Position SummaryThe Principal Data Architect is the senior individual contributor accountable for data architecture across Aetna Technology. This role sets the technical direction for how data is modeled, stored, moved, governed, and consumed across a multivendor data estate spanning multiple clouds. The Principal Data Architect defines the data reference architectures and strategy that domain teams build on, establishes where the singular systems of record live, and serves as Aetna Technology's deepest technical authority on data - driving outcomes through design authority and influence rather than direct reports.
This role can work remotely from anywhere in the continental USA.
Key Responsibilities:Data Architecture and Reference Design- Own the Aetna Technology data reference architectures - ingestion, storage, transformation, semantic, and consumption layers - across a multivendor, multicloud data estate.
- Define the data mesh operating model: domain-owned data products with clear contracts, and the platform capabilities that make domain ownership viable rather than fragmenting.
- Carve out and protect the singular systems of record - establishing which domain owns which authoritative dataset and how others consume it.
- Design and maintain the golden paths for pipelines and data products - patterns for ingestion, modeling, and publishing that let teams ship without re-solving solved problems.
Governance, Quality, and Compliance- Embed data governance, lineage, and quality as automated gates in the pipeline, not as a downstream review.
- Define controls for regulated and sensitive data (including PHI) - classification, access, masking, and retention inherited by default across the portfolio.
- Establish zero-trust patterns for data access - identity, least privilege, and blast-radius reduction for authoritative datasets.
AI and Analytics Enablement- Provide the data architecture underpinning Aetna Technology AI capabilities - feature readiness, retrieval, and the data contracts that AI and agentic systems depend on.
- Establish the semantic and metrics layer that lets analytics and dashboards scale reliably to people-managers and business users across Aetna.
- Partner with AI and analytics platform teams on the data infrastructure required to serve workloads securely and cost-effectively at scale.
Standards, Governance, and Enablement- Author the data standards enforced as automated gates and golden-path defaults, not as a review queue.
- Contribute to architecture governance - reference architectures, technology radar input, and design reviews - in partnership with Enterprise Architecture.
- Evaluate emerging data platform and tooling options and make directional recommendations on adoption.
Technical Influence- Translate data architecture trade-offs into clear, decision-oriented narratives for senior technology leaders and peer architects.
- Coach and raise the bar for Solution Architects and senior engineers through design reviews and system-level reasoning - without direct reporting relationships.
- Act as a credible technical partner to strategic data platform vendors and internal platform teams.
Required Qualifications- 12+ years in technology, with deep, hands-on data architecture experience at Aetna Technology scale.
- Expert-level data platform architecture across multivendor, multicloud environments (e.g., Snowflake, GCP/BigQuery, AWS); fluent across modeling, pipelines, and consumption layers.
- Demonstrated ownership of enterprise data architectures and golden-path patterns for data products.
- Strong command of data governance, lineage, quality, and regulated-data controls (PHI or equivalent).
- Working knowledge of data mesh, domain ownership, and systems-of-record design.
- Track record of driving technical outcomes through influence and design authority as an individual contributor.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience in healthcare, health insurance, or similarly regulated industries.
- Hands-on background with the data infrastructure behind AI/ML - feature stores, retrieval, and data contracts for model and agent workloads.
- Familiarity with FinOps and cost-aware data architecture, able to tie design decisions to dollar impact.
- Experience with infrastructure-as-code and automated policy/guardrail enforcement.
Competencies- Technical Depth - Aetna Technology's deepest data authority; credible with Principal Engineers and able to go deep on any layer of the data stack.
- Systems Thinking - Sees the whole system; anticipates second-order effects across governance, cost, and downstream consumption.
- Decisiveness - Makes directional calls with incomplete information and adjusts as context evolves.
- Influence Without Authority - Drives alignment and raises engineering standards across boundaries with no direct reports.
- Pragmatism - Ships standards as gates and golden paths, not as queues; balances rigor against delivery speed.
Education- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field or equivalent experience.
Pay RangeThe typical pay range for this role is:
$144,200.00 - $288,400.00
This pay range represents the base hourly rate or base annual full-time salary for all positions in the job grade within which this position falls. The actual base salary offer will depend on a variety of factors including experience, education, geography and other relevant factors. This position is eligible for a CVS Health bonus, commission or short-term incentive program in addition to the base pay range listed above. This position also includes an award target in the company's equity award program.
Great benefits for great peopleWe take pride in offering a comprehensive and competitive mix of pay and benefits that reflects our commitment to our colleagues and their families.
This full-time position is eligible for a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of colleagues and their families. The benefits for this position include medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, retirement savings options, wellness programs, and other resources, based on eligibility.
Additional details about available benefits are provided during the application process and on Benefits Moments.
We anticipate the application window for this opening will close on: 12/31/2026
