Department(s): ITS - Enterprise Architecture & Innovation
Reports to: Sr. Manager II, Information Technology Services (Enterprise Architecture)
FLSA status: Non-Exempt
Salary Grade: O - $105,000 - $173,734

About CalOptima Health

CalOptima Health is the single largest health plan in Orange County, serving one in four residents. Our motto — "Better. Together.” — is at the heart of our mission to serve members with excellence, dignity and respect. We are a public agency made up of compassionate leaders and professionals working together to strengthen our community’s health. We are continuing to build a culture that promotes diversity and inclusion within our community where employees have a sense of belonging, and are valued for their ideas, contributions, and their unique individual perspectives they bring. CalOptima Health has been recognized as one of Orange County’s best places to work, so we know there is something special about our organization. It is why people choose to work here and why they choose to stay!

About the Position

The ITS Architect II, Data Architect, is an experienced technologist/subject matter expert (SME) that leverages their technical experience with proven strategic and tactical technical leadership to lead and deliver digital solutions for CalOptima Health. The Data Architect will play a key role in taking CalOptima Health’s data estate to the next generation. At CalOptima Health, we are leading the journey to a data driven organization and developing cloud-based data platforms that enable fast decision making and analytical capabilities for health care services. The incumbent will be responsible for designing and executing data distribution frameworks, data streaming, vendor evaluation, cloud warehouse evaluation and for developing data catalog and observability systems. The incumbent will define the enterprise data blueprint for CalOptima Health to bring together thought leadership, trends and insights and to partner with internal and external stakeholders to architect and build solutions that make a difference for CalOptima Health’s members, providers and staff. The incumbent will work closely with management to ensure open communication and collaboration regarding tactical and strategic initiatives, changes, projects, planning and overall accomplishments. Additionally, the incumbent will work closely with vendors and technology partners to support all Information Technology Services (ITS) data architecture services for the organization.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Participates in a mission-driven culture of high-quality performance, with a member focus on customer service, consistency, dignity and accountability.
• Assists the team in carrying out department responsibilities and collaborates with others to support short- and long-term goals/priorities for the department.
• Leads the Enterprise Data Architecture team in the implementation of robust and scalable solutions that support CalOptima Health’s digital data transformation.
• Assists in ongoing modernization and data migration efforts.
• Owns data architecture and develops a data engineering framework with a cloud native approach.
• Understands the current landscape of data and provides recommendations on building future data products with best-in-class components, frameworks and design patterns.
• Establishes data pipeline patterns and provides recommendations and tradeoffs for enterprise data needs.
• Analyzes and influences end-to-end data and integration design for key business domains.
• Architects and designs solutions for data quality, security/privacy, reliability and data governance.
• Embraces and influences technology platform thinking and executes architecture principles of security, scale, uptime and reliability.
• Contributes to and implements the architecture strategy for enterprise data management.
• Provides data architecture oversight to ensure services are implemented in line with business objectives, security, and cost controls and data architecture best practices.
• Provides input into the development of a 3-5-year target enterprise data architecture based on business roadmaps, current state assessment, industry trends and research agenda.
• Creates a robust implementation roadmap to reach target date defined above with a focus on maximizing business value and minimizing disruption risks.
• Works directly with cross-functional ITS teams and business partners on technology solutions to solve business challenges.
• Establishes an enterprise data architecture “Center of Excellence” that will ensure and maintain best practices, performance and governance of the CalOptima Health data platform.
• Researches, evaluates and recommends new technologies, tools and frameworks for high volume data processing.
• Coaches and mentors engineering teams to raise collective technical expertise.
• Demonstrates a strong bias for architecture principles balanced with tactical timelines, costs and risks.
• Contributes to architecture guiding principles, development standards and training.
• Creates and maintains an intuitive and easily consumable knowledge hub for development teams.
• Leads efforts of internal stakeholders and third-party vendors, as well as assures that integrated solutions are provided to meet the organization's data needs.
• Oversees the activities of the data architecture function to ensure consistently improved solutions of all implementations.
• Completes other duties as assigned.

Experience & Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science or related technical discipline required.
• 6 years of progressive, applicable, technical experience in information technology required, including cloud architecture.
• 5 years of wide-ranging data experience working with and influencing multiple teams required.
• 4 years of experience building and/or architecting enterprise data solutions, data pipelines and data stores required.
• 3 years of experience in reviewing existing data platforms/processes and refactor for improvement vs starting over.
• 2 years of experience in working with variety of architectural principles like hub and spoke, bus and event driven software architectures.
• Demonstrated experience designing data architecture(s) for business intelligence/analytical usage required.
• Hands on experience in designing and building data engineering solutions required.
• Demonstrated track record of leading within complex organizations requiring strong influence management skills required.
• A thorough understanding of application technology stacks and platform layers is required.
• An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the position such as those listed above.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience leading large scale global data warehousing and analytics projects.
• Experience building out complete data architectures for large enterprise environments (large companies, not pieces) and doing so multiple times.
• Experience building, architecting, designing and implementing highly distributed enterprise data solutions (preferably Azure platform).
• Experience with any of the reporting tools like Microsoft Power BI, Tableau and/or Structured Query Language (SQL) Server Reporting Services.
• Experience in application development, network infrastructure, security or data.
• Managed care/health care experience.
• Strong vendor management experience.
• Proven track record of delivering scalable, resource-intensive, integrated and operational analytical solutions.
• Proficient practitioner of Python development.
• Basic understanding of DevOps concepts and scripting.
• Understanding of Data Lake solutions.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical demands : While performing duties of the job, employee may be required to move about the organization. Employee must be able to sit for extended periods of time, as well as work at the computer for long periods. Employee is required to use hands and fingers, especially for typing on the computer and using the mouse. Must also be able to reach with hands and arms and must occasionally lift office supply boxes. Employee must be able to communicate, particularly for phone use, in meetings and making presentations.

• Work Environment : Typical office environment with minimal noise levels and controlled office temperatures.

About our Benefits & Wellness options:

At CalOptima Health, we know that a healthy and happy workforce is a thriving workforce, which is why we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including participation in the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), low-cost medical/vision/dental insurance options, and paid time off. To support quality work-life balance, we allow flexible scheduling during core business hours, telework options for some positions, work schedules that allow every other Monday or Friday off (9/80 schedule), and a wellness program featuring diverse activities. Additionally, CalOptima Health contributes 4% of pensionable earnings to a 401(a) retirement program with no required employee contribution. Employees also have access to 457(b) retirement plans with pre/post-tax contribution options.

CalOptima is an equal employment opportunity employer and makes all employment decisions on the basis of merit. CalOptima wants to have qualified employees in every job position. CalOptima prohibits unlawful discrimination against any employee, or applicant for employment, based on race, religion/religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, sex stereotype, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transitioning status, age, sexual orientation, immigration status, military status as a disabled veteran, or veteran of the Vietnam era, or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws. CalOptima also prohibits unlawful discrimination based on the perception that anyone has any of those characteristics or is associated with a person who has, or is perceived as having, any of those characteristics.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to access job openings or apply for a job on this site as a result of your disability.

Required Skills

Required Experience

• Ability to read, analyze, and interpret written instruction.
• Ability to understand the process of vendor shipments
• Ability to present information and respond to questions from groups of management.
• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Ability to interpret an extensive variety of instructions, both oral and written.
• Intermediate to Advanced Excel (to graph charts & track labor)
• AS400/ASW  a  plus
• Strong leadership and team development skills
• Excellent communication and organizational skills
• Ability to influence others and operate effectively in a team setting.
• Solid knowledge of all warehousing and inventory control functions
• Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.