Senior Principal Snowflake Architect – FinOps, Governance & Security

Senior / Principal Snowflake Architect - FinOps Governance & Security

Location: Irving TX - Hybrid
Duration: Initial 8-10 Weeks

Rate: Open as per Market need on our W2

Industry: Aviation
Target Start: Mid-October
Onsite Requirement: Approximately 1-2 weeks onsite initially with additional onsite availability for final presentation as needed

Position Overview

We are seeking a Senior / Principal-level Snowflake Architect for an initial 8-10 week consulting engagement supporting the assessment of a large complex enterprise Snowflake environment.

This is a highly consultative architecture and advisory-focused role. The primary focus will be Snowflake FinOps compute optimization cost management governance security and overall platform architecture.

The ideal candidate will have experience entering an established enterprise Snowflake environment quickly understanding how the platform is being utilized identifying the root causes of excessive consumption and cost and developing a practical roadmap for optimization and remediation.

This is not primarily a Snowflake development role. We are looking for a senior SME who can assess the Snowflake ecosystem holistically identify architectural and operational gaps provide actionable recommendations and guide technical and business stakeholders toward a more optimized governed secure and cost-effective platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of a large-scale enterprise Snowflake environment.
• Evaluate current-state Snowflake architecture configuration governance security ingestion ETL/ELT integration and operational processes.
• Lead the Snowflake FinOps and compute optimization assessment.
• Analyze Snowflake consumption workloads queries warehouses and usage patterns to identify drivers of excessive cost.
• Identify opportunities to improve compute utilization workload management resource allocation and overall platform efficiency.
• Evaluate cost visibility budgeting forecasting chargeback/showback and ongoing FinOps governance practices.
• Identify unnecessary or inefficient querying warehouse utilization data-management practices and architectural patterns contributing to increased consumption.
• Assess Snowflake governance frameworks including standards policies ownership processes controls and operating models.
• Review Snowflake security architecture including roles permissions access controls administrative access and security best practices.
• Evaluate the current environment against Snowflake architecture security governance and optimization best practices.
• Assess data ingestion and integration processes and their impact on Snowflake performance cost and governance.
• Evaluate Snowflakes interaction with the broader enterprise data ecosystem including Informatica and other integration technologies.
• Identify architectural operational governance security and configuration gaps.
• Distinguish symptoms from underlying/root causes and develop practical recommendations.
• Identify quick wins and low-hanging opportunities that can be addressed during the assessment.
• Develop a prioritized current-state to future-state roadmap and remediation plan.
• Participate in technical discovery sessions stakeholder interviews and architecture discussions.
• Clearly communicate findings risks recommendations priorities and remediation strategies to technical and business stakeholders.
• Prepare and present final assessment findings and recommendations to leadership and relevant stakeholders.
• Provide guidance to technical teams on recommended Snowflake architecture governance security and operating practices.

Required Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing assessing and supporting large-scale enterprise Snowflake environments.
• Senior or Principal-level experience as a Snowflake Architect / SME.
• Proven experience with Snowflake FinOps compute optimization and cost management.
• Deep understanding of Snowflakes consumption and pricing model and architectural factors that influence platform costs.
• Demonstrated experience identifying and resolving inefficient Snowflake compute utilization and consumption patterns.
• Strong experience with Snowflake governance including:
  • Standards and policies
  • Platform ownership
  • Operating models
  • Controls and processes
  • Cost governance
• Strong understanding of Snowflake security architecture including:
  • Role-based access control
  • Roles and privileges
  • Access management
  • Administrative access
  • Security best practices
• Experience conducting current-state architecture/platform assessments.
• Experience developing future-state architectures optimization strategies and remediation roadmaps.
• Strong understanding of enterprise data warehousing and ETL/ELT architecture.
• Experience with data ingestion and enterprise integration patterns.
• Ability to operate at a strategic and architectural level while maintaining enough technical depth to identify and support targeted configuration changes.
• Experience working within large mature and complex enterprise data environments.
• Strong consulting stakeholder management documentation communication and presentation skills.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC).
• Strong understanding of Informatica integration with enterprise Snowflake environments.
• Experience with MuleSoft or other enterprise integration technologies.
• Previous experience performing:
  • Snowflake architecture assessments
  • Platform health assessments
  • FinOps/optimization assessments
  • Governance assessments
  • Security assessments
• Experience transitioning an architecture or optimization assessment into a larger remediation modernization or transformation initiative.
• Experience presenting technical assessment findings and recommendations to executive or senior business stakeholders.

Required Skills:

Snowflake