Data Solutions Architect

What are we looking for?

Mars Petcare consists of five Divisions: Pet Nutrition, Royal Canin, Mars Veterinary Health & Diagnostics and Kinship. The Pet Nutrition division is currently embarking on a 3-year Digital Transformational program that aims to irreversibly digitise Mars.

Our purpose in the R&D Digital Transformation of Pet Nutrition Is to create step-change value creation for pets and pet parents by digitalising R&D to accelerate innovation, deliver important propositions and fuel an integrated supply chain, with Increased agility and reduced cost. Some of the key deliverables we will look to unlock are:

From siloed, small-scale product performance evaluation to a fully Integrated, evidence-based performance assessment through real-time predictive solutions; maximising capability and reducing evaluation time & cost by building confidence to drive superior propositions across the portfolio.

• From traditional Innovation and scale-up protocols to innovative digital modelling which enables rapid scenario evaluation, accelerated development and scale-up, with increased agility and reduced costs/resources.
• From dispersed physical quality records to digitalised quality standards, capturing of data and trend predictions, which can be leveraged to proactively mitigate emerging risks and avoid non-quality Impacts.
• From fragmented legacy, IT systems holding unreliable data to an integrated R&D digital & data ecosystem to enact step-change operational efficiency and maximising business value by confidently utilising trustworthy data.

What will be your key responsibilities?

As a Data Solutions Architect in the R&D team, some of your key duties are as follows:

• Determine, implement, and ensure adherence to global architectural standards for Pet Nutrition D&A products across all regional markets, in conjunction with the Petcare Data Solutions management and IT teams.
• Guide the data design for large solutions, projects and programs; through expert knowledge translate high-level business requirements into data models and appropriate metadata, test data and data quality standards.
• Direct large specialist teams to undertake the delivery of a comprehensive data-centric project, seeing the whole picture and how the components combine and interact.
• Manage senior business stakeholders to secure strong engagement for the solution, gather requirements and ensure that the delivery of the architecture aligns to longer-term strategic roadmaps.
• Develop a prioritized backlog across all the architecture.
• Collaborate as part of the program management team on large initiatives, overseeing and shaping the delivery of projects, and working closely with external suppliers to ensure the solution maximizes technology use and meets requirements.
• Simplify the existing data architecture, delivering reusable services and cost-saving opportunities in line with the policies and standards of the group.
• Manage the collaborative team working with other areas within the wider D&A function to ensure that all solutions are complete, operable, conform to business processes and meet the business needs with the agreed quality of service.
• Be responsible throughout the entire project lifecycle for the end-to-end solution architecture of the project and compliance with enterprise data model and logical data groups.
• Provide clear, continuous, and consistent data architecture leadership at a detailed level within the solution.
• Provide mentoring and coaching for engineers and technical leads.
• Ensure the end-to-end solution is fit for purpose, meets the needs of the business, the IT strategies, the specified requirements, and governance frameworks, and is both pragmatic and supportive of the strategic architecture direction.
• Facilitate and participate in the peer review and quality assurance of project architectural artefacts across the D&A function through architectural and design forums;
• Report key architecture decisions and implications to the broader D&A function.
• Participate from time to time in the supplier selection process, evaluating the usefulness and cost of products and making appropriate recommendations.
• Carry out core accountabilities with minimal level of supervision for complex tasks and no supervision for more routine matters.
• Drive project knowledge back to the enterprise data model and ensure it evolves correctly.
• Lead the design, development, implementation and maintenance of complex data systems and solutions.
• Develop conceptual, structured, and physical data models to facilitate data science, data analysis, and business intelligence.
• Create and maintain current and target-state data architectures.
• Ensure an architecture that drives improvements in data quality.
• Oversee end-to-end data life cycle management activities.
• Partner with IT teams, product managers and D&A teams to understand data consumers’ needs and develop solutions.
• Evaluate and recommend emerging technologies for data management, storage, and data analytics.

Education & Professional Qualifications 

• Extensive experience working in this space, with a particular focus on working with consumer-centric data for consumer-centric outcomes
• Significant experience in a senior data/architecture role with demonstrable thought expertise.

Knowledge / Experience 

• Significant experience in Architecture as a code approach.
• Experience in modern data stack technologies such as: Airflow, Neo4j, Python (inc. Django framework)
• Great Expectations: Metadata-powered pipelines (json), ESB, Microservices, Informatica/Privacera integration experience is a bonus
• Experience in data pipeline architecture such as medallion and/or lambda.
• Knowledge of containerisation/microservices (Kubernetes/docker).
• Knowledge of API architecture REST, GraphQL, RPC.
• Experience working in a multi-business unit or multi-client environment that emphasizes collaboration, efficiency and teamwork.
• Proven technical experience in the four key pillars of a complete data solutions offering: data exploration & reporting, governance & security, architecture & technology, and marketing & activation.
• Experience engaging at the C-level to partner and inspire the most senior stakeholders through the data solutions journey.

What can you expect from Mars?

• Work with over 130,000 diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
• Join a purpose-driven company where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
• Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
• An industry-competitive salary and benefits package, including a company bonus.

Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.

About Mars

Mars is a family-owned business with more than $35 billion in global sales. We produce some of the world’s best-loved brands: M&M’s®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, MILKY WAY®, DOVE®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, EXTRA®, ORBIT®, 5™, SKITTLES®, UNCLE BEN’S®, MARS DRINKS and COCOAVIA®. Alongside our consumer brands, we proudly take care of half of the world’s pets through our nutrition, health and services businesses such as Banfield Pet Hospitals™, BluePearl®, Linnaeus, AniCura, VCA™ and Pet Partners™. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars operates in more than 80 countries. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire our 125,000 Associates into taking action every day towards creating the world we want tomorrow.

Disclaimer

Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.

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