empowering our employees, encouraging innovative solutions and recognizing great performance.
POSITION SUMMARY
We are seeking a forward-thinking Principal Data Architect with deep hands-on experience in data engineering, Finance, and Salesforce expertise to define and build the foundational architecture of our next generation cloud data platform. In this role, you will design the enterprise data backbone that unifies Snowflake and Salesforce into a governed, Signals and Agentsdriven ecosystem, enabling autonomous decisioning, intelligent workflows, and scalable analytics across the organization.
This role requires a blend of architectural rigor, hands-on engineering depth, and strategic vision. You will establish the standards, patterns, and data foundations that power realtime insights, advanced BI, and machine learning at enterprise scale.
DESCRIPTION
Essential Functions, Duties, and Responsibilities
- Define end to end Snowflake data architecture (conceptual → logical → physical), covering data domains, canonical models, event schemas, and integration patterns.
- Establish enterprise standards for:
- Data modeling (Dimensional + Data Vault where appropriate)
- Medallion architecture (Bronze/Silver/Gold), incremental loads, CDC
- Data quality SLAs and observability patterns (lineage, SLOs, anomaly detection)
- Develop authoritative Reference Architectures and Playbooks for integration, orchestration, CI/CD, data product lifecycle, agent safety patterns.
- Design multi-zone Snowflake topology (raw/stage/core/mart), data sharing, reader accounts, governance, row/column-level security, masking, tags.
- Optimize cost/performance (warehouse sizing, multi-cluster, caching, clustering keys, micro-partitions).
- Lead dbt standards (naming conventions, testing, documentation, docs-as-code), and orchestration (e.g., Airflow/Prefect/Control-M).
- Implement CDC pipelines (e.g., Fivetran/Hevo/Talend/Kafka Connect) from Salesforce, ERP, and operational systems.
- Define integration patterns (real-time, batch, event-driven, API-led, ETL) and select the appropriate approach per use case.
- Architect Salesforce data extraction (Bulk API 2.0, CDC, Platform Events) with resilient retry and backfill strategies.
- Normalize Salesforce objects (Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Cases, Activities, Campaigns) into canonical data models in Snowflake.
- Define event taxonomy (business-events, technical-events, derived-signals).
- Implement event routing (Kafka/Confluent, Pub/Sub, EventBridge..) with DLQs, replay, and exactly once semantics where feasible.
- Experience architecting and deploying data and AI solutions with Snowflake Cortex AI, including model orchestration, prompt-driven automation.
- Design and implement AI Agents:
- Tool-augmented (Salesforce APIs, email/slack, task systems, case routing)
- Explainability and decision logs for audits and compliance
- Build closed-loop automation: signal → assessment → action → outcome → retraining feedback.
- Ensure data governance (catalog, lineage, stewardship, glossary, certifications).
- Stay current with Snowflake advancements and data platform trends. Find opportunities for platform innovation and efficiency gains.
- Work closely with fellow architects, engineers, security experts and team members across data domains to ensure successful implementation of platform initiatives.
- Work closely with cross-functional teams to align data solutions with business objectives.
- Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance to junior team members.
- Ability to effectively and accurately convey information to others.
- Performs related duties as assigned by management.
Qualifications and Education Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in the field of Information Technology, Data Science, Computer Science, MIS, or another STEM-related field required. Significant experience in a similar role or industry will be considered as a replacement.
- 10+ years of experience in data architecture and engineering.
- 5+ years of hands-on Snowflake experience at enterprise scale.
- 5+ years working with Salesforce data, API’s, and integration patterns.
- 2+ years of experience supporting Finance or financial data domains.
Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge
- Deep Salesforce data expertise: schema knowledge, CDC, Bulk/REST APIs, Platform Events, Apex limits awareness.
- Proven delivery of event-driven architectures (Kafka/Confluent), CDC, dbt, orchestration (Airflow/Prefect).
- Experience designing Agents (rule engines, Python services, LLM tool-use), with strong auditability, and risk controls.
- Strong knowledge of semantic models, dimensional + Data Vault modeling, SCD patterns, PII governance, and access controls.
- Proficiency with CI/CD (GitHub Actions/Azure DevOps/Bitbucket Pipelines), IaC (Terraform for Snowflake), and automated testing for data pipelines.
- Exceptional communication skills with the ability to define standards and influence executive stakeholders.
- Snowflake SnowPro Advanced (Architect) certification.
- Salesforce certifications (Data Architect, Integration Architect).
- Experience with dbt metrics, semantic layers (Looker/Power BI), and feature stores (Feast/Tecton).
- Exposure to privacy-preserving techniques (tokenization, differential privacy, k-anonymity).
- Architectural Rigor: Clear standards, ADRs, design reviews.
- Systems Thinking: Signal lifecycles, failure modes, backpressure, operational safety.
- Business Orientation: Sales velocity, pipeline health, churn prediction, case SLA.
- Operational Excellence: Observability, SLOs, incident response, cost optimization.
- Change Leadership: Evangelizing modern architecture, upskilling, governance adoption.
Work Environment and Physical Requirements
- Working on-site at assigned office location.
- Regular and punctual attendance adhering to schedule established by leadership.
- Flexibility to work occasional adjusted work schedules, overtime, and evening and/or weekend hours to meet deadlines or as business needs demand.
- Working in a cubicle hub, maintaining focus on phone calls in a noisy environment within earshot of multiple other conversations.
- Sedentary work in a stationary position at a cubicle for prolonged periods of time.
- Constant repetitive motions required for operating a computer, such as typing and managing phone calls.
- Constantly communicating effectively verbally in English, including accurately exchanging information with others following identification of correct procedures.
Additional Information:
While this description is intended to be an accurate reflection of the position’s requirements, it in no way implies/states that these are the only job responsibilities. Management reserves the right to modify, add or remove duties and request other duties, as necessary.
All employees are required to have smart phones that meet Company security standards with the ability to install apps such as Microsoft Authenticator. Employment will be contingent on this requirement.
Why Newrez
We’re a great place to work because we invest in what matters: your career, your community, your wellbeing, and your future. Our total rewards package is designed to support your whole self.
Company Benefits:
We offer benefits, programs, and perks that support you in every aspect of your life.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance
Health Savings Account with employer contribution
401(k) Retirement plan with employer match
Paid Maternity Leave/Parental Bonding Leave/Caregiver Leave
Adoption Assistance
Tuition & Certification reimbursement
Employee Mortgage Loan Program
The Newrez Employee Emergency and Disaster Fund is a program to support our team members experiencing hardships
Newrez NOW:
Through Newrez NOW, our Corporate Social Responsibility program, you’ll have opportunities to give back, lead, and make a difference.
1 company-paid Volunteer Time Off day (with over 40,000 volunteer hours contributed since our inception)
Matching Gifts Program - dollar-for-dollar up to $1,000
Access to grants, nonprofit resources, and volunteer opportunities
More than $6,000,000 donated since 2020
1 in 5 employees participates in at least one Employee Resource Group (ERG)
Equal Employment Opportunity
We're proud to be an equal opportunity employer- and celebrate our employees' differences, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, and Veteran status. Different makes us better.
