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Data Architect

Location: 5000 Kansas Avenue Kansas City, KS 66106

Department: Information Technology

Work Model: Hybrid ( 2-3 Days in office requirement)

Overview:

AWG is looking for a Data Architect in Information Technology (IT) to provide architectural and leadership oversight for strategic, business-transforming technical solutions in IT service and support.

We are seeking a forward-thinking Data Architect to join our dynamic team. In this pivotal role, you will be instrumental in designing and implementing innovative data solutions that drive our strategic objectives. Your expertise in constructing robust architecture and maintaining a secure and efficient data environment will be the cornerstone of our data-driven initiatives. If you have a passion for turning complex data into actionable insights and thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced atmosphere, we invite you to shape the future with us.

Responsibilities:

Deliver Solutions (30%)

• Architect/design solutions that align with industry best practices, future business/technology strategy and AWG's approved technology stack that address the customer's needs.
• Collaborate with customers to understand their business problems or needs and desired outcomes.
• Translates business context to technology solutions that meets organization objectives. 
• Identification and recommendation of appropriate architecture/solutions, estimating the work efforts, upgrades, replacements, or decommissioning options incorporating business and technology productivity, usability, and total cost of ownership.
• Develops /maintains Industry standards, guidelines and best practices for the core domain. 
• Participate in Architecture Review Board, conduct architectural and code reviews.
• Drive activities that take place during solution ideation, solution design, and solution implementation.
• Champions a structured approach to business application solutions and supports the architectural aspects of all application projects in peer IT portfolios.
• Communicates the architecture to the stakeholders, collaborates and coordinates with existing domain architects in the formalization and adoption of IT standards and procedures.

Support Availability and Services (25%)

• Assist core/project team in solving key/major production support issues, define/develop and execute architecture optimizations based on the unknown/unexpected support issues.
• Serve as the subject matter expert and go-to resource for the functional domain and drive major/key support challenges to successful solutions as appropriate.
• Recommends and drive implementations of system enhancements to provide operational reliability and integration ensuring the business with consistent systems availability and quality.
• Responsible for overall system-wide resiliency, scalability, stability and operational efficiency of solutions

Strategy (25%)

• Participates and contributes to the development of IT Roadmap aligning with business and IT strategy
• Development of technical visioning plan in areas of expertise considering future business needs and emerging technologies
• Strategically aligns with the organization's vision and drives leadership to transformation for a better business outcome. 

Learning and Continuous improvement (20%)

• Responsible for the lifecycle of solutions, from selection, proof of concept including software currency, upgrades and/or technology retirement.
• Evaluate technology acquisitions designed to optimize feature/function for long term supportability, vendor viability and total cost of ownership.
• Responsible for assisting in the establishment of an IT Architecture practice, and the adoption of an architecture and standards methodology.
• Guide, Mentor and Lead Junior/emerging architects and developers. 
• Drive resolution with technology vendors when support is needed.
• Influences change to standards when necessary.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in software engineering, computer science, computer information systems, or related degree; or commensurate professional experience 
• 8-15 years of Data Architecture experience.
• Data architecture experience in complex environments
• Proven experience as a Data Architect, Data Scientist, Data Analyst or similar role
• In-depth understanding of database structure principles.
• Experience gathering and analyzing system requirements.
• Proficiency in SQL and experience with SQL and NoSQL databases.
• Strong hands-on Experience in data modeling and design & tools (e.g., ERWin, Enterprise Architect, Visio).
• Demonstrated knowledge of data warehousing, ETL/ELT techniques, Realtime /near Realtime. data ingestion/processing, and big data technologies (e.g., Hadoop, Spark).
• Good knowledge of Data Governance principles & data quality measurements.
• Familiarity with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, PowerBI).
• Expertise in cloud services (e.g., AWS, Azure) and cloud database and ELT services, preferably. Databricks, Azure Data Lake, BLOB Storage, Synapse database or AWS RDS, Azure SQL Database).
• Knowledge of programming languages (e.g., Python, Java, Scala).
• Understanding of machine learning algorithms and analytics.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities.
• Familiarity with data privacy and governance policies.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., CDMP, CBIP) are a plus.
• Experience in Data and Analytics solution evaluation/selection and implementation for large scale, and complex environments.
• Experience in designing, developing, and implementing high performing, large scale, and complex Data and Analytics systems including integration with third-party applications.
• Experience serving as a technical coach, mentor, subject matter expert, and escalation point for our customers, IT teams, and colleagues.
• Experience executing on the organizational operation vision and goals, in alignment with department leadership.

Additional Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Retail, wholesale, or Consumer Product Goods industry experience
• Knowledge of Azure/AWS/ cloud or managed services
• Demonstrated knowledge of latest security best practices (OWASP, CBE, NIST, etc)
• Containerization technology knowledge (Docker; orchestration tools, i.e. Kubernetes)
• Experience with common programming languages (Python, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS)
• Knowledge of event-based/message architectures
• Enterprise systems knowledge
• Knowledge of virtual networking (public, private, and hybrid networks and subnetworks), network interfaces, and identity/access management (security groups and roles, network access control lists)
• Knowledge of latest DevOps technologies (Jenkins, CI/CD pipelines, IaC frameworks such as Ansible)
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills
• Accomplished interpersonal and communication skills, demonstrating a clear and articulate standard of written and verbal communications to various levels of audiences.
• Ability to work independently, initiative-taker, highly motivated, resourceful.
• Ability to work as a committed member of a cross-functional team, sharing ideas and inputs from different perspectives in working towards delivering an exceptional product experience.
• Strong passion to mentor and grow the skillsets of lesser-experienced architects.

Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is the nation's largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, serving 1,100 member companies and 3,500 locations throughout 33 states from 9 wholesale division support centers. Consolidated sales for AWG in 2025 were $12.2 billion. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company also operates subsidiary companies that provide certain real estate and supermarket development services, and pharmaceutical products. For more information, visit AWGinc.com.

 Benefits:

• Medical, Dental, & Vision Insurance
• Health Savings Account
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Paid Vacation, Holiday, and Sick Time
• 401(k) with 4% match along with 3 other contributions
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Basic & Supplemental Life and AD&D
• Employee Assistance Program
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability 
• Wellness Program
• Yearly Holiday Bonus