Data Architect Staff Spec

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Who We Are

The Data Office for Clinical and Translational Research (DOCTR) and the Research Data Warehouse (ROW) are critical foundations of the University of Michigan Medical School Office of Research's (OoR) cutting edge data infrastructure for research. We are a collaborative, results-driven, innovative, group made up collectively of IT, business, data science, regulatory and health care professionals. Our goal is to leverage IT to its fullest to improve data rigor for research and ultimately better health care outcomes.

In 2026, we began migrating the ROW from on-premises to cloud hosting, and the Senior Technical Lead will play a critical leadership role in insuring that this ongoing modernization effort is a success.

Depending on your experience, on-the-job training on our local and regional health systems environment will be provided. Your primary role will be to contribute to the strategic vision of our data infrastructure for research and lead a team of Data Engineers who build and maintain the data solutions. Understanding the data schema and the context by which the data are being collected is critical in its subsequent downstream application. You will use relational databases like SOL, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL as well as non-relational databases.

This Senior Technical Lead job is ideal for those looking for a challenging and rewarding leadership opportunity in a dynamic academic health system environment that supports world class research.

Job Summary

We are seeking a dynamic professional who can lead a results-oriented team of Data Engineers through a transformative process migrating our enterprise data warehouse from on premises to cloud. The selected candidate will join an energetic team that works across U-M Medical Specialties and with experts from the College of Engineering, Compliance Regulatory Leadership, and central Health Information Technology & Services.

Responsibilities*

Strategic Priorities:

• Serve as the strategic technical lead for the medical school's research data infrastructure.
• Work closely with leadership from DOCTR, MPOG, and HITS to align initiatives across units.
• Lead the evaluation, planning, and implementation of enterprise-level data solutions that support research growth and innovation.
• Direct complex systems analysis, architecture design, and software development efforts requiring advanced technical expertise.
• Provide leadership for hosting environments, including server configuration, security, and performance optimization.
• Guide technical work associated with research initiatives involving large-scale data management, and complex query development.
• Identify opportunities to improve scalability, reliability, and efficiency of research data systems while supporting evolving organizational needs.

Technical Oversight & Governance

• Provide technical leadership and oversight for all phases of application systems analysis, architecture, development, testing, implementation, and support.
• Develop roadmap for inclusion of data from UM-West and Sparrow intoADW.
• Lead the development of detailed functional and technical documentation to support optimal use of ADW.
• Ensure comprehensive testing, quality assurance, and issue resolution processes are implemented and maintained.
• Direct the coordination and integration of interfaces between major enterprise systems and research platforms.
• Collaborate with Data Scientists and research stakeholders to define data requirements, enable advanced analytics, and support the development of data modeling, machine learning, and AI capabilities.
• Monitor emerging technologies and recommend innovative solutions tht advance the organization's research & data strategy.

Team Leadership

• Provide day-to-day leadership, direction, and mentorship for Data Engineers and other technical team members.
• Establish team priorities, allocate resources, and manage workload to ensure alignment with departmental goals.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and technical excellence.
• Lead recruitment, interviewing, onboarding, and retention efforts for the research data warehouse team.
• Facilitate team engagement and collaboration through regular communication, knowledge sharing, and team-building initiatives.

Attend meetings, respond to e-mail, documentation

Required Qualifications*

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related fields with at least 1O years of experience in programming languages such as C, C++, C# or Java
• Experience working with relational databases like SOL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL
• Experience working with non-relational databases like MongoDB is desirable
• Experience with direct reports or significant mentoring rotes.

Desired Qualifications*

Master's Degree or other advanced degree is preferred but not required

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.