Principal Data Architect - AI

MeridianLink
United States
Workplace: RemoteFull timeUSD 126,000 - 214,900 annuallyFunction: Data Science & Machine LearningExperience: 12-15 yearsEducation: bachelorsSkills: ["PySpark","SQL","Delta Lake","Azure Databricks","Unity Catalog","IDMC","Informatica Data Management Cloud","CDC","Batch","Streaming","Data governance","Data modeling","Data Vault","Dimensional modeling","Kimball"]

Senior-level data architect shaping MeridianLink’s analytics platform. You will define end-to-end enterprise data models, govern data lineage and metadata, lead lakehouse design on Azure Databricks, and hands-on code in PySpark/SQL. This FinTech SaaS context requires multi-tenant data, regulated workloads, and customer-facing analytics, partnering with Product, Analytics, ML, Finance, and Compliance.

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FursaFursa
MeridianLink
MeridianLink
3 months ago

Principal Data Architect - AI

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Last checked: 4 hours agoStatus: Live

Job Summary

Senior-level data architect shaping MeridianLink’s analytics platform. You will define end-to-end enterprise data models, govern data lineage and metadata, lead lakehouse design on Azure Databricks, and hands-on code in PySpark/SQL. This FinTech SaaS context requires multi-tenant data, regulated workloads, and customer-facing analytics, partnering with Product, Analytics, ML, Finance, and Compliance.
Location: United States
Workplace: Remote
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Data Science & Machine Learning
Seniority: Director level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Define the enterprise data architecture: Own the conceptual, logical, and physical data models for MeridianLink's analytical and operational data platform, including source-aligned, integrated, and consumption-ready layers.
  • •Build the meta-model: Design and maintain a meta-model that captures entities, relationships, business definitions, ownership, lineage, sensitivity classifications, and SLAs — and make sure it is wired into our tooling, not stuck in a slide deck.
  • •Drive the lakehouse strategy: Architect our medallion (bronze / silver / gold) Delta Lake patterns on Databricks; define standards for partitioning, clustering, schema evolution, slowly changing dimensions, and historical reproducibility.
  • •Be hands-on: Write PySpark, SQL, and Delta Lake code. Build reference implementations, prototype patterns, review pull requests, and personally model critical domains rather than delegating every detail.
  • •Lead data integration design: Set patterns for ingestion through Informatica Data Management Cloud (IDMC) and direct Databricks pipelines, including CDC, batch, streaming, and API-based sourcing from our SaaS products and third-party systems.

Pay and Benefits

Salary: USD 126,000 - 214,900 annually

Key Requirements

  • •12–15+ years of progressive experience in data engineering, data warehousing, and data architecture roles, with at least the most recent several years at the architect level.
  • •Demonstrated experience as a Data Architect at a SaaS company in the FinTech or financial services software space (lending, banking, payments, capital markets, insurance, or a closely related domain).
  • •Deep, hands-on expertise with Databricks and PySpark on Azure, including Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, structured streaming, and performance tuning at scale.
  • •Production experience with Informatica Data Management Cloud (IDMC) — or comparable enterprise integration platforms — for ingestion, transformation, and metadata-driven pipelines.
  • •Proven track record of designing and implementing detailed meta-models and end-to-end data models (conceptual, logical, and physical) that have shipped to production and stood up over time.
Experience:12-15 yearsFintechSaaSData engineeringData warehousingMulti-tenant
Education:Bachelor's
Skills:PySparkSQLDelta LakeAzure DatabricksUnity CatalogIDMCInformatica Data Management CloudCDCBatchStreamingData governanceData modelingData VaultDimensional modelingKimball
Tech Stack:PySparkSQLPythonDelta LakeAzure DatabricksUnity CatalogInformatica Data Management CloudDatabricksIDMC

Company Brief

MeridianLink
Provides cloud-based digital lending, account opening, background screening, and data verification platforms for financial institutions and consumer reporting agencies, enabling automation, compliance, and data-driven decisioning.
Industry: Fintech Infrastructure
Company Size: Large (251 to 1,000 employees)
Growth: Established Company
Valuation: Unicorn (USD 1B+)
Funding: Private Equity Backed
Headquarters: Irvine, United States
Founded: 1998
Glassdoor
Glassdoor: 3.1
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