Data Architect

Data and AI Architect : 6 months contract engagement (Extendable)This is a hybrid role. the person needs to work out of their midtown Manhattan office ( Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112) for at least 3 days/week. Need very strong communication skills and ability to engage/consult with C-level/SVP level folks Job Title - Data and AI Architect Roles & ResponsibilitiesInterim Consultant, Data, Taxonomy & AI Architecture Transformation 6-Month Engagement | News Group Data & AI Team This role complements the existing team by adding temporary architecture expertise and hands-on delivery. Core mandate 1. End-to-end data & AI architecture: Define and operationalize a clear enterprise approach for how data and AI work together from ingestion through transformation, curation, serving, activation, and AI enablement. 2. Taxonomy, ontology & semantic foundations: Drive clarity and progress on taxonomy, ontology, metadata, and semantic structure to support discoverability, analytics, personalization, governance, and AI use cases. 3. Data onboarding standards & SLAs: Establish a consistent data onboarding model with measurable SLAs for speed, quality, ownership, lineage, documentation, and operational readiness. What this person will do • Drive stakeholder alignment and decision-making across architecture, governance, and operating model choices • Stand up reusable patterns and practical frameworks the team can apply immediately • Identify and unblock critical architectural and operational bottlenecks • Translate ambiguity into action, with visible progress during the engagement • Work side-by-side with the current team to embed changes that can be sustained after the engagement Ideal Profile:Pragmatic and execution-focused, able to maximize impact within existing platform choices rather than re-opening foundational technology decisionsBrings practical ideas for improving team productivity, speed, and quality through better workflows, tooling, and AI-assisted coding practices Expected outcomes by end of engagement • A clear, adopted core data and AI architecture approach • An actionable taxonomy, ontology, and semantic strategy • A working data onboarding model with defined SLAs and quality gates across News Group data assets • Reusable standards, governance direction, and operating patterns in active use • A prioritized 6-12 month roadmap and handoff materials for continuity Required experience:• 10+ years in data architecture, data platform engineering, information architecture, or AI systems architecture • Deep enterprise data architecture expertise with strong hands-on understanding of Databricks and medallion design • Strong experience in distributed data processing, data modeling, governance, observability, metadata strategy, and semantic modeling • Production experience with AI / LLM-based systems, including RAG, vector databases, prompt orchestration, evaluation, monitoring, and governance controls. Understanding of fast evolving AI agent architectures. • Deep understanding of how taxonomy, ontology, metadata, and semantic structures support scalable enterprise data and AI use cases • Deep working knowledge of Databricks and AWS, with the ability to architect and execute within already-selected strategic platforms • Strong understanding of how to improve technical team productivity through modern AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and Codex