Enterprise Data Architect & Governance Lead

Smurfit Westrock; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive training opportunities

Competitive salary

Global packaging company focus onSust/

Sustainability initiatives

Job summary

Smurfit Westrock is seeking an Enterprise Data Architect to shape our data ecosystem. You will design the enterprise-wide architecture, drive governance, and champion automation across on-prem and cloud platforms.

You will lead data stewardship, ensure SOX/GDPR compliance, and enable AI/ML workloads with scalable data pipelines. This role requires strong leadership and collaboration across IT and business teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred).
• 10+ years in Information Technology, with 3+ years in enterprise data architecture or equivalent leadership role.
• Proven experience delivering enterprise-scale data strategies, architectures, and governance frameworks.
• Deep knowledge of: Data Lake, EDW, Data Warehouse, and MDM architectures; Metadata management, data lineage, data quality frameworks; Compliance and governance standards (SOX, GDPR, CCPA); Architecture frameworks and modeling (TOGAF, DAMA, ArchiMate).
• DataOps and CI/CD pipeline tooling; Data cataloging and lineage tools (Collibra, Alation).

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and execution of the enterprise-wide data architecture and roadmap, aligning with business goals, IT strategy, and compliance.
• Establish target-state data capabilities for ingestion, processing, consumption, governance, and security across on-prem and cloud.
• Develop scalable, modular, and metadata-driven architectures to support analytics, reporting, and real-time workflows.
• Define and enforce enterprise data standards, governance policies, and stewardship models with stakeholders.
• Lead MDM strategy and implementation for data consistency across systems.
• Drive compliance with SOX, GDPR, and data privacy frameworks; ensure traceability and audit readiness.
• Create reusable architectural patterns for modern automated data pipelines supporting self-service BI, AI/ML, and analytics.
• Drive integration standardization across ERP, MES, CRM, WMS, and data platforms using scalable frameworks.
• Architect analytics modernization including real-time data, embedded analytics, and data science workloads.
• Define platform strategy and readiness for AI/ML enablement, ensuring scalable pipelines for training and inference.
• Act as strategic advisor to business and IT leaders on data architecture and governance.
• Facilitate governance councils, align stakeholders, and promote a data-driven culture.
• Mentor architects and analysts to improve data literacy and architecture maturity.
• Lead data harmonization for M&A, ERP programs, and cross-platform integration.

Skills

Executive communication

Cross-functional leadership

Mentoring

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Bachelor's degree in Information Systems/CS/Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Tools

TOGAF

DAMA

ArchiMate

DataOps

Collibra

Alation

Job description

Smurfit Westrock is seeking an Enterprise Data Architect to shape our data ecosystem. You will design the enterprise-wide architecture, drive governance, and champion automation across on-prem and cloud platforms.

You will lead data stewardship, ensure SOX/GDPR compliance, and enable AI/ML workloads with scalable data pipelines. This role requires strong leadership and collaboration across IT and business teams.