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Data Architect

Job Details

Fairfield University is a co-educational, comprehensive Jesuit university with a 200-acre campus located along the scenic shoreline community of Fairfield, CT. The University is comprised of approximately 3,500 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students pursuing degrees within 5 schools: The College of Arts and Sciences, The Charles F. Dolan School of Business, The School of Engineering, The Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies, and School of Education and Human Development. As an expression of our Jesuit, Catholic mission and identity, Fairfield embraces a liberal humanistic approach to education, encouraging critical thinking, cultivating free and open inquiry, and fostering ethical and religious values.

Job Description:

The Data Architect Lead is a key member of the Enterprise Computing team at Fairfield University. In this role, you will lead efforts around data governance and architecture. Working with a team of developers, administrators, and analysts within IT and various other departments on campus, you’ll drive implementation of new processes to standardize the process of data collection, storage, transformation, distribution, and usage. Fairfield is currently in the midst of a modernization process to move from legacy systems and architectures to cloud and SaaS-based solutions. The Data Architect Lead will have the opportunity to shape these areas to ensure we maximize our ROI, deliver a superb student experience, and maintain efficient and effective operations.

The ideal candidate will have experience leading data initiatives across functional areas to align the University on a standardized set of processes, policies, and technologies. The right person must possess a mix of functional, technical, and business acumen to prioritize new projects; troubleshoot, assess and remediate issues; and work with partners across campus to enable new capabilities. Higher Education experience is preferred but not required, but the incumbent must be able to learn and adapt to the higher education domain and become productive as quickly as possible. Critical skills needed to succeed are: a passion to improve all areas of the University (good enough is never good enough), a keen awareness and empathy in managing student, faculty, and staff expectations and the ability to build solid relationships within his/her team and among the diverse constituencies at Fairfield. Above all, the two most most critical success factors for this role are:
  • The ability to collaborate within the team and across the community

  • The patience and desire to persist through obstacles to help achieve University goals.

This is a highly visible position with direct access to University Senior Leadership who must build the credibility to be viewed as an expert.

Primary Responsibilities
  • Develop and execute a strategy for Fairfield’s overall data governance, quality and security, informed by our institutional strategy and organizational capability.

  • Provide expertise in requirements gathering, design, and implementation of data governance processes

  • Determine database structural requirements by analyzing client operations, applications, and programming; reviewing objectives with stakeholders; evaluating current systems (Oracle, Workday, Prism, Azure, etc.) and assess the need for a new enterprise data warehouse

  • Lead data conversion process during Workday Student Information System implementation

  • Support the definition and design of repeatable data-driven solutions working in close coordination with IT and functional stakeholders.

  • Serve as the primary knowledge source for converting data from legacy systems and spreadsheets into the HCM & Financials systems

  • Converting Data into Workday using Workday provided loading tools

  • Oversee the ETL process to transform and load data to Workday

  • Lead in the validation of data loaded into Workday

  • Lead efforts for mapping legacy data, identifying data quality issues and overall responsibility over conversion activates on the project

  • Responsible for key communication to project and University leadership

  • Responsible for timely identification and escalation of risks and development of alternative technical and functional approaches when necessary

  • Lead the identification of process improvements and changes to methodology based on project experience

Skills and Experience

Required
  • Prior experience as a data architect or in a related role

  • Expert understanding of data integration, architecture, and access

  • Experience with various ERP systems including Oracle and Workday

  • Experience with data visualization tools and dashboard solutions (e.g. Tableau, Prism, PowerBI, etc.)

  • Systems and process-oriented thinker with the ability to synthesize information from disparate sources and anticipate impacts to a diverse group of stakeholders

  • Ability to develop relationships among all organizational levels.

  • Experienced in Microsoft Office suite as well as Business Process Mapping.

  • Excellent analysis, interviewing, communication, and team skills.

  • Ability to work both independently and closely with others according to project needs.

  • Highly adaptable and flexible to meet dynamic needs of the Higher Ed environment.

  • Ability to train end-users at various skill levels.

  • Must be a fast learner with a strong desire to learn the Fairfield culture and environment.

  • Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline required.

Preferred
  • Experience in a Higher Education environment.

  • Experience managing in a distributed/matrixed organization with ability to influence stakeholders across functions

Category:

ITS - Admin

Performs such other duties, responsibilities, and activities as required by supervisor and as departmental/University needs indicate.

*Disclaimer

The above information indicates the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain and should not be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, activities, and/or qualifications required or expected of employees assigned to this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change and new ones may be assigned at any time, with or without notice.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a satisfactory background check.

Fairfield University provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Load a resume or CV first, then upload supporting documents including a cover letter at the bottom of the third page under the "My Experience" section where it says to upload a Resume/CV. You will be able to upload up to 5 other documents in this section. You will be unable to edit your application, so please have all documents available before applying. Faculty Positions : If you need to upload more than 5 documents, please either combine them to upload or email the additional documents to the applicable contact in the job description. Staff positions : If you need to upload more than 5 documents, please either combine them to upload or email them to hr@fairfield.edu

Company

Fairfield Univesity

Our scenic, 200-acre campus is situated on the Connecticut coastline, just 60-minutes away from the heart of Manhattan and less than a mile from the beaches of Long Island Sound. But it’s more than just our surroundings that make our campus unique — it’s our commitment to each and every student’s personal and professional growth and their journey to becoming individuals of purpose.

For more than 80 years, Fairfield University has been graduating adept, accomplished, and socially responsible leaders in an academic community where the learning goes deeper, the friendships are more meaningful, and the experiences stay with you long after graduation. As a values-based, student-centric, outcomes-focused Jesuit Catholic University, we are committed to educating the whole person — mind, body, and spirit — and providing students with experiential learning and professional development opportunities that give them a competitive edge in today’s job market. At Fairfield, the future is filled with opportunities as limitless as your potential, and they all begin with you.

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