AI-First Principal Data Architect for Scalable Platforms

Applied Systems; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Systems is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to shape the architectural foundation of our Data and Analytics capabilities as we scale to enable better insights and AI across the enterprise. You will lead architectural decisions and guide engineering teams with an AI-first mindset.

You will define the long-term vision for AI-enabled data architecture, govern agentic workflows, and surface system-level insights that improve quality and velocity across the data domain.

Qualifications

• Experience shaping data architecture at scale.
• Deep knowledge of data architecture principles.
• Ability to guide engineering teams and set standards.

Responsibilities

• Define large-scale data architecture decisions across batch/streaming platforms, warehouses, and lakehouses.
• Architect observability, alerting, and incident-responsive frameworks for data pipelines.
• Partner to define standards for data quality, lineage, access control, cataloging, and governance; set SLAs/SLOs.

Skills

Data architecture

Leadership

Mentoring

Communication

Hands-on coding

Influence without authority

Adaptability

Ambiguity handling

GCP BigQuery

dbt

Data governance

Dimensional modeling

Data warehouses / lakehouses

Education

Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

GCP BigQuery

dbt

Job description

Applied Systems is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to shape the architectural foundation of our Data and Analytics capabilities as we scale to enable better insights and AI across the enterprise. You will lead architectural decisions and guide engineering teams with an AI-first mindset.

You will define the long-term vision for AI-enabled data architecture, govern agentic workflows, and surface system-level insights that improve quality and velocity across the data domain.