Specific compensation will be based on candidate’s experience, skills, qualifications, commercial considerations, and other job-related factors permitted by law. At Russell Investments, salary is just one part of our compensation package. Our total rewards approach includes an annual performance bonus (subject to eligibility criteria) in addition to participation in our competitive benefits programs including healthcare, retirement, vacation, and wellbeing programs.
Job Description:
Principal Data Architect – Data Platforms
Russell Investments is seeking a hands-on Principal Data Architect to design and build modern data platforms across our enterprise. This role is focused on practical architecture, data modeling, and platform implementation in a hybrid (on-prem + cloud) environment.
You will work closely with engineering, analytics, and platform teams to design scalable data solutions, modernize legacy systems, and enable high-quality data for analytics and AI/ML use cases.
Key Responsibilities
- Design and implement scalable data architectures, models, and pipelines for analytics and operational use cases.
- Build and optimize data warehouse and lakehouse solutions using modern cloud platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, Azure).
- Lead hands-on data modeling (3NF, dimensional, Data Vault) to ensure performance, consistency, and reuse.
- Execute migration of legacy systems (SQL Server, on-prem) to cloud-based architectures, including hybrid patterns.
- Implement data quality, MDM, and governance standards directly within data pipelines and models.
- Enable AI/ML use cases by designing reliable, well-structured, and observable data pipelines.
- Collaborate with engineering and analytics teams to deliver production-ready data solutions and guide technical design.
Qualifications
Required:
- 10+ years of hands-on experience in data architecture or data engineering
- Strong expertise in SQL and relational databases (SQL Server preferred)
- Experience building data pipelines using DBT (3+ years preferred)
- 5+ years of Proven experience designing and implementing cloud data platforms (Azure preferred)
- Deep knowledge of data modeling (3NF, dimensional, Data Vault)
- Experience with data warehouse/lakehouse design and optimization
- Hands-on experience with data migration and hybrid architectures
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management across technical and business domains with a demonstrated ability to translate architecture into business outcomes.
Preferred:
- Experience with Snowflake, Databricks, Spark, or Python
- Familiarity with data quality, observability, and governance tools
- Exposure to AI/ML data pipelines or MLOps frameworks
- Financial services or investment domain experience
This role is not eligible for employment-based immigration sponsorship. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States without employer sponsorship, now or in the future.
Equal Employment OpportunityRussell Investments is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all associates and employment applicants regardless of race, religion, ancestry, creed, color, gender (including gender identity which refers to a person's actual or perceived sex, and includes self-image, appearance, behavior or expression, whether or not different from that traditionally associated with a person's biological sex), age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, medical condition, military status, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, past or present unemployment status , or any other characteristic protected by law.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or enterprise data solution design.
- 10+ years of experience in SQL and advanced concepts
- 3+ years with DBT and familiarity with advanced concepts
- 5+ years designing cloud-based data platforms (Azure preferred)
- Proven expertise in data modeling and data warehouse design (3NF, dimensional, Data Vault)
- Hands-on experience with Master Data Management (MDM) strategy and implementation
- Demonstrated success leading cloud migration projects and designing hybrid architectures
- Strong proficiency in SQL Server and relational database optimization
- Knowledge of metadata management, data governance, data quality, and lineage
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management across technical and business domains
Russell Investments Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Russell Investments and has not been reviewed or approved by Russell Investments.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off starts at 20 days of vacation in year one (rising to 25 after four years) plus 10 paid holidays and nine sick days, which provides substantial leave coverage. Backup childcare and other leave supports add practical flexibility for life events.
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Retirement Support — A 401(k) company match up to 5% of eligible base salary, alongside access to select Russell Investments funds, offers a meaningful foundation for long‑term savings. This structure provides clear, predictable retirement support.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Comprehensive medical coverage, employer HSA contributions, a Lifestyle Spending Account, and Modern Health access (10 counseling and 10 coaching sessions per year) strengthen overall wellbeing. These elements enhance total‑compensation value beyond base pay.
Russell Investments Insights
What We Do
Russell Investments is a leading outsourced CIO (OCIO) partner and global investment solutions firm providing a wide range of investment capabilities to institutional investors, financial intermediaries, and individual investors around the world. Building on an 87-year legacy of continuous innovation to deliver exceptional value to clients, Russell Investments works every day to improve the financial security of its clients. The firm is the world’s sixth-largest investment adviser, with $1 trillion in assets under advisement (as of June 30, 2022) and $288.3 billion in assets under management (as of March 31, 2023) for clients in 32 countries. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Russell Investments has offices in 19 cities around the world, including London, New York, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo, and Shanghai.
