Principal Data Architect - Data Governance & Metadata

Allen Institute; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Visa sponsorship

Benefits package

Job summary

The Allen Institute is seeking a Principal Data Architect to lead governance, stewardship, and metadata practices across multimodal biological data spanning two decades. You will own data cataloging, lifecycle management, and standards development while partnering with scientific and technology teams to balance openness with security.

This onsite Seattle role emphasizes data accessibility, sustainability, and regulatory alignment (NIST/HIPAA where applicable), guiding centralized architectures

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in information/data disciplines.
• Minimum 7 years in data governance, stewardship, or large-scale data management environments.
• Deep expertise in metadata standards and governance frameworks.
• Experience across multi-stakeholder environments, preferably in research settings.
• Strong ability to influence and translate concepts across audiences.
• Familiarity with biology/biomedical datasets and related data types.
• Knowledge of data governance frameworks and regulatory standards (NIST/HIPAA).
• Understanding of cloud storage environments and data infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Establish and implement institute-wide data and metadata standards for discoverability and consistency.
• Own and advance the data governance and stewardship program, including cataloging and lifecycle management.
• Develop guidance for data ETL and lifecycle management across datasets.
• Drive adoption of governance practices across programs and measure uptake.
• Ensure alignment with data security standards and collaborate with legal, security, and technical teams.
• Lead development of central metadata standards for large-scale multimodal data and guide storage/infrastructure decisions.
• Provide strategic advice on data management to leaders across scientific and operational units.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives to improve data accessibility, reuse, and long-term sustainability across the Institute.

Skills

Data governance

Metadata standards

Stakeholder collaboration

Regulatory compliance

Data lifecycle management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Information Science / Data Management / Computer Science

Master’s degree or Ph.D. preferred

Tools

Cloud storage

Data cataloging tools

ETL workflows

Metadata management platforms

Job description

The Allen Institute is seeking a Principal Data Architect to lead governance, stewardship, and metadata practices across multimodal biological data spanning two decades. You will own data cataloging, lifecycle management, and standards development while partnering with scientific and technology teams to balance openness with security.

This onsite Seattle role emphasizes data accessibility, sustainability, and regulatory alignment (NIST/HIPAA where applicable), guiding centralized architectures