Associate Principal Architect, Data and Analytics Platforms

SUMMARY/JOB PURPOSE (Basic purpose of the job):

The Associate Principal Architect, Data and Analytics Platforms will support the design and creation of cloud-based products and services to meet the technology needs of Exelixis.This position will help define and design our cloud platform, which includes cloud automation tools and standards, CI/CD pipelines, DevOps tooling and AWS account provisioning automation. This position will also work with application support teams to re-define the interface between our cloud platform products and application installation and configuration processes.

ESSENTIAL TECHNICAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Create and lead the implementation of robust, scalable, and secure data architecture strategies on AWS and Databricks to support advanced analytics and AI/ML initiatives.

• Design and implement data ingestion, processing, storage, and reporting solutions leveraging AWS services like S3, Glue, Redhsift, Lake Formation, Athena Kinesis, MSK, EC2, ECS, Data Bricks

• Provide expert guidance and hands-on development on the AWS and Databricks data technologies

• Develop and maintain conceptual, logical, and physical data models, and design data lakes and data warehouses for optimal performance.

• Establish and enforce data governance policies, data quality standards, security protocols, and compliance frameworks (e.g., FAIR, GxP, HIPAA, IAM, Data Mesh).

• Implement and manage AWS Lake Formation and Databricks Unity Catalog to enable centralized, fine-grained data governance across all data assets.

• Design and develop scalable and resilient application compute infrastructure using AWS EKS and ECS

• Lead the development of automated CI/CD pipelines for notebooks, jobs, and infrastructure-as-code for AWS, DBT, and Databricks environment.

• Utilize tools like GitHub Actions or Jenkins to automate deployments and promote consistent releases.

• Manage and optimize AWS, Databricks and other data platform resource utilization to maintain cost-effectiveness

• Design and implement a multi-layered Medallion architecture (Bronze, Silver, Gold) using Delta Lake to ensure data quality and reliability.

• Develop and publish data engineering best practices and patterns

EXPERIENCE/KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

Experience:

• Proven experience architecting and implementing lake house architectures on AWS data technologies (Glue, Lake Formation, RedShift, Athena) and Databricks

• Proven experience designing, developing, and managing data engineering pipelines at scale

• Expertise in various data modeling techniques (conceptual, logical, and physical)

• Expertise in programming languages and frameworks such as DBT, Python, SparkSQL and SQL

• Deep knowledge of the AWS services, including IAM, security, data storage, data processing, compute, and analytics services.

• Strong understanding of modern data architecture patterns (e.g., data mesh, lakehouse).

• Hands-on experience with big data technologies like Apache Spark, AWS Glue, DataBricks, Apache Iceberg, and Delta Tables

• Certifications: Professional AWS and Data Bricks certifications are highly valued and relevant.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Product Strategy & Product Road Map:

• Supports the translation of overall direction and strategy and communicates across organizational levels and functions.

• Works toward long-range goals and objectives.

• Assignments are primarily self-initiated.

• Understands key business processes and business areas.

• Acts as resource and provides direction to others.

Product Development & Delivery:

• Guides the successful completion of major initiatives or programs and leads large complex projects.

• Refine end-to-end development processes, from ideation through CI/CD, security scanning, and production monitoring.

• Determine and pursue courses of action necessary to obtain desired results.

• Work on unusually complex technical problems and provide solutions which are highly innovative and ingenious.

• Develops and applies complex and often long-term strategies on specific projects.

• Act as the technical expert to be sought for guidance on new technology direction.

Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Translates overall direction and strategy and communicates across organizational levels, to influence executives when needed.

• Leads strategic initiatives and ensure successful executions

• Act as organization spokesperson on advanced projects and/or programs.

• Acts as advisor to management and customers on advanced technical research studies and applications.

• Interacts with senior external personnel on significant technical matters often requiring coordination between organizations.

Operational Excellence, Quality & Compliance:

• Own the oversight of documentation of infrastructure and work instructions for systems and applications.

• Develop approaches and implement solutions to mitigate future incidents.

• Ensure that completed work delivers long-term value and enhances platform performance to maintain maximum functionality.

• Make decisions regarding access, permissions, and security controls across systems.

Subject Matter Expertise:

• Serve as the SME for general engineering issues and platform strategy.

• Mentor and coach engineers across the team, fostering technical excellence.

• Keep abreast of industry trends and evaluate platform needs for future growth.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• No supervisory responsibilities.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

Education:

• Master's degree in a relevant field and 9 years of experience; or

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field and 11 years of related experience; or

• Equivalent combination of education or years of experience

• Technical certification may be required

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience in cloud infrastructure in a highly available and production environment.

• Experience working in a SOX and FDA regulated environment is a plus.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Advanced level knowledge of Amazon Web Services (AWS), especially with services related to hosting: EC2, RDS, Systems Manager, IAM, etc.

• Advanced level knowledge with infrastructure as code (IaC) tools, especially Terraform.

• Intermediate level knowledge with cloud and infrastructure automation.

• Intermediate level knowledge of modern development and deployment practices of continuous integration and continuous deployment.

Work Environment/Physical Demands:

Our office is a modern, open-plan space that fosters collaboration and creativity. Teams work closely together, sharing ideas and solutions in a supportive atmosphere. We provide all necessary equipment, including dual monitors and ergonomic chairs, to ensure a comfortable workspace.

This position will require minimal travel.

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