Lead Data Platform Architect - Institutional Clients Platform
About this role
Do you enjoy turning complex data into clean, reliable solutions that drive real business value? For our Institutional Clients Platform team within the Technology & Services division, we are looking for a Lead Data Platform Architect who combines deep data engineering expertise with strong software engineering skills - someone who can not only shape and model data, but also write the code to bring it to life.
You'll design and evolve our data architecture, build robust data pipelines, and develop the software solutions that connect data producers and consumers across our platform - all while collaborating closely with engineers, analysts, and business stakeholders.
What would your role be?
Define and evolve our data architecture - establish clear patterns, standards, and best practices across the platform.
Establish and enforce data standards, model design principles, and governance models across the platform.
Turn complex, disparate data sources into clean, well-documented data models that business teams can rely on.
Design and implement data contracts between producers and consumers, ensuring reliable, versioned, and well-documented interfaces.
Own end-to-end pipeline delivery - from source data validation and reconciliation through to consumption-ready models.
Design, build, and maintain data pipelines and transformation logic using dbt-core and Snowflake.
Implement data quality frameworks and automated testing to ensure trustworthy data at every layer.
Work within a web services environment, integrating data flows across APIs and services.
Contribute to and help shape CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code practices for data workloads.
Collaborate with engineers, analysts, and business stakeholders in an agile environment.
Contribute to platform hygiene - Snowflake access control, cost monitoring, and resource management (~5% of your time).
What are we looking for?
Requirements
- Strong SQL skills (any dialect - you'll be working primarily with Snowflake).
- Strong data modeling / data architecture skills - you can take messy, inconsistent data and shape it into coherent, maintainable models.
- Strong software engineering skills - proficiency in C#/F# and/or Python, with proven experience building production-grade code (APIs, data access layers, automation scripts, pipelines).
- Experience with dbt or similar transformation tools (Dataform, SQLMesh, etc.).
- Snowflake (or any other DB) administration experience (RBAC, warehouses, cost management, data sharing, query profiling, etc.).
- Experience implementing data contracts, data quality frameworks, and source data validation/reconciliation.
- Familiarity with CI/CD tooling and version-controlled data workflows (git, pipelines, testing).
- Experience establishing data standards, governance models, and model design principles in a team setting.
- Exposure to web services / microservices architectures and integrating data across service boundaries.
- Strong plus:
- Experience in a team lead or senior/lead role - mentoring engineers or driving technical direction.
- Knowledge of financial instruments (asset management or structured products).
- Exposure to State Street's Alpha Data Platform or similar.
- You are:
- Equally comfortable writing dbt models and configuring Snowflake roles.
- Pragmatic, structured, and outcome-focused.
- Hands-on and delivery-driven - you write the code, deliver the pipelines, and see things through to production.
- A good communicator who can bridge technical and business conversations.
- Fluent in English; German is a welcome plus.
- What do we offer?
- Top Zurich location with collaboration spaces (including rooftop terraces) and free lunch.
- Friendly, diverse team in an open-office space.
- All the latest technology to help you excel and advance.
- Agile environment in how we think, the way we work and our trust for each other.
- Flat hierarchy with collaboration at all levels.
- Campus feeling and a collaborative spirit.
- Why Vontobel?
- At Vontobel, you are building better futures for our clients and society, as well as for yourself. As a family-owned and publicly listed company with over 2,000 professionals based in 28 locations globally and headquartered in Zurich, we’re committed to long-term thinking and sustainability.
- Our diverse team values unique perspectives, and we hire individuals determined to deliver in a dynamic and changing world. Even if you don’t meet all the criteria, we encourage you to apply if you’re enthusiastic about the role.
- Do you want to be Vontobel?
- Thank you for applying to Vontobel. We will carefully review your application and will respond to you in a timely manner.
- At Vontobel, we are an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability or gender identity.
- We value the many voices within our teams and are committed to creating an environment where everyone who wants to be part of our performance culture can be themselves. It is based on mutual respect and zero tolerance for any form of discrimination.
- If you have any questions you can contact us through our
- contact form
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