Principal Data Architect

Principal Data Architect Location: This position can be located in the following area(s): Canada - Remote, US - Remote Company Overview Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurable results for our clients. We're all in on AWS, combining deep UX capability with senior engineering talent to get AI into production fast and keep it there. We’ve earned the trust of leaders across Consumer Products and Retail, Education, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Manufacturing and more, and earned a reputation as the nimble alternative to traditional global systems integrators. Founded in 2009, with delivery centers in Canada, the United States, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, we are smaller, faster, and more senior by design. Our teams average 15+ years of experience. We move fast, sweat the details, and build things that actually ship. Position Overview We’re looking for a Principal Data Architect who owns the hardest data architecture challenges, sets technical direction across data platforms, and serves as the senior technical voice on how organizations model, move, govern, and trust their data. You set the standard for warehouses, lakes, lakehouse environments, streaming systems, and the data foundations that power AI/ML at scale. In this role, you will operate as the senior technical authority on data architecture — championing data mesh, data product, and governance strategies, owning high-stakes decisions on platform direction, and shaping the data foundations behind production AI systems. You will partner closely with leadership and clients on data strategy, mentor experienced engineers and architects, and drive a long-term vision for data that is scalable, secure, and built to compound in value over time. Why This Role Matters At Robots & Pencils, we design AI systems for a human world. Our name says it all. Robots and pencils means engineering paired with creativity, because every agent we ship has to work for real people in real workflows. That balance is baked into how we operate. Every role here contributes directly to that mission. Here, you shape how AI systems integrate into enterprise operations, how teams move at real velocity, and how products create measurable impact for clients and the people they serve. We ship production-ready AI in 30 to 45 days. That pace demands people who take ownership, lead with craft, and care deeply about what they put their name on. What You’ll Do Craft & Delivery - Set the standard for data architecture across warehouses, data lakes, and lakehouse environments, including medallion architecture and open table format strategy - Design for data and AI governance, including data governance, lineage, quality, cataloging, access control for AI agents, and evaluation data - Define vision and direction for batch and streaming data systems at scale and the orchestration that runs them - Champion enterprise data modeling strategy across dimensional, Data Vault, data mesh, and data product paradigms - Own the architecture of data foundations for AI/ML at scale, including feature stores, embeddings and vector store strategy, and RAG and real-time retrieval data pipelines - Architect semantic layers, knowledge graphs, and unstructured data pipelines (documents, text, images, audio) that give AI agents trusted business context - Drive infrastructure as code, CI/CD, and observability standards that govern how data platforms are built and operated - Champion performance, scalability, cost, and reliability optimization across the data estate - Own security, governance, and compliance posture across data assets (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2, PII, data residency, and audit readiness) - Stay hands-on: prototype, write production code, and review designs and pull requests alongside delivery teams - Bring an AI-forward mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude, Cursor, and other modern AI assistants to ship higher-quality work at pace Collaboration & Communication - Partner with senior leadership and clients as the principal technical voice on data strategy and platform direction - Support pre-sales as the senior data voice, shaping solution approaches, scoping, estimates, and proposals, and joining client conversations - Communicate the most complex data architecture concepts clearly to engineering and executive stakeholders alike - Engage across engineering, AI, analytics, and product organizations to align data architecture with enterprise strategy - Set the standard for data architecture documentation, modeling and governance practices, and data contracts across teams Leadership & Influence - Define and champion architectural standards and best practices on the engagements you support - Build reusable accelerators, reference architectures, and templates that scale the data practice and speed delivery across engagements - Mentor experienced engineers and architects, helping them grow their technical judgment and impact - Own the most difficult architectural and integration challenges, serving as the senior technical decision-maker - Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend tools, frameworks, and patterns that improve architecture over time You’ll Do Well Here if You Are - A doer. You see something broken and fix it. You'd rather move on clarity than wait for certainty. - A fast learner who knows you don't know everything. The AI landscape changes weekly. You're senior enough to know better and curious enough to keep learning anyway. - Direct in a way that makes the work better. You give honest feedback. You'd rather have the hard conversation than blow smoke. - Obsessed with craft. You know genius is in the details. You ship exceptional, not perfect, and you don't put your name on work you wouldn't stand behind. - Built for ownership. You honor commitments, admit mistakes fast, and back your teammates when a decision costs something. No handoffs, no finger-pointing. - All in. You treat clients' businesses like your own. You take the work seriously without taking yourself seriously. - Resourceful when the budget, timeline, or team is tight. Constraints don't slow you down. They sharpen you. - Calm when it gets hot. When scope, timeline, and stakeholders pull in three directions, you slow the room down enough to make the right call. You’d rather raise the hard trade-off in week two than absorb it in week eight. - Glad to be in the room with people who care as much as you do. Our teams average fifteen-plus years of experience. We hire people who push each other to do better work. The below range reflects the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future. An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, any collective bargaining agreements, and business or organizational needs. The salary range for this role is $170000 USD - $240000 USD in the US, and $190,000-$260,000 CAD in Canada.  We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k)/RRSP Matching to eligible employees. An offer of employment may be conditional upon successful completion of a background check in accordance with local legislation and our candidate privacy notice. Your current employer will not be contacted without your permission.  We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law.