Lead Data Architect – Google Spanner

Location

San Jose, California / Scottsdale, Arizona / Remote

Duration

12 Months

Job Summary

We are seeking a highly experienced Lead Data Architect -- Google Spanner to own the target-state enterprise data architecture for a large-scale transformation to Google Cloud Spanner. This is a distributed systems architecture role, not a schema conversion role.

The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in Google Spanner internals, distributed database architecture, globally distributed OLTP systems, consistency models, transactional architecture, and enterprise-scale data modernization, with the ability to define scalable data architectures supporting 1000 applications.

This role requires architectural leadership, performance engineering expertise, and strong experience designing highly available, globally distributed transactional platforms.

Job Responsibilities

Enterprise Data Architecture

• Own the target-state Google Spanner data architecture for enterprise modernization initiatives.
• Define scalable architectures ensuring:
  • Functional correctness
  • Transactional integrity
  • Performance SLO compliance
  • Scalability
  • High availability

Logical Data Modeling

Define and govern the Logical Canonical Data Model (LCDM):

• Business-domain aligned canonical data models
• Logical entity relationships
• Domain abstraction independent of physical implementation
• Enterprise data modeling governance

Google Spanner Physical Data Design

Design Spanner-native physical schemas including:

• Primary key strategy
• Row key distribution
• Hotspot avoidance
• Interleaving strategies
• Secondary index architecture
• Partition-aware data design

Architect decisions around:

• Denormalization
• Read projections
• Materialized views
• Query optimization strategies

Transaction & Consistency Architecture

Define transaction design patterns under Spanner constraints including:

• Single-partition transactions
• Multi-partition distributed transactions
• Atomicity boundaries
• Consistency trade-offs
• Retry-safe design patterns
• Idempotent transactional workflows

Workload classification for:

• Strong consistency
• Bounded staleness
• Eventual-read optimization use cases

Google Spanner Internals Expertise

Deep hands-on expertise required in:

• TrueTime
• Distributed transactions
• Synchronous replication
• Multi-region consistency
• Consensus-driven replication behavior
• Failure handling in globally distributed systems

Performance & Scalability Engineering

• Participate in workload replay and performance analysis.
• Diagnose and mitigate:
  • Hot key risks
  • Transaction conflicts
  • Lock contention
  • Index amplification
  • Query inefficiencies
  • Replication overhead

Responsibilities:

• Spanner sizing strategy
• Capacity planning
• Performance readiness validation
• Cost envelope estimation

Migration Architecture & Compatibility Validation

Support enterprise modernization / migration programs including:

• Oracle to distributed database migration
• Schema compatibility analysis
• Data contract validation
• Query semantic compatibility
• Transaction invariant validation

Collaborate with:

• QA teams
• Platform engineering
• Application architects
• Migration engineering teams

Deliver:

• CRUD contract validation
• Compatibility scorecards
• Migration readiness sign-offs

Architectural Leadership

• Act as the final authority for enterprise Spanner data design decisions.
• Provide executive-level architectural guidance and decision rationale.
• Mentor architects, engineers, and modernization teams.
• Drive architectural governance and design standards.

Required Skills

• Google Cloud Spanner
• Distributed Database Architecture
• Large-Scale Data Architecture
• OLTP Systems Design
• Data Modeling
• Logical Canonical Data Modeling
• Distributed Transactions
• Strong Consistency Models
• Multi-Region Database Design
• Performance Engineering
• Transaction Architecture
• Scalability Engineering

Deep Technical Expertise Required

Strong hands-on expertise in:

• TrueTime
• Distributed transactions
• Synchronous replication
• Consensus-based distributed databases
• Transaction isolation models
• Failure modes in distributed systems
• Query optimization at scale

Preferred Skills

• Oracle migration
• Global distributed data platforms
• Cloud-native transactional architecture
• Cost optimization for distributed databases
• Enterprise modernization programs

Experience

10 years of relevant experience, including:

• Enterprise data architecture leadership
• Distributed systems engineering
• Large-scale OLTP platform design
• Google Spanner or equivalent distributed database expertise

Key Deliverables

• Logical Canonical Data Model (LCDM)
• Google Spanner physical schema design
• Index architecture strategy
• Transaction design guidelines
• Performance readiness assessments
• Migration readiness sign-offs
• Enterprise architecture governance artifacts