Director, Head of Data Architecture

Raymond James - Saint Petersburg, FL

Full-time - Senior

Saint Petersburg, FL

Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities

About the position

The Head of Data Architecture at Raymond James Financial is a pivotal role responsible for leading the design and implementation of the enterprise data architecture strategy. This position entails defining and maintaining the organization's overall data architecture strategy, developing a comprehensive data strategy for the enterprise and its various business units, establishing data standards, and identifying the best tools and technologies for Data and Analytics. The Head of Data Architecture will manage a team of Data Architects and will be primarily responsible for defining and delivering on the data strategy. This role requires engagement with multiple business units to understand their challenges and business strategies, developing tailored data strategies, prototyping development frameworks, and creating solutions that align with the data strategy. Collaboration with the Enterprise Data Engineering, Data Analytics, and Enterprise Architecture teams is essential, as is working with various stakeholders across IT and the business to build a forward-looking strategic enterprise data architecture for the firm. This position is hybrid-based at the St. Petersburg, FL headquarters. Key responsibilities include developing and maintaining the data architecture strategy by collaborating with executives and stakeholders to define the organization's overall data architecture vision, strategy, and roadmap. The Head of Data Architecture will establish the roadmap and vision for enterprise-scale data architecture, executing on this roadmap to deliver shared frameworks for broader enterprise application development teams. This role also involves establishing strategies to migrate on-premises data solutions to cloud-based solutions, ensuring that mission-critical data platforms are highly available and resilient, and defining and implementing data standards to ensure data consistency, accuracy, and reliability. Additionally, the Head of Data Architecture will lead a team of data architects and engineers, providing direction, guidance, and mentoring, while managing their performance and professional development. The role emphasizes designing and developing highly scalable, efficient, and reliable data infrastructure to meet business objectives, while also focusing on workforce development and staying updated on key technology and industry trends.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of the enterprise data architecture strategy.
• Define and maintain the organization's overall data architecture strategy.
• Develop the data strategy for the enterprise and various business units.
• Establish data standards and identify the best tools and technology for Data and Analytics.
• Manage a team of Data Architects and Data Engineers, providing direction and mentoring.
• Collaborate with multiple stakeholders to understand business strategies and develop end-to-end data solutions.
• Architect resilient and stable data solutions that ensure high availability of mission-critical data platforms.
• Define and implement data governance policies and procedures in collaboration with data governance teams.
• Deliver projects on time and within budget, ensuring they meet predetermined success criteria.
• Focus on workforce development and build a strong team while educating cross-functional teams on leveraging data.

Requirements

• Minimum of a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, MIS, or a related field.
• Ten plus years of relevant experience including management or leadership experience.
• Experience in developing an Enterprise Data strategy aligned with business goals.
• Familiarity with a breadth of Data Platforms, Data Integration tools, and Cloud-based data platforms.
• Strong understanding of modern Data Architectures and their relevance to business goals.
• Experience in architecting large mission-critical data platforms that are resilient and scalable.
• Experience with ETL technologies and Data Streaming technologies like Kafka and Spark Streaming.
• Expertise in AWS Data Platforms is a plus.
• Understanding of programming languages such as Python, Java, R, Shell, and Perl is a plus.
• Financial Services experience is preferred.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with developing AI/ML solutions.
• Experience with Search data platforms.

Benefits

• Eligible for Discretionary Bonus.