Data Architect (AWS, Data Lake)

Peregrine Advisors; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Peregrine Advisors in the Washington, DC area seeks a data architect to shape the data lake on AWS, including S3 with Iceberg, Aurora PostgreSQL, and DynamoDB. You will model schemas, ensure governed access, and align with the firm's data governance standards.

This hybrid role requires sole US citizenship and ability to obtain a Public Trust determination. You will collaborate across teams, mentor others, and help scale the data estate while delivering measurable impact for federal clients.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of data architecture and data modeling experience.
• Schema design across a data lake and relational stores: S3 with Apache Iceberg tables, Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, and DynamoDB.
• Data governance and security (Apache Ranger or comparable access controls).
• Data modeling tools (ER/Studio or IBM InfoSphere).
• Stakeholder communication with technical and non-technical audiences.
• Basic proficiency in writing, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Master's degree in a relevant field.
• Hadoop or Spark.
• Data-lifecycle breadth: data engineering, data product, data science, or data management.
• Federal information technology experience.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted developer tooling.

Responsibilities

• Shape the data architecture and data models for a large federal data-lake platform on AWS.
• Design models and schemas for S3, Iceberg, Aurora PostgreSQL, and DynamoDB.
• Restructure the live ecosystem to ensure governed access, data integrity, and accessibility.
• Explain designs to engineers and executives and own the data estate end-to-end.
• Collaborate with teams to spin up new capabilities and tools as the firm grows.

Skills

Data architecture

Data modeling

Data governance

Stakeholder communication

PowerPoint & Excel

Hadoop or Spark

AI-assisted tooling familiarity

Data lifecycle breadth

Education

Master's degree in a relevant field

Tools

ER/Studio

IBM InfoSphere

Apache Ranger

Job description

Peregrine Advisors is a firm founded on a simple conviction: the best solutions come from the people closest to the problem, given real ownership and the tools to deliver. We are a data and technology innovation hub and a Benefit Corporation working at the center of the federal government's mission to deliver for client stakeholders and the US public, looking for highly motivated contributors who thrive when trusted to own a hard problem and equipped to deliver the solution.

Your first assignment is to shape the data architecture and data models for a large federal data-lake platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS): S3, Apache Iceberg, Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, and DynamoDB.

The work is real, hard, and it matters. It is also where you start, not the shape of your career here: we hire people, not seats, and we move our best to where the hardest problems are.

• Clean data models and schemas across the lake and the relational stores (S3 with Apache Iceberg tables, Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, and DynamoDB).
• The architecture that brings the data together: you design the models and schemas that new and migrated sources land in, and you restructure the existing ecosystem to cut redundancy and protect integrity and accessibility, all under governed access.
• In time, the firm itself: new capabilities, tools, and lines of business you help spin up.

You are a data architect who sees the whole system and cares how every piece fits. You model with precision, you explain a design to engineers and executives alike, and you leave a data estate better than you found it. You experiment, fail, learn, and repeat quickly. You would rather own an outcome than be handed a task.

• Deep data modeling and schema design across a data lake and relational stores on AWS.
• The architect's toolkit around it: cloud data services, governed access, modeling tools, and the judgment to restructure a live ecosystem without breaking it.
• The communication to carry a design past technical and non-technical stakeholders, in a regulated environment where accuracy and auditability are not optional.

Sole United States citizenship and the ability to obtain a Public Trust determination are required for this initial engagement. This is a hybrid role based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and it requires commuting into DC regularly. Everything else, the years, the certifications, the specific tools, we ask in the application and get into during the interview.

A high-performing team of developers, engineers, data scientists, architects, and strategists solving complex, real-world problems, with work that runs from strategy formulation to hands-on implementation. We develop people across roles and clients, with extensive onboarding and sponsored training and professional development. And Peregrine has been a Benefit Corporation from day one: public value is built into the work itself, not bolted on afterward. Work worth your best years.

As a Benefit Corporation, our commitment runs three ways: real, measurable value for our clients; government that works better for the public; and a team that makes everyone in it better.

We hire people who want to help build the firm, not just work at it.

Peregrine Advisors is an equal opportunity employer.

• 5+ years of data architecture and data modeling experience
• Schema design across a data lake and relational stores: S3 with Apache Iceberg tables, Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, and DynamoDB
• Data governance and security (Apache Ranger or comparable access controls)
• Data modeling tools (for example ER/Studio or IBM InfoSphere)
• Stakeholder communication with technical and non-technical audiences
• Basic proficiency in writing, PowerPoint, and Excel
• Master's degree in a relevant field
• Hadoop or Spark
• Data-lifecycle breadth: data engineering, data product, data science, or data management
• Federal information technology experience
• Familiarity with AI-assisted developer tooling

Medical, dental, and vision with the employee premium fully paid and half of dependent premiums; employer-paid life, accidental death, and short-term and long-term disability insurance; a 401(k) matched 100% up to 4% of salary, vesting immediately; unlimited paid time off; and sponsored professional certifications and continuing education.