PowerSchool

Principal Data Engineer - IC6 (DATENG - Data Engineering)

PowerSchool • $163K — $204K *
Enterprise Technology
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 15+ years of progressive experience in data or integration architecture at a senior level.
  • History of setting enterprise-wide architectural vision influencing business outcomes.
  • Expertise in designing enterprise integrations using iPaaS or middleware platforms.
  • Proficiency in modern data warehousing and Microsoft data platforms like Fabric and Synapse.
  • Experience with implementing enterprise data governance frameworks and metadata management tools.
  • Advanced SQL skills and proficiency in a scripting language (Python preferred).
  • Track record of influencing technology decisions at the executive level.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as principal technical advisor on data strategy and integration architecture.
  • Define and own enterprise-wide data and integration architecture vision.
  • Drive technology strategy decisions impacting the data ecosystem.
  • Present architectural vision and risk assessments to executive leadership.
  • Own and evolve enterprise integration architecture across systems.
  • Establish integration standards and principles for execution by teams.
  • Champion the enterprise data governance framework as a strategic capability.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive insurance coverage including medical and vision.
  • Flexible spending and health savings accounts.
  • Generous parental leave and unrestricted paid time off.
  • Comprehensive 401(k) plan with employer matching.
  • Wellness program including ClassPass and Employee Assistance Program.
  • Tuition reimbursement and optional benefits like pet insurance.
Full Job Description
Responsibilities

Description

The Distinguished Enterprise Data & Integration Architect serves as the company's most senior technical authority on enterprise data strategy, integration architecture, and data governance. This role sets the long-term architectural vision for how data moves, is stored, governed, and consumed across the organization-and ensures that vision directly enables business strategy, product innovation, analytics, and AI capabilities.

This is a visionary leadership role that combines deep technical mastery with enterprise-wide strategic influence. The Distinguished Architect operates as a trusted advisor to executive leadership and shapes cross-functional technology decisions throughout PowerSchool.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Strategic Leadership
  • Serve as the principal technical advisor to the CTO/CIO and executive leadership team on all matters related to data strategy, integration architecture, and enterprise data platforms.
  • Define and own the enterprise-wide data and integration architecture vision, ensuring alignment with company-level business strategy, product roadmap, and growth objectives.
  • Drive technology strategy decisions that extend beyond the data ecosystem, influencing platform direction, build-vs-buy decisions, and technology investment priorities at the enterprise level.
  • Present architectural vision, risk assessments, and technology investment recommendations to executive leadership and, where appropriate, to the board.


Enterprise Integration Architecture
  • Own and evolve the enterprise integration architecture spanning ERP, CRM, HR, and SaaS systems, setting the strategic direction for how the company's systems ecosystem interconnects.
  • Establish enterprise-wide integration standards, patterns, and principles (batch, near-real-time, event-driven) that other architects and engineering teams execute against.
  • Provide architectural governance and oversight for large-scale integration initiatives (e.g., Workday implementations, M&A system integrations), ensuring alignment with enterprise standards.
  • Define non-functional standards for error handling, logging, monitoring, retry logic, and performance that become organizational defaults.


Data Platform Architecture
  • Own the target-state data platform architecture vision using Microsoft Fabric and related Azure services, setting the multi-year roadmap for the company's data infrastructure.
  • Establish architectural principles for landing zone patterns, transformation layers, and modeling standards that engineering teams implement.
  • Ensure data platform strategy supports scalable, cost-effective designs that enable analytics, AI/ML, and product innovation.
  • Drive alignment between data ingestion pipelines and enterprise integration architecture to eliminate redundancy and technical debt.


Data Governance Architecture
  • Define and champion the enterprise data governance framework and operating model, establishing this as a strategic capability rather than a compliance exercise.
  • Establish data domains, ownership, stewardship, and metadata standards at the enterprise level, influencing cross-functional adoption.
  • Set the strategic direction for governance tooling (e.g., Microsoft Purview) including lineage, catalog, and classification, ensuring governance is embedded into platform and integration design from inception.


Organizational Influence & Technical Leadership
  • Lead the enterprise architecture review board (or equivalent), establishing architecture principles and standards that all technical teams adhere to.
  • Mentor and develop senior architects and technical leads across the organization, raising the overall technical bar and building architectural capability.
  • Influence hiring standards, technical interview frameworks, and career development pathways for architecture and senior engineering roles.
  • Create and maintain reference architectures, design guidelines, and architectural decision records that serve as the authoritative source for the engineering organization.
  • Shape engineering culture around architectural rigor, documentation standards, and design-first practices.


Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications
  • 15+ years of progressive experience in data architecture, integration architecture, or platform architecture, with at least 5 years operating at a principal, distinguished, or equivalent senior architecture level.
  • Demonstrated history of setting enterprise-wide architectural vision and strategy that directly influenced business outcomes.
  • Deep expertise designing enterprise integrations using iPaaS or middleware platforms (Boomi or similar) across batch, near-real-time, and event-driven patterns.
  • Deep expertise with modern data warehousing/lakehouse architectures and Microsoft data platforms (Fabric, Synapse, SQL, Power BI, or similar).
  • Proven experience defining and implementing enterprise data governance frameworks and metadata management tooling (Purview or similar).
  • Advanced SQL skills and working proficiency in at least one scripting/programming language (Python preferred).
  • Experience with APIs, REST, JSON, and data transformation pipelines.
  • Track record of influencing executive-level technology decisions and presenting to senior leadership.


Compensation & Benefits

Compensation & Benefits

PowerSchool offers the following benefits:

  • Comprehensive Insurance Coverage (including Medical, Dental, Vision, Pharmacy benefits, Life Insurance and AD&D)
  • Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts
  • Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability
  • Comprehensive 401(k) plan
  • Generous Parental Leave
  • Unrestricted paid time off (known as Discretionary Time Off - DTO)
  • Wellness Program, including ClassPass & Employee Assistance Program
  • Tuition Reimbursement
  • Optional Benefits: Pet Insurance, Identity Theft Protection, Student Debt Repayment Program and Prepaid Legal coverage


A reasonable estimate of the base compensation range for this position is $163,400 - $204,200 USD. This compensation range is specific to the United States and it incorporates many factors including but not limited to an applicant's skills and prior relevant experience and training; licensures, degrees, and certifications; internal equity; internal pay ranges; and market data/range parameters.

About PowerSchool

PowerSchool is an education technology company that provides a range of K-12 education solutions to schools around the world. The company's products include student information systems, learning management systems, assessment and analytics tools, and special education management systems. PowerSchool serves more than 45 million students and 12,000 schools in over 70 countries. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Minnesota, USA.
Learn more about PowerSchool
Size
2,500 employees
Market Cap
$4.4 billion
Industry
Founded
1997
NASDAQ

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