Staff Data Architect, CNN Data Analytics, Science & Insights.

Turner Services Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 137,000 - 254,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Wellness program

Life and disability insurance

Retirement savings plan

Paid holidays and vacation

Job summary

Warner Bros. Discovery is seeking a Staff Data Architect to evolve CNN’s data ecosystem. You will design scalable Snowflake architectures, mentor engineers, and partner with analytics to deliver reliable data systems across platforms.

You will define standards for architecture, data modeling, and secure access, enabling trusted self-service analytics and consistent metrics across Looker, Tableau, or Domo.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of experience in data engineering, data architecture, or a related field.
• Deep expertise in cloud data warehousing, with hands-on Snowflake experience.
• Strong experience with dbt-based transformations, testing, and deployment.
• Experience with event or clickstream data and instrumentation at scale.
• Proven ability to design semantic layers and analytics-ready data models for BI tools.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement to explain technical concepts.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement scalable data architecture patterns on Snowflake for high-volume workloads.
• Lead the technical design and establish architecture and data modelling standards.
• Define secure, scalable data access patterns with RBAC and governed schemas.
• Build data quality and observability frameworks using dbt tests and monitoring.
• Collaborate with platform engineering and analytics to improve reliability and efficiency.
• Translate analytics requirements into trusted semantic data models for BI tools.
• Define data lifecycle and retention strategies balancing cost and availability.
• Mentor engineers and analysts to raise data architecture practices.

Skills

Data architecture

Mentoring engineers

Stakeholder engagement

Semantic data models

Performance optimization

Tools

Snowflake

dbt

Snowplow

Looker/Tableau/Domo

Airflow

Dagster

Job description

Welcome to Warner Bros. Discovery… the stuff dreams are made of. Who We Are… When we say, “the stuff dreams are made of,” we’re not just referring to the world of wizards, dragons and superheroes, or even to the wonders of Planet Earth. Behind WBD’s vast portfolio of iconic content and beloved brands, are the storytellers bringing our characters to life, the creators bringing them to your living rooms and the dreamers creating what’s next… From brilliant creatives, to technology trailblazers, across the globe, WBD offers career defining opportunities, thoughtfully curated benefits, and the tools to explore and grow into your best selves. Here you are supported, here you are celebrated, here you can thrive. We are the now and the next. The power behind the people building the future. We are born from the spirit of innovation. We are created from the idea that people around the world want more, need more, deserve more. We are the home of the global digital revolution. We are CNN.

Your New Role…

The Staff Data Architect plays a critical, hands‑on role in evolving and strengthening CNN’s modern data ecosystem. This is a platform‑focused role for a senior technologist who thrives at scale—designing and implementing robust, performant, and governed data architecture that powers analytics, reporting, and decision‑making across the organization. You’ll combine deep technical expertise with practical leadership, helping define architecture and modeling standards, mentoring engineers and analysts, and partnering closely with platform and analytics teams to deliver reliable, scalable data systems. This role is ideal for someone passionate about improving time‑to‑insight, driving metric consistency, and building trusted semantic data models across a high‑impact analytics platform.

Accountabilities…

• Design and implement scalable data architecture patterns on Snowflake to support high‑volume event and analytics workloads, with a strong focus on performance, security, and cost efficiency through query optimization, warehouse sizing, storage management, and governance best practices.
• Lead the technical design and implementation of complex data systems and platform enhancements, establishing and maintaining architecture and data modeling standards that promote consistency, scalability, and reliability across Snowflake and dbt workflows.
• Define and implement secure, scalable data access patterns, leveraging role‑based access control and managed access schemas to ensure data is governed, auditable, and accessible to the right audiences.
• Design and operate data quality and observability frameworks, using dbt tests and monitoring tools to track pipeline health, latency, and freshness, and to continuously improve platform reliability and operational visibility.
• Partner closely with platform engineering and analytics teams to improve system reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency, contributing to platform architecture planning and technical roadmaps.
• Translate complex analytics and business requirements into clean, well‑governed semantic data models that enable trusted self‑service analytics and consistent metrics across BI tools.
• Define and implement data lifecycle and retention strategies that balance performance, cost efficiency, compliance, and data availability across the analytics platform.
• Act as a technical mentor and thought leader, helping grow the skills of engineers and analysts and raising the overall bar for data architecture and engineering practices.

Qualifications & Experience…

• 5–8 years of experience in data engineering, data architecture, or a related field, with demonstrated ownership of production data systems or platform components.
• Deep expertise in cloud data warehousing, with hands‑on experience in Snowflake, including performance tuning, security design, cost optimization, and large‑scale data modeling.
• Strong experience designing and maintaining dbt‑based transformation workflows, including testing, performance optimization, and deployment best practices.
• Experience working with event or clickstream data, ideally using Snowplow or comparable technologies, and a strong understanding of instrumentation and processing challenges at scale.
• Proven ability to design and implement semantic layers and analytics‑ready data models that serve as a trusted source of truth for BI tools such as Looker, Tableau, or Domo.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non‑technical audiences, influence architectural decisions, and build alignment across teams.

Nice to Haves…

• Experience with Customer Data Platforms (CDPs).
• Experience with data orchestration tools such as Airflow or Dagster.
• Familiarity with data privacy and compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, CCPA).
• Experience working in the media, publishing, or digital content industry.

How We Get Things Done…

This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.

Championing Inclusion at WBD Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences.

Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.

If you’re a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.

In compliance with local law, we are disclosing the compensation, or a range thereof, for roles in locations where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, location, skill set, experience, and/or performance. Base pay is just one component of Warner Bros. Discovery’s total compensation package for employees. Pay Range: $136,500.00 - $253,500.00 salary per year. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards.

In addition, Warner Bros. Discovery provides a variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance coverage, an employee wellness program, life and disability insurance, a retirement savings plan, paid holidays and sick time and vacation.

Warner Bros. Discovery, a premier global media and entertainment company, offers audiences the world's most differentiated and complete portfolio of content, brands and franchises across television, film, streaming and gaming. The new company combines WarnerMedia's premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery's leading non-fiction and international entertainment and sports businesses.