Data Architect

Reporting to the Vice President of Information Systems and Technology, the Data Architect is a leadership role with the mandate to enable Porter Airlines to harness the power of its data to drive business value and increase revenue.

The Data Architect owns the enterprise data landscape and its architecture. They are accountable for the creation and adherence to a robust architecture of data, at rest in structured and unstructured data stores, as well as in motion through a well-defined and reliable data integration architecture. The Data Architect ensures that there is a comprehensive current state enterprise data architecture, as well as a strategic view of the ideal future state architecture that aligns to industry best practices, emerging technologies as well as the evolving needs of the business. Where appropriate, they should drive initiatives to move the organization toward that ideal future state.

As a leader, the Data Architect must provide direction to the Data Developer and Database Administrators on the design, development and maintenance of Porter’s Data Systems.

As the owner of the data architecture, the Data Architect creates and maintains policies and standards around data and its use within the organization.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Developing effective relationships with Porter’s business stakeholders. Working with stakeholders, to identify and exploit opportunities to use data to drive business value.

• Making long-term recommendations to senior management on how to leverage technology to maximize revenue and minimize costs

• Preparing and presenting proposals and recommendations to senior management on technologically complex subjects

• Act as the Owner and principally accountable individual for the Enterprise Data Warehouse and data integration software

• Negotiating with members of senior management to obtain consensus and approval to  engage in new, major, complex technology initiatives, including proposals with goals that may not be mutually beneficial to all departments, and then acting as the principally accountable Project Sponsor in the execution of those initiatives

• Participating in vendor negotiation by performing technical due diligence, discovery, and making recommendations to senior management

• Making implementation decisions about large, commercially critical, highly complex projects, including initiatives that require extensive research and have incomplete or ill-defined requirements and goals

• Creating models of data that enable the implementation of the intended business architecture

• Defining how the data will be stored, consumed, integrated and managed by different data entities and IT systems, as well as any applications using or processing that data in some way

• Providing technical direction to database administrator and the data development team on the implementation of the data projects

• Provide direction on the data architecture, as well as any data design, to application and web development teams

• Ensuring that the organization follows a formal data standard and that its data assets are in line with the defined data architecture and/or with the goals of the business. 

• Designing data warehouse solutions and working with data warehouse technologies to come up with plans that best support the business 

• Creating and maintaining data governance policies, analysis and architecture; database management system integration; data security and data source identification, segregation and storage.

• Mapping the systems and interfaces used to manage data, sets standards for data management, analyses current state and conceives desired future state, and conceiving projects needed to close the gap between current state and future goals.

• May be responsible for leading teams in the data architecture and data development

• Through continual learning, acquiring knowledge and understanding of recent technological advances and industry trends

BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES:

• Concern for Safety: Identifying hazardous or potentially hazardous situations and taking appropriate action to maintain a safe environment for self and others.

• Teamwork: Working collaboratively with others to achieve organizational goals.

• Passenger/Customer Service: Providing service excellence to internal and/or external customers (passengers).

• Initiative: Dealing with situations and issues proactively and persistently, seizing opportunities that arise.

• Results Focus: Focusing efforts on achieving high quality results consistent with the organization’s standards.

• Fostering Communication: Listening and communicating openly, honestly, and respectfully with different audiences, promoting dialogue and building consensus.

• Exemplifying Integrity: Treating others fairly, honestly, and respectfully, furthering the integrity of the organization and its relationships of trust with team members and the broader community.

• Inspiring Others: Energizing and inspiring others to strive for excellence and commit to common goals and purposes, creating a sense of self-efficacy, resilience, and persistence in followers.

• People Leadership: Assuming a leadership role in helping others achieve excellent results.

• Leading Change: Recognizing the need for change, being open to new ideas and methods, and championing transformational change within the organization and beyond.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in data analysis and data architecture roles

• Undergraduate degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a related field

• Master’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or business administration would be an asset

• TOGAF certification and/or training would be an asset

• Deep understanding of the system development life cycle; software project management approaches; and requirements, design, and test techniques. 

• Skilled at logical data modeling, physical data modeling, data policies development, data strategy, data warehousing, data querying languages and identifying and selecting a system that is best for addressing data storage, retrieval and management.

• Experience with creating the set of rules, policies, standards and models that govern and define the type of data collected and how it is used, stored, managed and integrated within an organization and its database systems.

• While not an expert in all, has a breadth in established and emerging data technologies and is either experienced or conversant in emerging tools like columnar and NoSQL databases, predictive analytics, data visualization, and unstructured data.

• Experience with reporting services and business intelligence tools such as Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, SQL Server Analysis Services, Excel, Tableau, etc.

• Experience with data integration technology and architecture

• Experience with Microsoft SQL Server or Amazon RedShift environment is an asset

• Strong written and verbal communication skill

• Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination 

LOCATION: Toronto (Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport - YTZ)