Data Architect

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A cover letter is required for consideration for this position. For the Career Portal system to accept a cover letter, please include a cover letter as the first page of your resume document. The cover letter should specifically address why you are interested in this position and describe specific skills and experiences you have and directly relate them to the responsibilities of, and qualification for, this position.

Job Summary

Working at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR) means being a part of a team committed to discovery and understanding. It means working for the world's largest academic social science survey and research organization, and doing work that really matters to social science in the public interest. The Survey Research Center (SRC) is a collaborative community that conducts cutting-edge research that focus on critical societal issues such as aging, health disparities, and social networks. This position is in the Technical Services Group (TSG) within the Survey Research Operations (SRO). SRO is the operations branch of the Survey Research Center (SRC) at the ISR.

At TSG, we are driven by a passion for harnessing technology to build innovative solutions that power the full data collection lifecycle. We are looking for a highly experienced, hands-on, and forward-thinking Data Architect to own the architectural vision and roadmap for our data warehousing, reporting, and data delivery automation. In this role, you will define and implement data architecture standards and frameworks, enterprise-scale data models, and guide engineering teams in implementing scalable, high-performance data pipelines and platforms. You will serve as the technical authority on data architecture decisions, ensuring our systems adhere to sound data governance principles, maintain data integrity, and meet the evolving needs of the business. You will collaborate cross-functionally to bridge the gap between raw data and actionable insights, driving alignment between data strategy and organizational goals. This is a hybrid position located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Responsibilities*

• Design, build, and optimize enterprise data architectures across cloud and on-premises platforms, including data warehouses, operational data stores, pipelines, schemas, APIs, and integration patterns.
• Own the architecture and evolution of the SQL Server Operational Data Store, consolidating survey project data from 12+ source systems for near-real-time reporting and field operations, including infrastructure migration, version road mapping, and extension into a historical data warehouse.
• Identify authoritative sources of truth across heterogeneous operational systems and design integrated relational models that support reporting and downstream applications while preserving clarity around system ownership and data authority.
• Lead hands-on development of data solutions, including ETL/ELT workflows, Python-based ingestion pipelines, REST/GraphQL integrations, file-based imports, operational database extracts, validation logic, business rules, and performance-tuned SQL.
• Maintain and extend metadata-driven data services, including curated views, stored procedures, data dictionaries, attribute schemas, dynamic query definitions, UI configuration, and API-layer structures that enable downstream tools without code releases.
• Own and evolve SQLXtend, an internal Python data integration framework, including ongoing development, documentation, adoption, and use across team pipelines.
• Define and enforce data governance practices, including data standards, metadata management, lineage, data quality controls, security, privacy, compliance, and reliable use of enterprise data assets.
• Lead database administration and reliability efforts in partnership with a DBA, including monitoring, backups, replication, performance tuning, indexing, query optimization, capacity planning, security, high availability, and SQL Server upgrades.
• Supervise and mentor technical staff, including DBAs, developers, SQL coders, report writers, modelers, analysts, and data engineers by setting technical direction, managing workloads, reviewing deliverables, conducting performance reviews, and supporting career development.
• Drive technical strategy and delivery, evaluating new tools and technologies, identifying gaps and redundancies, planning project work, managing risks, collaborating with survey methodologists and project managers, shipping MVPs, gathering feedback, and supporting reporting platforms such as Power BI Report Server and SSRS.

Required Qualifications*

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Statistics, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 10+ years of experience as a Data Architect designing and implementing enterprise-scale data architecture solutions, including data warehousing, integration, reporting, archiving, and near-real-time data consolidation platforms.
• Deep expertise in conceptual, logical, and physical data modeling for relational systems, with working knowledge of dimensional modeling and its appropriate use in analytics and reporting environments.
• Expert SQL Server skills, including T-SQL, stored procedures, views, indexing, query plan analysis, performance tuning, transactional replication, system-versioned temporal tables, and database security.
• Strong proficiency in designing, building, and maintaining robust ETL/ELT pipelines using tools and frameworks such as Apache Spark, dbt, Informatica, Talend, SQL Server-based tooling, or equivalent technologies.
• Strong Python skills for data integration, automation, and pipeline development, including consuming REST and GraphQL APIs, handling diverse tabular file formats, and building reusable, testable data processing code.
• Experience architecting full-stack web applications backed by SQL Server, particularly internal tools that manage configuration, metadata, workflow, or operational data for other systems.
• Proven experience directly supervising, mentoring, and developing technical or engineering staff, including conducting performance reviews, setting team and individual goals, managing workloads, fostering a collaborative team culture, and building high-performing teams.
• Demonstrated ability to set technical direction, establish engineering, data security and data architecture best practices, and guide teams toward scalable, maintainable, and secure solutions.
• Strong ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable guidance for both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including survey methodologists, researchers, project managers, business leaders, and engineering teams.

Desired Qualifications*

• Experience with DataOps practices in production, including CI/CD, automated testing, observability, alerting, and proactive pipeline monitoring.
• Advanced user of Python, SQL Server, version control, and AI-assisted tools such as Claude or GitHub Copilot for coding, testing, documentation, and productivity.
• Designed metadata-driven applications and data platforms, including data dictionaries, configurable schemas, dynamic queries, and metadata-controlled validation or transformation.

Why Work at Michigan?

Benefits at the University of Michigan: In addition to a career filled with purpose and opportunity, the University of Michigan offers a comprehensive benefits package to help you stay well, protect yourself and eligible family members, and plan for a secure future. https://careers.umich.edu/benefits/

Benefits include:

• Generous time off

• A retirement plan that provides two-for-one matching contributions with immediate vesting upon meeting eligibility requirements

• Many choices for comprehensive health insurance

• Life insurance

• Long-term disability coverage

• Flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Work Schedule

Monday-Friday, days.

Work Locations

This position requires being on-site at the University of Michigan offices in Ann Arbor. If the project tasks assigned, job performance, and SRC policy allow, the option for a hybrid schedule including limited off-site work may be available after an initial period of orientation.

Additional Information

The Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan seeks to create a community of respect and authentic collaboration by recruiting and retaining individuals that represent a variety of voices as a reflection of our commitment to serve the people of Michigan, to maintain the excellence of the university, and to ground our research in varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning.

Background Screening

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third-party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Application Deadline

Institute for Social Research job openings are posted for a minimum of fourteen (14) calendar days. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.