Data Architect

About the role

TerraPower is a nuclear technology company based in Bellevue, Washington. At its core, the company is working to raise living standards globally through a more affordable, secure, and environmentally friendly form of nuclear energy along with innovations in medical isotopes to improve human health.

In 2006, TerraPower originated with Bill Gates and a group of like-minded visionaries who evaluated the fundamental challenges to raising living standards around the world. They recognized energy access was crucial to the health and economic well-being of communities and decided that the private sector needed to take action and create energy sources that would advance global energy deployment.

TerraPower's mission is to be a world leader in new nuclear technologies, while developing innovators and future leaders in the nuclear field. As a result, the company's activities in the fields of nuclear energy and related sciences are yielding significant innovations in the safety and economics of nuclear power, hybrid energy and medical applications - all for significant human health benefits."

About the role

TerraPower is searching for an experienced Data Architect to lead the design, governance, and standards of our enterprise data ecosystem. Our organization continues to add applications and data and we are looking to design and implement a scalable, governed data infrastructure, potentially centered around a unified Data Hub strategy to accelerate AI-training readiness, and to provide frictionless data-sharing and data interoperability. This role will establish the policies, patterns, and platforms that enable confident decision-making across the business.

The role will work hands-on within our Azure-centric stack, primarily Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse Analytics, while partnering closely with Data Engineers, Application, Infrastructure, and Cybersecurity resources. This is a high-impact, cross-functional role with visibility across the entire organization.

Key Responsibilities

Data Governance & Standards

• Establish and champion enterprise-wide data governance policies, standards, and best practices for data creation, storage, access, quality, and lifecycle management
• Define and maintain a data catalog, data dictionary, and metadata management framework
• Develop and enforce data classification standards in collaboration with Legal and Cybersecurity to ensure appropriate handling of sensitive and regulated data
• Create and own data modeling standards (conceptual, logical, and physical) across all platforms

Additional information

Create and own data quality and process monitoring frameworks to ensure the health, reliability, and lineage of data across the enterprise.Architecture & Design

• Design and evolve the enterprise data lake into a data lakehouse architecture, ensuring it supports current workloads and scales to accommodate future application acquisitions and integrations
• Lead the architectural design of data ingestion, transformation, and storage patterns within Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse Analytics
• Define reference architectures and design patterns for data integration, ensuring new applications and data sources are onboarded consistently and securely
• Evaluate and recommend tools, frameworks, and emerging technologies to continuously improve the data platform
• Evaluate a Data Hub architecture to streamline the exchange of data between operational applications and the analytical lakehouse, reducing point-to-point integration complexity

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with the Infrastructure Architect to align data platform design with infrastructure, networking, and cloud resource management strategies
• Work with Cybersecurity to implement data access controls, encryption standards, auditing, and compliance requirements
• Guide and mentor a team of Data Engineers, providing technical leadership, reviewing designs, and ensuring adherence to architectural standards
• Collaborate with project teams and business stakeholders across multiple concurrent projects to define data requirements and integration approaches for new and acquired applications

Project & Integration Support

• Serve as the data architecture lead across multiple simultaneous projects, providing guidance from initiation through deployment.
• Define repeatable integration patterns for acquired applications being onboarded into the company data lake, including data mapping, transformation logic, and quality validation.
• Document architecture decisions, data flows, and integration specifications to maintain a clear and accessible architectural record.

Qualifications

Required

• 9+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Demonstrated experience designing and governing enterprise data lakes or large-scale data platforms.
• Deep hands-on expertise with Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse Analytics (dedicated sql pool and serverless).
• Strong experience with data modeling (relational, dimensional, and NoSQL data models).
• Proven ability to establish and drive data governance programs including metadata management, master data management, data quality, and lineage.
• Experience collaborating with security and infrastructure teams to implement compliant, secure data architectures.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to present complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred

• Experience with Azure Purview or a similar enterprise data catalog / governance platform
• Familiarity with Delta Lake, Apache Spark, or similar open-source data processing frameworks within a cloud environment. Familiarity with Azure Data Lake Storage, various database platforms (Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, Postgres, Cosmos), Fabric, Azure Service Bus, Event Hubs, and Logic Apps
• Exposure to application acquisition and data integration onboarding processes
• Knowledge of data privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA) and their architectural implications.
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate, Azure Solutions Architect Expert or related Azure certification.

Experience in a multi-project or program environment with competing priorities.

Job Functions

• Job Functions are physical actions and/or working conditions associated with the position.
• These functions may also constitute essential functions for the job which the employee must be able to fulfill, with or without accommodation.
• Information provided below is to help describe the job so that the applicant has a reasonable understanding of the job duties/expectations.

• Motor Abilities: Sitting for extended periods, bending/stooping, grasping/gripping, fine motor control (hands)
• Physical exertion and/or requirements: Minimal, with ability to safely lift up to 25 pounds.
• Repetitive work: Prolonged
• Special Senses: Visual and audio focused work
• Work Conditions: Stairs, typing/keyboard, standard and/or sitting working environment of >8 hours/day
• Travel required 0-10%

Additional information

TerraPower's technology is controlled for export by various agencies of the U.S. Government. TerraPower must evaluate applicants who are foreign nationals (other than asylees, refugees, or lawful permanent residents) in accordance with U.S. Government export control requirements.

To facilitate TerraPower's export control reviews, you will be asked as part of the application process to identify whether you are a U.S. Citizen or national, asylee, refugee, or lawful permanent resident of the United States. Government export authorization approval times vary.

Based on the business needs for a particular position, TerraPower may not consider a foreign national from a country if it is impracticable to obtain timely Government export approval.

Salary Range: $168,316 - $252,475

• We typically place offers in the lower to middle portion of the range to maintain internal equity and allow room for growth. Any salary offered within the posted salary band is based on market data and commensurate with the selected individual's qualifications experience. This range is specific to Washington State.

Benefits

• Competitive Compensation
• Salary, eligible to participate in discretionary short-term incentive payments
• Comprehensive Medical and Wellness Benefits
• Medical
• Vision
• Dental
• Life and Disability
• Gender Affirmation Benefits
• Parental Leave
• 401k Plan
• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO)
• 21 days of annually accrued PTO
• Generous Holiday Schedule
• 10 paid holidays
• Relocation Assistance
• Professional and Educational Support Opportunities