Principal Data Architect Jobs
Principal Data Architect jobs are open across financial services, healthcare, technology, and retail, at every level from senior architect to principal and staff, with specializations in cloud data platforms, enterprise data modeling, and data governance. See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
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Wells Fargo is seeking a Principal Data Architect— a hands-on technologist who will shape modern data architecture across cloud and on-prem environments in a large-scale banking ecosystem. This role designs scalable patterns for application, analytics, workflow, and AI-enabled workloads while guiding the evolution of legacy systems into secure, resilient, and future-ready platforms. The ideal candidate balances strategy, design, and hands-on execution—proving concepts through code, solving complex data challenges, and influencing senior technologists. You will work across diverse systems, define architectural patterns, and enable teams to modernize data environments with practical, AI-aware solutions.
This role requires deep expertise in distributed data systems, application and workflow integration, and analytic platforms, along with the ability to translate current-state constraints into forward-looking architectures. Experience using both traditional development and AI-assisted engineering tools is key. Beyond technical leadership, you will mentor teams, align architecture to business outcomes, and communicate effectively with both technical and business stakeholders. Success in this role requires driving solutions that balance innovation with measurable value, including considerations of scalability, cost (TCO), and ROI.
In this role, you will:
Act as an advisor to senior leadership to develop the architectural framework & delivery for highly complex business and technical needs across multiple groups
Lead the strategy and resolution of highly complex and unique challenges requiring in-depth evaluation across multiple areas or the enterprise, delivering products and solutions that are long-term, large-scale, and require vision, creativity, innovation, advanced analytical and inductive thinking
Provide vision, direction, and expertise to senior leadership on implementing the transformation strategy describing the current state, target state, and transition architecture
Develop and influence strategic plans, investment planning, and execution on cutover strategies to target
Strategically engage with all levels of professionals and managers across the enterprise and serve as an architectural domain expert advisor to leadership
Drive target investments towards target technologies and rationalize spend, total cost of ownership, and return on investment
Ensure applications adhere to established Wells Fargo standards, policies, methodologies, and industry best practices as it transforms toward target state architecture
Drive the definition, establishment, selection of strategic tools, and application of architecture frameworks
Maintain knowledge of industry best practices and new technologies and recommends innovations that enhance operations or provide a competitive advantage to the organization and can influence internal and vendor roadmaps in a significant capacity
Required Qualifications:
- 7+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, database platforms, or enterprise technology roles, with significant experience in large-scale financial services or banking environments.
- 7+ years of designing enterprise-scale data architectures across hybrid cloud, public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises platforms.
- 7+ years of experience with relational, NoSQL, columnar, distributed, and shared-nothing database technologies.
Desired Qualifications:
- Proven ability to design scalable architectures using partitioning, sharding, replication, workload isolation, horizontal scaling, and distributed processing patterns
- Experience architecting batch, streaming, event-driven, real-time, near-real-time, and API-based data integration patterns
- Strong understanding of how application workloads, analytical workloads, reporting workloads, workflow engines, and AI/ML workloads interact with enterprise data platforms
- Hands-on capability with technologies such as SQL, Python, Java, Spark, Kafka, Airflow, APIs, and modern data pipeline frameworks
- Expertise in data modeling, including conceptual, logical, physical, dimensional, canonical, domain-driven, and event-based models
- Strong knowledge of data security architecture, including encryption, tokenization, masking, access controls, entitlement models, secrets management, and audit logging
- Ability to define and evaluate non-functional technical requirements, including latency, throughput, scalability, availability, resiliency, recovery, observability, security, and maintainability
- Familiarity with designing data architectures that support AI, machine learning, feature engineering, model training, retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, and analytical workloads
- Experience developing reference architectures, reusable design patterns, platform standards, technical guardrails, and implementation blueprints
Job Expectations:
- Ability to travel up to 10% of the time.
- Ability to work a hybrid work schedule – 3 days a week on-site/in office and 2 days a week remote.
- This position is not eligible for Visa sponsorship
Locations
- 300 S Brevard, Charlotte, NC
- 401 Las Colinas Blvd. W, Irving, TX
- 550 4th St., Minneapolis, MN
- 800 Jordan Pkwy, West Des Moines, IA
Pay Range
Reflected is the base pay range offered for this position. Pay may vary depending on factors including but not limited to demonstrated examples of prior performance, skills, experience, or work location. Employees may also be eligible for incentive opportunities. $159,000.00 - $279,000.00
Benefits
Wells Fargo provides eligible employees with a comprehensive set of benefits, many of which are listed below. Visit Benefits - Wells Fargo Jobs for an overview of the following benefit plans and programs offered to employees.
- Health benefits
- 401(k) Plan
- Paid time off
- Disability benefits
- Life insurance, critical illness insurance, and accident insurance
- Parental leave
- Critical caregiving leave
- Discounts and savings
- Commuter benefits
- Tuition reimbursement
- Scholarships for dependent children
- Adoption reimbursement
Posting End Date:
12 Nov 2026- Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.
We Value Equal Opportunity
Wells Fargo is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected characteristic.
Employees support our focus on building strong customer relationships balanced with a strong risk mitigating and compliance-driven culture which firmly establishes those disciplines as critical to the success of our customers and company. They are accountable for execution of all applicable risk programs (Credit, Market, Financial Crimes, Operational, Regulatory Compliance), which includes effectively following and adhering to applicable Wells Fargo policies and procedures, appropriately fulfilling risk and compliance obligations, timely and effective escalation and remediation of issues, and making sound risk decisions. There is emphasis on proactive monitoring, governance, risk identification and escalation, as well as making sound risk decisions commensurate with the business unit’s risk appetite and all risk and compliance program requirements.
Applicants with Disabilities
To request a medical accommodation during the application or interview process, visit Disability Inclusion at Wells Fargo.
Drug and Alcohol Policy
Wells Fargo maintains a drug free workplace. Please see our Drug and Alcohol Policy to learn more.
Wells Fargo Recruitment and Hiring Requirements:
a. Third-Party recordings are prohibited unless authorized by Wells Fargo.
b. Wells Fargo requires you to directly represent your own experiences during the recruiting and hiring process.
c. Please be prepared to provide accurate information and supporting documentation in connection with any lawful employment and education verification conducted by Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo is seeking a Principal Data Architect— a hands-on technologist who will shape modern data architecture across cloud and on-prem environments in a large-scale banking ecosystem. This role designs scalable patterns for application, analytics, workflow, and AI-enabled workloads while guiding the evolution of legacy systems into secure, resilient, and future-ready platforms. The ideal candidate balances strategy, design, and hands-on execution—proving concepts through code, solving complex data challenges, and influencing senior technologists. You will work across diverse systems, define architectural patterns, and enable teams to modernize data environments with practical, AI-aware solutions.
This role requires deep expertise in distributed data systems, application and workflow integration, and analytic platforms, along with the ability to translate current-state constraints into forward-looking architectures. Experience using both traditional development and AI-assisted engineering tools is key. Beyond technical leadership, you will mentor teams, align architecture to business outcomes, and communicate effectively with both technical and business stakeholders. Success in this role requires driving solutions that balance innovation with measurable value, including considerations of scalability, cost (TCO), and ROI.
In this role, you will:
Act as an advisor to senior leadership to develop the architectural framework & delivery for highly complex business and technical needs across multiple groups
Lead the strategy and resolution of highly complex and unique challenges requiring in-depth evaluation across multiple areas or the enterprise, delivering products and solutions that are long-term, large-scale, and require vision, creativity, innovation, advanced analytical and inductive thinking
Provide vision, direction, and expertise to senior leadership on implementing the transformation strategy describing the current state, target state, and transition architecture
Develop and influence strategic plans, investment planning, and execution on cutover strategies to target
Strategically engage with all levels of professionals and managers across the enterprise and serve as an architectural domain expert advisor to leadership
Drive target investments towards target technologies and rationalize spend, total cost of ownership, and return on investment
Ensure applications adhere to established Wells Fargo standards, policies, methodologies, and industry best practices as it transforms toward target state architecture
Drive the definition, establishment, selection of strategic tools, and application of architecture frameworks
Maintain knowledge of industry best practices and new technologies and recommends innovations that enhance operations or provide a competitive advantage to the organization and can influence internal and vendor roadmaps in a significant capacity
Required Qualifications:
- 7+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, database platforms, or enterprise technology roles, with significant experience in large-scale financial services or banking environments.
- 7+ years of designing enterprise-scale data architectures across hybrid cloud, public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises platforms.
- 7+ years of experience with relational, NoSQL, columnar, distributed, and shared-nothing database technologies.
Desired Qualifications:
- Proven ability to design scalable architectures using partitioning, sharding, replication, workload isolation, horizontal scaling, and distributed processing patterns
- Experience architecting batch, streaming, event-driven, real-time, near-real-time, and API-based data integration patterns
- Strong understanding of how application workloads, analytical workloads, reporting workloads, workflow engines, and AI/ML workloads interact with enterprise data platforms
- Hands-on capability with technologies such as SQL, Python, Java, Spark, Kafka, Airflow, APIs, and modern data pipeline frameworks
- Expertise in data modeling, including conceptual, logical, physical, dimensional, canonical, domain-driven, and event-based models
- Strong knowledge of data security architecture, including encryption, tokenization, masking, access controls, entitlement models, secrets management, and audit logging
- Ability to define and evaluate non-functional technical requirements, including latency, throughput, scalability, availability, resiliency, recovery, observability, security, and maintainability
- Familiarity with designing data architectures that support AI, machine learning, feature engineering, model training, retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, and analytical workloads
- Experience developing reference architectures, reusable design patterns, platform standards, technical guardrails, and implementation blueprints
Job Expectations:
- Ability to travel up to 10% of the time.
- Ability to work a hybrid work schedule – 3 days a week on-site/in office and 2 days a week remote.
- This position is not eligible for Visa sponsorship
Locations
- 300 S Brevard, Charlotte, NC
- 401 Las Colinas Blvd. W, Irving, TX
- 550 4th St., Minneapolis, MN
- 800 Jordan Pkwy, West Des Moines, IA
Pay Range
Reflected is the base pay range offered for this position. Pay may vary depending on factors including but not limited to demonstrated examples of prior performance, skills, experience, or work location. Employees may also be eligible for incentive opportunities. $159,000.00 - $279,000.00
Benefits
Wells Fargo provides eligible employees with a comprehensive set of benefits, many of which are listed below. Visit Benefits - Wells Fargo Jobs for an overview of the following benefit plans and programs offered to employees.
- Health benefits
- 401(k) Plan
- Paid time off
- Disability benefits
- Life insurance, critical illness insurance, and accident insurance
- Parental leave
- Critical caregiving leave
- Discounts and savings
- Commuter benefits
- Tuition reimbursement
- Scholarships for dependent children
- Adoption reimbursement
Posting End Date:
12 Nov 2026- Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.
We Value Equal Opportunity
Wells Fargo is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected characteristic.
Employees support our focus on building strong customer relationships balanced with a strong risk mitigating and compliance-driven culture which firmly establishes those disciplines as critical to the success of our customers and company. They are accountable for execution of all applicable risk programs (Credit, Market, Financial Crimes, Operational, Regulatory Compliance), which includes effectively following and adhering to applicable Wells Fargo policies and procedures, appropriately fulfilling risk and compliance obligations, timely and effective escalation and remediation of issues, and making sound risk decisions. There is emphasis on proactive monitoring, governance, risk identification and escalation, as well as making sound risk decisions commensurate with the business unit’s risk appetite and all risk and compliance program requirements.
Applicants with Disabilities
To request a medical accommodation during the application or interview process, visit Disability Inclusion at Wells Fargo.
Drug and Alcohol Policy
Wells Fargo maintains a drug free workplace. Please see our Drug and Alcohol Policy to learn more.
Wells Fargo Recruitment and Hiring Requirements:
a. Third-Party recordings are prohibited unless authorized by Wells Fargo.
b. Wells Fargo requires you to directly represent your own experiences during the recruiting and hiring process.
c. Please be prepared to provide accurate information and supporting documentation in connection with any lawful employment and education verification conducted by Wells Fargo.
Principal Data Architect Jobs by Experience Level
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Find Principal Data Architect JobsPrincipal Data Architect Job Market
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Medical Devices
- Electronics & Hardware
- Insurance
- Human Resources
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in principal data architect jobs.
- 8 or more years of experience designing and implementing enterprise data architectures
- Deep hands-on expertise with cloud data platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud
- Proficiency in data modeling techniques including relational, dimensional, and NoSQL approaches
- Experience leading data governance, data quality, and master data management programs
- Strong command of SQL and at least one scripting language such as Python or Scala
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, information systems, or a related field
Tips for Your Principal Data Architect Job Search
Tailor your resume to data platform depth
Principal data architect job descriptions often distinguish between candidates who designed enterprise-scale platforms and those who inherited them. Spell out the data volumes, pipeline complexity, and architectural decisions you owned, not just the tools you used.
Highlight governance and standards ownership
Many listings at this level require demonstrated ownership of data governance frameworks, not just participation. Call out the specific policies, data cataloging standards, or master data management programs you built or led from scratch.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists principal data architect openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Target postings by cloud stack alignment
Principal architect roles are often tightly scoped to a specific cloud ecosystem. Filter your search by the cloud platform you know deepest, since hiring teams frequently screen out candidates whose hands-on architecture experience is on a competing stack.
Prepare a portfolio of architecture decision records
Interviewers for principal-level roles frequently ask you to walk through a past architecture decision, including the tradeoffs you rejected. Bring two or three written architecture decision records you can reference, with the problem, options considered, and your rationale.
Negotiate scope before negotiating compensation
At the principal level, the reporting structure, autonomy over tooling decisions, and team composition vary enormously between employers. Clarify those dimensions in your final-round conversations before anchoring on a number, since scope shapes long-term leverage.
Principal Data Architect Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most principal data architects?
The most active employers for principal data architects right now are Stryker, JPMorganChase, and Apple, and the most openings are in California, Texas, and Virginia, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Financial services, healthcare systems, and large technology companies tend to maintain the most consistent demand for this role.
How many principal data architect jobs are remote?
About 88% of principal data architect openings are fully remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting sustained demand for distributed architecture work. Roles focused on cloud platform design and data governance strategy tend to be the most remote-friendly, while positions requiring close collaboration with on-site engineering or compliance teams more often require in-person presence.
How do you become a principal data architect?
Most principal data architects build their path through progressive ownership of increasingly complex data systems. Start by developing deep expertise in data modeling and a major cloud platform, then move into roles where you own architecture decisions rather than implement others'. Earning credentials in cloud architecture and data governance, and contributing to cross-functional standards work, signals readiness for the principal level.
Can you get hired as a principal data architect without direct experience at that level?
It's possible if you can demonstrate that you've already been doing the work, even under a different title. Build a portfolio of architecture decision records, document the data platforms you've designed from the ground up, and seek out stretch assignments that put you in front of enterprise-scale data problems. Closing the gap between your title and your actual scope is what hiring teams look for.
What does the principal data architect interview process look like?
The process typically starts with a recruiter screen, followed by a technical conversation covering data modeling, cloud architecture patterns, and your approach to data governance. Expect at least one whiteboarding or design exercise where you walk through an architecture decision in real time. Final rounds often include a panel with engineering leadership, product, and sometimes the chief data officer, focused on your influence on cross-functional strategy.
Where can I find and apply to principal data architect jobs?
You can find and apply to principal data architect jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Search for roles that match your cloud platform experience, architecture focus, and industry background, then apply directly to each listing that fits.
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Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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