Data Architect

Overview: The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the Engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 2,900 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $940 million of problem‑solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry. Georgia Tech's Mission and Values Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do: Students are our top priority. We strive for excellence. We thrive on diversity. We celebrate collaboration. We champion innovation. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression. We nurture the wellbeing of our community. We act ethically. We are responsible stewards. Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact. Project/Unit Description The GTRI CIPHER Lab's Secure Information Systems (SIS) Division is currently seeking a Data Architect. The division concentrates on the design and development of secure real‑world, multi‑compartment, multi‑level information sharing applications. Hardware and software design methodologies are combined to deliver information exchange solutions that pass the rigorous testing required to operate on the nation's most secure networks. SIS solutions are nationally recognized within the government as state‑of‑the‑art, affordable, secure, and scalable. Job Purpose Data Architect is responsible for visualizing, designing and preparing data in enterprise data management frameworks that can be used by data scientists, data engineers, or data analysts. The framework describes the processes used to plan, specify, enable, create, acquire, maintain, use, archive, retrieve, control, and purge data. Responsible for assessing the systems data sources (internal and external) and designing a plan to integrate, centralize, protect and maintain data management systems. Ensure sponsors and stakeholders are able to access critical information in the right place, at the right time in a secure fashion. Must translate business requirements into technology requirements and define data standards and principles. Responsible for designing data standards, data dictionaries that meet business needs. Key Responsibilities Translate business requirements into technical specifications, including data streams, integrations, transformations and databases. Define data flows, i.e., which parts of the organization generate data, which require data to function, how data flows are managed, and how data changes in transition. Examine and identify structural data requirements by evaluating client operations, applications, and programming. Recommend solutions to improve new and existing data architectures. Contribute to the development of domain, state, or national data standards and models. Oversee the migration of data from legacy systems to new solutions. Actively collaborate with sponsors and external vendors and teams. Provide tasking to other team members or stakeholder community, based off of derived tasks. Additional Responsibilities Analyze Enterprise System requirements to determine best way of storing information system data. Develop technical design documents, architecture documents, infrastructure document, network documents, security documents and develop policy and procedures. Create and maintain documentation as code. Research, organize, and interpret technical information to create and maintain various types of documentation, including model development documentation, user manuals, installation guides, release notes, and code documentation. Collaborate with developers, subject matter experts, and business colleagues to gather information and understand technical concepts. Write and edit clear, concise content that meets the target audience's needs, adhering to style guidelines and documentation standards. Interview subject matter experts and technical staff to collect information, prepare written text, and coordinate layout and material organization. Develop and maintain specific templates for documentation sections, style guides, and best practices to ensure consistency and quality. Review and update existing documentation to ensure clarity, conciseness, and user‑friendliness. Ensure proper archiving of older model documents and adherence to relevant policies, procedures, and controls. Supports technical team with developing diagrams for documents and briefings. Required Minimum Qualifications 5+ years of technical writing experience. Ability to grasp complex technical concepts quickly as well as translate these concepts into text and diagrams. Ability to see all tasks through to completion, consistently, with a high attention to detail. Ability to work alongside a highly technical team to describe technical concepts with a high degree of independence. Preferred Qualifications Active Secret Clearance. Expertise in Adobe products, Microsoft Office tools (Word, PPT, Excel) and draw.io. Expertise in markup languages such as LaTeX and Markdown. Experience with writing tools such as Pandoc. Ability to work under time pressures. Ability to respond to changing priorities. Strong experience owning an end‑to‑end documentation creation process. Proven ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously and prioritize effectively. Ability to facilitate brainstorming sessions centered around technical content and lead workshops with project teams and sponsors. Travel Requirements