Principal Data Architect

Job Description:

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Principal Data Architect will be a key technical leader within the Education Engineering department, supporting 11 digital product development teams. This role is responsible for the architecture and strategy of our data systems, ensuring they are scalable, secure, efficient, and aligned with both technical and business goals. The ideal candidate will bring unparalleled domain knowledge of Scholastic operations and a collaborative spirit to guide engineering efforts.

• Serve as the most trusted advisor to engineering and product teams on data architecture decisions, guiding the design of data models, schemas, and flows for new products, features, and functionality.

• Work closely with cross-functional teams, including Customer Success, Product, Sales, Information Security, and Legal, to ensure data architecture solutions are aligned with user needs, privacy requirements, and business processes.

• Lead the design and implementation of data architecture on Amazon Web Services (AWS), particularly with RDS, MySQL, Postgres, S3, RedShift, Dynamo, and AWS DMS for database synchronization across projects.

• Recommend appropriate storage methods for data storage based on data type, cost, and access patterns.

• Work with DevOps to ensure data security, including appropriate access control, logging, and encryption that meets customer requirements, inclusive of security processes such as key rotation, etc

• Act as a key member of the Education Engineering Architecture Support Group, contributing to a culture of healthy discussion and consensus-building among engineering leaders.

• Provide hands-on support through proofs of concept, and act as a subject matter expert and mentor to other team members, fostering professional growth and skill development.

• Develop and maintain a robust data strategy that ensures our data stores are performant, resilient, and cost-effective at scale.

• Proactively identify potential issues in data architecture and work with engineering teams to implement innovative and sustainable solutions.

• Keep up with the latest industry trends, tools, and best practices to ensure our data architecture remains cutting-edge and scalable 

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and maintain the overall data architecture strategy to support the new Digital Literacy Platform and its suite of digital products. Design scalable, secure, and performant data models, schemas, and data solutions that align with business requirements.

• Work closely with Customer Success, Product, Sales, Legal, and other teams to understand their data needs and security/privacy requirements. Ensure that data solutions are aligned with product development and business objectives.

• Act as a key member of the Architecture Support Group, facilitating discussions and guiding engineering team leaders toward consensus on architectural decisions, ensuring alignment across all teams.

• Offer hands-on support through proofs of concept, technical guidance, and mentoring, particularly around data architecture best practices. Act as a subject matter expert to other architects, engineers, and developers, fostering professional growth and skill enhancement.

• Monitor and optimize database performance, ensuring scalability and cost-efficiency. Proactively identify and resolve potential data-related issues to prevent disruptions in the development process. Help triage, respond to, resolve, and communicate production issues.

• Collaborate with Legal and Product teams to ensure data privacy, security, and compliance. Implement best practices for data protection and governance.

• Continuously research and stay up-to-date with industry trends, tools, and technologies. Recommend and introduce new methodologies or tools that can enhance our data architecture and engineering processes.

About Scholastic

For more than 100 years, Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) has been meeting children where they are – at school, at home and in their communities – by creating quality content and experiences, all beginning with literacy. Scholastic delivers stories, characters, and learning moments that empower all kids to become lifelong readers and learners through bestselling children’s books, literacy- and knowledge-building resources for schools including classroom magazines, and award-winning, entertaining children's media. As the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books through school-based book clubs and book fairs, classroom libraries, school and public libraries, retail, and online, and with a global reach into more than 135 countries, Scholastic encourages the personal and intellectual growth of all children, while nurturing a lifelong relationship with reading, themselves, and the world around them. Learn more at www.scholastic.com.

Some benefits that we offer:

• Full suite of health and wellness benefits (including a $0 deductible Medical Plan)

• Retirement Savings Plan 401(k) with options for both Roth and Traditional Contributions

• Tuition-Free programs for undergraduate and graduate degrees

• Generous Parental Leave Program

• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) with opportunity for discounted stock at a 15% discount

Thank you for your consideration in choosing Scholastic.

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Qualifications

HOW YOU CAN FIT (Qualifications)

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with diverse functional areas, including Customer Success, Product, Sales, and Legal, to translate business needs into technical requirements.

• Proven track record of building consensus among technical teams and guiding decisions through expertise rather than authority.

• Experience implementing data solutions that are performant, resilient, and cost-efficient, across a variety of data technologies including relational, non-relational, object and file stores

• Deep knowledge of larger data structures and related components including data lakes, ETL/TEL data processing in support of enterprise-level objectives.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to convey complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

• Strong problem-solving skills with a strategic mindset and a hands-on approach to technical challenges.

• Experience in educational technology or similar industries is a plus, particularly with a focus on privacy and security.

Experience and Education:

Experience:

• Extensive experience in data architecture, database design, and implementation, preferably within large-scale digital product development environments within the Education Technology industry.

• Thorough working knowledge of education data privacy requirements and PII management

• Deep understanding of Scholastic’s order flow and Customer Success processes

• Strong architecture experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS), specifically RDS, MySQL, Postgres, RedShift, S3, DynamoDB/Mongo, and AWS DMS.

Education:

Bachelors or Masters in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or similar field of study, or equivalent experience

Time Type:Full timeJob Type:RegularJob Family Group:Information TechnologyLocation Region/State:New YorkCompensation Range:Annual Salary: 168,000.00 - 190,000.00EEO Statement:

Scholastic is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is clear: there shall be no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, pregnancy, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam veteran. Those factors shall not influence the determination of qualifications for a job or other opportunity within the company. Further, all personnel actions (such as compensation, tuition aid, benefits, transfers, promotions, and dismissals, company-sponsored training, social and recreational programs) shall be administered without discrimination.

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