Dice is the leading career destination for tech experts at every stage of their careers. Our client, Benchmark IT-Technology Talent, is seeking an experienced Data Architect consultant in the Greenwich, CT area to assess the current state of data and analytics across various departments and design a strategic roadmap for data warehousing and associated analytics.

Primary Responsibilities

• Comprehensive Data Audit: Assess data silos within Oracle, SQL, and Legacy databases used by various departments.
• Azure-Centric Architecture: Design a centralized analytics platform leveraging the Microsoft stack (Azure Synapse/Fabric, Power BI, and Purview).
• Integration Strategy: Create a plan to integrate disparate data from various data sources ensuring critical infrastructure remains secure while surfacing operational KPIs.
• Architect a high-level conceptual framework for a modern data environment, including recommendations for data warehousing (eg, Snowflake, BigQuery, or On-prem) and ETL/ELT pipelines.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Translate technical requirements into decision-oriented visuals and storyboard for the executive team.
• Minimum Viable Data Governance (DG) Model: Define a structure for departmental data ownership and shared definitions for critical metrics. Develop initial use cases to demonstrate proof of concept to the executive team.
• Pilot Program Design: Identification of Quick Win pilot analytic projects with measurable outcomes.

Skills and Experience Desired

• Expertise in Microsoft Ecosystem: Deep knowledge of Azure AD, Exchange Online, Teams, and Azure Data services.
• ERP & Legacy Knowledge: Experience with ERP data structures and extracting value from Legacy SQL-based Legacy systems.
• Governance: Proven ability to build data catalogs and governance policies.
• Change Management Mindset: Ability to design systems that account for varying tech comfort levels across the enterprise.

Data Architecture & Engineering

• Data Modeling: Strong experience with conceptual, logical, and physical data models (dimensional/star schemas, data vault, etc.).
• ETL/ELT Design: Hands-on experience designing and overseeing ETL/ELT pipelines using modern tools (eg, Azure Data Factory, Synapse pipelines, dbt, or equivalent).
• Hybrid & Cloud Data Architectures: Experience evaluating and designing hybrid architectures (cloud + on-prem) with attention to latency, cost, and security tradeoffs.
• Performance & Scalability: Ability to design for data volume growth, query performance, and cost optimization.

Analytics & BI Enablement

• Semantic Layer & Metrics Design: Experience defining shared metrics, KPIs, and semantic layers that support self-service analytics.
• Power BI Architecture: Knowledge of Power BI dataset design, row-level security (RLS), and enterprise deployment patterns.
• Executive Reporting: Experience supporting executive dashboards and operational reporting use cases.

Security, Risk & Compliance

• Data Security & Privacy: Experience designing role-based access controls, data classification, and privacy-aware architectures.
• Compliance Awareness: Familiarity with regulatory considerations (SOX, GDPR, PII handling, etc.), even if not acting as the compliance owner.
• Purview/Metadata Management: Practical experience implementing metadata management, lineage, and cataloging tools.

Consulting & Delivery Skills

• Assessment & Roadmapping: Proven ability to perform current-state assessments and deliver pragmatic, phased roadmaps.
• Executive Communication: Strong ability to communicate architectural tradeoffs, risks, and recommendations to non-technical stakeholders.
• Hands-on + Strategic Balance: Comfortable moving between whiteboard architecture and limited hands-on validation or prototyping.
• Fixed-Time Engagements: Experience working within defined timelines, scopes, and success criteria.

Nice-to-Have (Optional)

• Experience with Snowflake, BigQuery, or Fabric Lakehouse implementations.
• Exposure to AI/ML data readiness or analytics modernization initiatives.
• Prior experience in multi-department or federated data environments.