Data Architect

Company Overview

Educational & Institutional Insurance Administrators, Inc. (EIIA) is a member-driven consortium of private, faith-inspired colleges, universities, prep schools, and seminaries providing innovative insurance and risk management services. EIIA was formed over fifty (50) years ago during the 1960s when a number of historically black colleges and universities associated with the United Methodist Church were unable to obtain property and casualty coverages from the traditional insurance marketplace. The United Methodist Church assisted the colleges by encouraging them to purchase the coverage as a group. This generated adequate premium volume for an insurance company to offer coverage. EIIA was formally incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in 1976 with the specific purpose of providing group purchasing and administration of insurance programs for faith inspired higher education institutions.

The group purchasing of the property and casualty coverages for these colleges was so successful that the concept spread to employee health and welfare benefit programs, long-term disability, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, and student health and accident needs of these institutions. Risk management services were added to aid these institutions in managing and avoiding risk.

EIIA’s office is located in downtown Chicago and currently works in a hybrid/remote environment. EIIA staff serves more than one hundred and forty-five (145) higher education institutions located in thirty-nine (39) states. In addition, EIIA operates two (2) Vermont domiciled captive insurance companies and two (2) grantor trusts.

Currently, EIIA is seeking a Data Architect for our Finance Team. This role is hybrid with the expectation of being onsite as needed.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

The Data Architect will partner with colleagues in the development and implementation of the enterprise data management framework for EIIA. This position will be responsible for envisioning, conceptualizing, designing, and managing data systems, establishing rules for data access and storage, coordinating different data sources within the organization, assisting with the integration of new data technologies into current IT infrastructures, and leveraging Azure-related services.

As part of the EIIA team, specific responsibilities will include:

• Partnering with EIIA colleagues and third-party vendors in the design of the vision and blueprint of the organization’s data framework along with solving complex business issues from strategy to execution.
• Designing stable and flexible high-performance database solutions, maximizing data reuse, and avoiding data redundancy, according to the current and anticipated business needs.
• Building flexible and scalable database designs for high performance, utilizing Azure-related services.
• Instilling best practices and principles of data architecture while complying with EIIA's data management policies and procedures.
• Simplifying existing data architecture, delivering reusable services and cost-saving opportunities in line with the policies and standards of the organization.
• Developing conceptual, logical, and physical data models to support data analysis and business intelligence, leveraging Azure data services and technologies.
• Assessing and suggesting data management, storage, and analytics technologies, with a focus on Azure-related services.
• Leading the implementation of cloud-based solutions using Azure services such as virtual machines, storage, networking, and security.
• Participating in the development of Database Architecture and Roadmaps in support of business strategies.
• Defining and overseeing procedures, standards, and guidelines that guarantee the integrity of data, including data governance processes specific to Azure environments.
• Engaging in various database design and tuning activities with other stakeholders in optimizing database performance, leveraging Azure database tuning, and optimization features.
• Examining current data repositories and discovering how to store data effectively using Azure data storage and management services, such as Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure SQL Database, and Azure Cosmos DB.
• Working closely with data providers from where data is sourced, utilizing Azure data ingestion and integration services, and maintaining relationships throughout the data lifecycle.
• Assisting in establishing data governance processes, procedures, policies, and guidelines specific to Azure environments to maintain the integrity and security of the data.
• Defining templates and processes for the design and analysis of data models, data flows, and integration, utilizing Azure data integration and workflow services.
• Managing and delivering projects by partnering with the project team, assessing risks throughout, driving conclusions, and reviewing/challenging the output produced by the team, with a focus on Azure cloud projects.
• Overseeing the buildout of data strategy, assisting in the implementation of enterprise content and data management applications that improve operational effectiveness, and providing impactful data analytics and insights.

Significant Job Responsibilities:

This position will rely on strong analytical, technical, and people skills.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, relational databases such as SQL and Oracle, data base management, data warehousing, Microsoft Power BI, and report writing are essential.
• Ideally, this person will have experience with commonly available policy administration system solutions such as Guidewire, Duck Creek, Majesco, Origami Risk, or Innoveo, and project management experience with strong communications, organizational, interpersonal, and critical thinking skills.

Skills and responsibilities for this management level position include but are not limited to:

• Building strong internal relationships with colleagues, and external relationships with vendors to develop and administer reliable data management and warehousing solutions organization-wide.
• Architecture and development of enterprise data assets include Microsoft Azure based Data Lake, Lake House, and end user reporting.
• Analyzing complex scenarios; building, testing, and implementing recommendations.
• Utilizing multiple sources of information including broader stakeholder views to develop solutions and recommendations.
• Using data and insights to evaluate scenarios, create informed conclusions, and support decision-making.
• Developing a point of view on key global trends, and how they impact EIIA.
• Gathering, evaluating, and managing a variety of viewpoints to build consensus and create positive outcomes for the organization.
• Simplifying complex messages; highlighting and summarizing key points.

Demonstrates extensive abilities and/or a proven record of success in the following areas:

• Leading key workstreams, staying updated on current trends, and contributing to team knowledge capital.
• Demonstrating expertise in designing, building, and deploying production-quality data platforms.
• Possessing proficiency in SQL (or similar relational databases), and industry standard ETL tools.
• Managing data warehousing tasks and projects.

Education and Experience:

Bachelor’s degree in computer or information science, data management, or a related field, with a minimum of five (5) to seven (7) years of project management, data analytics, data warehousing, data engineering, and data architecture experience, or combination of training and/or related experience is required. Previous insurance experience highly preferred.

• Must have experience and extensive knowledge in evaluating, implementing, and managing data analytics systems, organization wide.
• Deep knowledge of the various sophisticated business use cases and data modeling in the data warehouse, with experience in implementing solutions leveraging Azure-related services.
• Experience with cloud and hybrid-cloud implementations including IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
• Understanding and familiarity with the methods used in the system development life cycle (such as waterfall, spiral, agile software development, rapid prototyping, incremental, synchronize and stabilize, and DevOps).
• Designing and implementing Azure Data Analytics solutions.
• Experience with various report writing tools such as Power BI and Tableau.
• Strong proficiency in relational database management systems (MS SQL Server) and NoSQL databases.
• Ability to create data models in Visio or any other tool of choice with proficiency in reverse and forward engineering, specifically for Azure data services.
• Experience working with Insurance and risk management industry data preferred.
• Knowledge and understanding of different modeling languages/frameworks, with a focus on Azure-specific data modeling and integration technologies.
• Strong analytical abilities with a passion for data and evidence-based decision-making.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to work effectively across internal and external organizations and virtual teams.
• Visionary with strategic planning, critical thinking, relationship building, and implementation skills are required.
• Experience working in teams using CI/CD and agile methodologies, specifically in the context of Azure cloud projects.

Work Environment:

The position is Chicagoland Area based/hybrid and requires the ability to travel as needed. In office attendance (Downtown Chicago) is required on an as-needed basis.

Come join our EIIA Team Interested candidates should forward a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to Joe Dudzik at jdudzik@eiia.org

EIIA is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.