Data Architect

Company Description

Work smart, have fun and make an impact!

EcoVadis is the leading provider of business sustainability ratings. Our solutions are backed by an international team of experts and powerful technology. We analyze data and build sustainability scorecards that give companies actionable insights into their environmental, social and ethical risks.

Why apply to EcoVadis? Be a part of the global sustainability change in business. Grow your career. Work with extraordinary people. Feel valued for your contribution.

Learn more about our team and culture on EcoVadis careers page.

Job Description

As EcoVadis continues to evolve its business and expand its product portfolio, we are embedding AI more deeply into how we operate. The Enterprise Data Architect plays a critical role in sustaining the growth. Sitting at the intersection of business, data, and technology, you will bridge business strategy and technology strategy, acting as the technical "North Star," to evolve our Data Platform into a high-performance data mesh ecosystem that treats data as a product and AI as a core competency. You will bridge the gap between traditional data modeling and the emerging needs of Generative AI, AI Agent consumption, LLM orchestration, and real-time MLOps. You will be the owner of the Data Strategy on the architecture side, supporting multiple teams including Analytics, BI, Data Engineering, Data Governance, Engineering and AI/ML teams to ensure our ecosystem remains scalable, resilient, and AI-enabled. 

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Data Strategy

• Building target architectures and long-term strategic roadmaps alongside Solutions, Engineering, Data and IT teams.

• Become the owner of the Data Strategy on the architecture side, translating complex business needs into pragmatic, future-proof architectures.

• Define and govern Enterprise Data Models and Domains, expanding beyond traditional analytics to AI/ML workloads.

• Lead the architecture side of the Data Strategy, specifically designing for "AI-readiness" by integrating Feature Stores, Vector Databases and other technologies into our long-term roadmap.

Emerging Technologies

• Explore and validate new solutions in the data platform space based on business requirements or research.

• Perform technical Proof of Concepts, document them, and assist teams in industrializing them.

• Monitor new technological advances to assist teams in reducing technical debt and adopt the right tooling

Data Governance & MLOps

• Collaborate with Data Governance and AI teams to:

  • Continuously improve architecture governance practices.

  • Develop and maintain policies, standards, and guidelines to ensure a consistent framework is applied across the data platform.

  • Identify discrepancies between the technical architecture, agreed practices, and system designs proposed by project teams.

  • Ensure architectures adhere to data compliance frameworks (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and ethical considerations in AI/ML model deployment.

Collaboration & Data Product Enablement

• Collaborate with Product Managers and Data Product Owners to enable Data as a Product, ensuring they are designed for reusability, scalability, and self-service consumption.

• Define best practices for the development, maintenance, and lifecycle management of data products.

• Act as a hands-on mentor to Data Engineering and Analytics teams, guiding them on day-to-day data modeling patterns, best practices, and execution choices.

• Advise business and technical stakeholders on self-service data platform capabilities to maximize value.

• Partner with IT team members to ensure architecture aligns with security strategy and policies.

Operational Excellence

• Drive continuous improvement and help drive the adoption of new data tools and practices.

• Apply a pragmatic approach to governance and application portfolio rationalization.

• Be an active part of the D&A leadership team.

Personal Attributes

• High level of proactivity and autonomy

• Strong planning, prioritization, and organizational skills

• Pragmatic mindset with a focus on evolution over big-bang transformations

• Comfortable challenging assumptions while remaining collaborative

• Must be a team player with a high degree of self-organization.

• Good stakeholder management skills, proficiency in communication, and strong facilitation skills.

• Approach architecture by going beyond technical components to include people, process, and technology as a whole.

Qualifications

• Very good knowledge of data platforms in general, i.e. data warehouses, data lakes, lakehouses, BI tools, embedded analytics solutions.

• Expertize in multi-domain analytical architectures, i.e. data mesh, medallion architecture, self-service analytics & BI.

• Specific experience with Databricks is a must.

• Experience with enterprise data models design, knowledge of various data modeling patterns, data engineering practices, data management standards i.e. DAMA.

• At least 5 years focusing on architecture (any of: data architecture, solution architecture, enterprise architecture).

• Broad understanding of technical aspects of data integration, including data catalogs, data quality, solution maintainability, performance and security.

• Practical experience with concepts such as MDM, RDM, CDP, ETL, ELT, rETL, SQL, noSQL, near-real time analytics.

• Approach going beyond only technical components of architecture, but rather including people - process - technology as a whole.

• Experience with all stages of SDLC - from building vision & strategy, through solution design, vendor selection process in some projects, technical design, leading workshops, assisting implementation teams & troubleshooting issues and driving solution adoption.

• Good stakeholder management skills; proficiency in verbal and written communication; facilitation skills.

• Pragmatic approach to governance & application portfolio rationalization.

• Data Compliance and Ethics:data compliance frameworks (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, SOX) and ethical considerations in data usage and AI/ML model deployment.

• Must be a team player, but with a high degree of self-organization.

• Ability to mentor and guide teams, fostering a culture of technical excellence and innovation.

• Relevant certifications (i.e. CDMP/DAMA, TOGAF, CIPP) would be a plus.

Additional Information

• Offer available only for candidates eligible to work and live in Spain

• Location: Hybrid in Barcelona (4 days per month in the office) / Full remote from Spain

In return for your expertise, we offer:

• Support with all the necessary office and IT equipment
• Flexible working hours
• Wellness allowance for mental and physical wellbeing
• Access to professional mental health support
• Referral bonus policy
• Learning and development 
• Sustainability events and community involvement
• Peer recognition program
• Employee-led resource groups
• Remote work from abroad policy
• Meals and Transportation Vouchers (Coverflex card)
• Dental Benefits 
• Life & Accident Insurance + Private Health Insurance
• Paid employee volunteer day
• Paid moving day (1/year)
• Time off: 1 Community Service Day + 1 Personal Day
• Summer Hours in July and August (36 hours per week)
• Hybrid Monthly Allowance for electricity and Internet

Our hiring team looks forward to reviewing your CV, in English, with a guaranteed response to every application. A new job with purpose awaits you! 

Don’t fit all the criteria but still think you’d be a good candidate? Please apply anyway to give our hiring team the opportunity to assess your skills and to learn more about what you could bring to EcoVadis. We’re interested in hiring from a diverse and skilled talent pool, regardless of professional and educational background.

Can the hiring process be adjusted to suit my needs? Yes. We want everyone going through the hiring process with EcoVadis to feel confident that you are able to demonstrate your full potential. We welcome applications from disabled people, people with long-term health conditions, and neurodiverse candidates. If you need any adjustments, including the provision of interview questions, please let the hiring team know.

Our team’s strength comes from everyone’s uniqueness and is founded upon mutual respect. EcoVadis commits to equity, inclusion and reducing bias in our hiring processes. EcoVadis does not accept any form of discrimination based on color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, citizenship, religion, beliefs, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodiversity, disability, parental status, or any other protected characteristic that makes you unique. In your application, we encourage you to remove personal information such as: photographs, marital status, number of children, religion, gender, residential postal code, university graduation date, past medical or parental leave(s) taken, nationality (instead, please state if you are legally eligible to work in the job region/country), university name (instead, please state any degrees obtained and the study major).

Our recruitment processes do not include AI systems that make autonomous decisions impacting individuals’ rights without human oversight. Inputs and outputs of the system have been validated by humans and answers are based on algorithms that analyze previous data with which the system has been trained. We use SmartRecruiters as our applicant tracking system and to schedule interviews. Gemini is used to summarize notes from interviews and to refine job descriptions and social media messaging. AssessFirst is used to support talent assessment decisions.