Lead Data Architect

Virta; Helsinki; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Virta in Helsinki seeks a Lead Data Architect to own the data platform, set analytics direction, and ensure scalable, governed data across the business. This hands-on role starts as an individual contributor, building patterns and reviewing implementations, while paving the way for a 3–5 person data team within 12 months.

You will collaborate with product and engineering, shaping data ownership and best practices, with hybrid work from Helsinki and European-wide remote options.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in data engineering or data architecture.
• 3+ years owning architecture decisions.
• Proven team leadership experience.
• Ability to translate business reality into data structures.
• Snowflake expertise: modelling, performance, cost, security.
• Strong dimensional and domain modeling skills.
• Production-level SQL and Python; still code weekly.
• Experience with modern transformation, orchestration tooling and governance.
• Proficiency with AI tools in work.
• Strong English communication skills.
• Hybrid from Helsinki preferred; remote within Europe.

Responsibilities

• Own the target architecture: Set warehouse layers, modeling standards, and ingestion patterns.
• Harmonize the core entity model across systems.
• Make data trustworthy: governance, ownership, definitions, quality, access.
• Build hands-on: write reference implementations, dbt models, data contracts.
• Own the semantic layer: shape BI data for internal reporting.
• Lead the data team: define roles and structure, grow the team.
• Be the internal data authority: advise product/engineering and run data-literacy training.
• Partner across the company: work with product and engineering on data initiatives.

Skills

Data architecture

Snowflake

SQL

Python

Leadership

Data governance

Data modeling

Cross-functional collaboration

AI tooling

English

Tools

dbt

Job description

Liikennevirta is seeking for a Lead Data Architect who will own Virta's data platform and report to the VP of Engineering. This is not a greenfield: Snowflake and several other data platforms are already in place, built up over years of fast growth. Your job is to take ownership of what exists, decide what stays and what changes, and set the direction for what comes next.

The first priority is one shared model for core business entities, such as customers, legal entities, and commercial relationships, used consistently across our systems. You will lead the key decisions on how data is modeled across the company, working closely with the domain teams that own our operational systems. In short, you will build the foundation for how we scale.

This is a hands-on role that combines architecture and leadership. You will start as an individual contributor, building parts of the platform yourself, proving patterns with working code, and reviewing implementations in detail. If you are looking for a role that produces diagrams and delegates the rest, this is not it.

Within your first 12 months, you will define the roles we need and form a data team of 3–5 people, bringing together colleagues who already work with our data and new hires. You will lead the decisions on how the team is shaped, and lead it as it grows.

What You'll Do

• Own the target architecture: Set warehouse layers, modeling standards, and ingestion patterns for domain teams to build on
• Harmonize the core entity model: Unify organizations, legal entities, contracts, and commercial relationships across operational and analytical systems
• Make data trustworthy: Design governance for data ownership, definitions, quality, and access
• Build hands-on: Write reference implementations, critical-domain dbt models, data contracts, and reusable patterns
• Own the semantic layer: Shape the layer feeding our BI, from embedded product analytics to internal reporting
• Build the data team: Define roles and structure, build the team from internal talent and new hires, and lead it as it grows
• Be the internal data authority: Advise product, engineering, and business teams on data design and use, and run data-literacy training
• Partner across the company: Work with product and engineering on data-heavy initiatives and support architecture due diligence for integrations and acquisitions

What We're Looking For

• 8+ years in data engineering or data architecture, with at least 3 years owning architecture decisions that others built on
• Proven track record in team leadership and developing talents
• Proven ability to collaborate in matrix and translate business reality into data structures
• Deep, current Snowflake expertise: modeling, performance, cost management, security, and access design
• Strong dimensional and domain modeling skills. You have harmonized an established data model across multiple systems before and can describe how you approached it
• Production-level SQL and Python, or another language of your choice for data work. You still write code weekly and expect to keep doing so.
• Experience with modern transformation, orchestration tooling, designing governance that works in practice: ownership models, data contracts, quality monitoring
• Competence using AI tools in your own work, with judgment about where they help and where they don't
• Strong English communication skills.
• Hybrid from Helsinki preferred; remote possible within our European operating countries

Why Join Us

Founding roles like this are rare. You will build Virta's data foundation: the architecture, the team, and the way the company uses data. All on a platform that sits at the intersection of mobility and energy. Real ownership: you own the data platform, report to the VP of Engineering, and lead the decisions that shape how we scale across markets. The EV charging market in Europe is regulated, fast-moving, and data-hungry: smart charging, energy flexibility, and new regulatory regimes all depend on the foundation you will design.

Ready to build what's next?