Principal GCP Data Architect Job

Title: Principal GCP Data Architect
Location: Remote
Type: Full-Time

Job Description
Required
16–20 years of overall IT experience.
5–6 years of recent, hands-on experience with GCP.
Proven experience working on Google Data projects.
Valid and recent GCP certification.
Prior involvement in Google-funded projects.
Must possess a Data Readiness Placement (DRP) ID with a verified score of 50 or above.
We are seeking a hands-on Principal GCP Data Architect to lead the design, and implementation of large-scale data ecosystems.
The ideal candidate is an architect who has led massive cloud migrations, built self-serve data platforms from the ground up, and maintains a rigorous focus on data governance and security.

Technical Requirements
Cloud Expertise: Expert-level mastery of the GCP Data Stack:
Storage & Warehouse: BigQuery (including BigLake and Omni), Google Cloud Storage.
Processing: Dataflow (Apache Beam), Dataproc (Spark/Hadoop), Cloud Composer (Airflow).
Messaging: Pub/Sub and Confluent/Kafka integration.
Analytics & AI: Looker, Vertex AI, and BigQuery ML.
Certifications: Must hold an active GCP Professional Data Engineer certification.
DRP ID Performance: A Data Readiness Placement (DRP) ID with a verified score of 50+ is highly preferable, demonstrating a high level of technical proficiency and architectural maturity.
Modern Data Stack: Deep experience with dbt, Airflow, and containerization (GKE/Kubernetes).
Experience & Qualifications
Years of Experience: 16–20 years in Data Engineering, Data Warehousing, and Business Intelligence, with at least 6+ years focused specifically on GCP.
Migration Track Record: Proven experience leading at least two enterprise-scale migrations (PB-scale) to the cloud.
Leadership: Demonstrated experience leading large, cross-functional engineering teams in an Agile/DevOps environment.
Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related technical field.
Roles & Responsibilities
Strategic Architecture: Define the long-term roadmap for data platforms on GCP, ensuring alignment with global business goals and "North Star" data strategies.
Self-Serve Platform Design: Architect and oversee the build-out of modern, self-serve data architectures that empower decentralized teams while maintaining central standards.
Large-Scale Migrations: Lead complex end-to-end migration from AWS to GCP.
Data Governance & Security: Design and enforce robust data security frameworks including IAM, VPC Service Controls, Data Masking/Encryption, and automated governance using Dataplex.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Drive automation using Terraform or Pulumi to ensure repeatable, scalable, and version-controlled infrastructure.
Executive Stakeholder Management: Act as a trusted advisor to the VP of Data, articulating the ROI of data initiatives and managing technical risk.

Health/Dental Benefits

Hi, I’m Saurabh, Senior Technical Recruiter at Celestir. At Celestir, we bring together exceptional technical talent to help build and advance ambitious technology systems. Our work spans applied research, AI systems, engineering, and technical staffing, connecting the right expertise with complex, real-world challenges. My focus is on identifying and engaging highly skilled technical professionals who can contribute to meaningful engineering initiatives and help turn ambitious ideas into reality. I’m passionate about building strong relationships with engineers and technology professionals who want to work on challenging problems and make a lasting impact. Let’s connect and explore opportunities to build what’s next.