Position Overview
America's Test Kitchen, a leading food media company, is seeking a highly skilled and strategic Data Platform Architect to shape and execute our data vision. This pivotal role will be responsible for both designing and implementing a robust data architecture and collaborating with Product Managers to support the strategic roadmap for data initiatives that empower our Research & Analytics, Marketing, and Digital Product teams to unlock actionable insights. You will work collaboratively within cross-functional agile teams, including Engineering, Product Design, and Quality Assurance, to solve critical business challenges through the strategic use of data.
Responsibilities
- Data Architecture & Strategy: Develop and champion the digital data architecture vision for our database models, ensuring security, scalability, feature enablement, and operational efficiency across all digital products. Define and implement comprehensive data strategies and data quality initiatives.
- Cross-functional Collaboration & Requirements Gathering: Partner with Research & Analytics, Marketing, and Digital Product teams to understand their data needs, translate them into actionable product requirements and user stories, and ensure alignment with overall business goals.
- Data Solution Design & Implementation: Translate business requirements into efficient and scalable database designs, data stores, and data streams. Maintain and improve large-scale data systems and workflows, proactively identifying areas for enhancement and refactoring.
- Performance & Reliability: Define and monitor key platform performance indicators (KPIs) related to data scale, performance, and reliability.
- Data Platform Strategy & Cross-Functional Alignment: Collaborate with Product Managers and stakeholders to define a clear strategic vision and help shape the prioritized roadmap for the evolution of our data platform and related initiatives. This includes ensuring the platform effectively supports the data needs of agile teams, stakeholders across Research & Analytics, Marketing, and Digital Product, and senior leadership. This role will involve close collaboration with Product Managers to align data platform capabilities with broader product strategies and customer needs.
- Strategic Data Utilization & Decision Enablement: Drive data-informed decision-making by leveraging both qualitative and quantitative data insights derived from business cases, market research, customer data, competitive analysis, and financial assessments. This role will be responsible for ensuring the data platform and related initiatives enable data-informed product decisions, partnering with the Product team to align strategic priorities and ensure technical feasibility.
- Technical Leadership & Innovation: Evaluate complex technical and product issues, providing in-depth analysis and demonstrating sound judgment in selecting solutions. Bring forward technology opportunities related to data that can unlock new functionality and performance for America's Test Kitchen.
- Risk Management & Communication: Proactively identify and escalate issues that may impact the delivery of data initiatives. Communicate complex technical information clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Mentorship & Guidance: Provide technical mentorship and guidance to engineers and other team members on data-related best practices.
Skills You'll Need
- Data Architecture Expertise: Proven experience as a Data Architect with a strong understanding of database modeling, data warehousing, ETL processes, data governance, security, and privacy protocols (experience with sensitive customer and payment data is a plus).
- Product Partnerships & Strategic Alignment: Demonstrated ability to collaborate closely with Product Managers and cross-functional stakeholders to shape and prioritize data platform initiatives that support product and business goals. Experience contributing to a product vision and roadmap, documenting user stories and acceptance criteria within agile frameworks. Translating business needs into scalable data solutions and aligning architectural decisions with broader strategic priorities.
- Backend Technologies & Data Platforms: Expert-level understanding of backend technologies, with significant hands-on experience in designing and implementing data platforms, integrating data from various internal and external sources, and supporting BI and analytics tooling. Strong proficiency in both SQL and NoSQL databases, RESTful API development, and documentation is required. Experience with cloud-based data platforms and technologies is a plus.
- Analytical & Problem-Solving Skills: Strong proficiency in data analysis and the ability to translate data into actionable insights and product decisions. Excellent problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities.
- Communication & Collaboration Proficiency: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with a proven ability to collaborate effectively across technical and non-technical teams and present complex information clearly.
- Strategic & Planning Capabilities: A proactive and strategic mindset with the ability to plan long-term roadmaps to support business needs and growth. Ability to perform financial and quantitative analyses to support product decisions.
- Modern Technology Stack Experience: Demonstrated experience developing across a modern web development stack, encompassing front-end technologies (React, TypeScript, JavaScript), back-end development (Ruby, Python), AWS cloud infrastructure, and Content Management Systems. Experience with third-party data integration methodologies and exposure to machine learning techniques are highly valued.
- Professional Qualities: Demonstrated resilience, empathy, adaptability, presence, innovation, humility, and the ability to navigate complexities.
- Education & Experience: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related field, or equivalent work experience. 8+ years of experience in software development, with at least 3+ years in database engineering. Experience with data related to digital subscriptions (e.g., subscriber behavior, churn analysis, content consumption) and/or media operations is a plus.
About America's Test Kitchen
The mission of America's Test Kitchen (ATK) is to empower and inspire confidence, community, and creativity in the kitchen. Founded in 1992, the company is the leading multimedia cooking resource serving millions of fans with TV shows (America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, and America's Test Kitchen: The Next Generation), magazines (Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country), cookbooks, a podcast (Proof), FAST channels, short-form video series, and the ATK Essential Membership for digital content. Based in a state-of-the-art 15,000-square-foot test kitchen in Boston's Seaport District, ATK has earned the trust of home cooks and culinary experts alike thanks to its one-of-a-kind processes and best-in-class techniques. Fifty full-time (admittedly very meticulous) test cooks, editors, and product testers spend their days tweaking every variable to find the very best recipes, equipment, ingredients, and techniques. Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.
Why America's Test Kitchen:
We're passionate about cooking, and about creating the best place to work. We're small enough for your ideas to make a big impact, and large enough to offer you opportunities to grow professionally at any stage of your career. We want you to take risks and make mistakes — that's how innovation happens in our test kitchen, in our offices, and in life.
We at America's Test Kitchen believe food media can be a powerful force for social change. We are passionate about building an inclusive workforce that represents many different cultures, backgrounds, abilities, identities, and perspectives.
We welcome your application.
Equal employment opportunity, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.
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