Senior Director, Data Architect

Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. With more than 72,000 colleagues, the company operates 334 distribution facilities worldwide and serves approximately 725,000 customer locations. For fiscal year 2023 that ended July 1, 2023, the company generated sales of more than $76 billion.

Sysco is recruiting for a Senior Director, Data Architect to join the Corporate Technology Team on a full-time, permanent basis. Reporting to the VP / Chief Data Officer (CDO), you will be responsible for leading the design and execution of Sysco’s global data architecture strategy. This role will spearhead the modernization of Sysco’s data ecosystem, transitioning from our current data warehouse to modern Data Fabric/Mesh Architecture. You will oversee the delivery of scalable, high-performance data solutions that enable real-time data streaming, seamless data integration, and advanced analytics across the business. The role involves working with key business and technology stakeholders across the globe to ensure the data architecture strategy aligns with Sysco’s business objectives and technology goals. You will own the conceptual and logical data models, data flows, and integration patterns for Sysco’s enterprise data ecosystem. In addition, you will lead a high-performing global architecture team, managing both operational performance and long-term strategy. You’ll also have people management responsibilities, leading cross-functional internal and external teams, along with budget and vendor management responsibilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and deliver Sysco’s global data architecture strategy, ensuring alignment with business and technology objectives.
• Spearhead the transformation of Sysco’s current data warehouse to a modern Data Fabric/Mesh architecture with fully integrated data management and secure data sharing.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, product teams, and vendors to deploy long-term strategic data products within product-oriented delivery teams (PODs).
• Lead a globally distributed architecture team, fostering a culture of cross-functional collaboration, experimentation, and professional growth.
• Conduct technology evaluations and lead Sysco’s Data Architecture Review Board (ARB) to provide recommendations on data ingestion, streaming, pipelines, ML Ops, analytics, and more.
• Design and own conceptual and logical data models, data flows, and integration patterns.
• Ensure data integrity, optimal performance, and governance across both transactional and analytical environments.
• Monitor and optimize data pipelines and architectures for performance, availability, and fault tolerance.
• Manage capital and operational costs for the data architecture domain, ensuring alignment with budget and strategic priorities.

About You

The successful candidate will have proven experience leading global data architecture functions and designing scalable, high-performance data ecosystems. You will bring expertise in modern data architecture principles (Data Mesh/Fabric), real-time data streaming, and cloud-based data solutions. Experience in building and managing high-performing architecture teams is essential, along with strong stakeholder management skills to influence at all levels.

Qualifications and Skills

• Education: Required: Bachelor’s Degree in Data Platforms or related discipline. Preferred: Master’s Degree in Data Science, Data Platforms.
• Experience: Extensive experience architecting data environments. Extensive experience designing, implementing, and maintaining scalable, high-performance data architectures enabling real-time data streaming and robust data pipelines (preferred).
• Technical Skills and Abilities: Expertise in building secure and scalable cloud-based Data Lakehouse solutions. Strong business acumen with the ability to align analytics insights to business strategies. Visionary leadership skills with a growth mindset. Strong problem-solving, decision-making, and communication skills. Ability to influence and collaborate with executive stakeholders. Proficiency in cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.

At Sysco International everyone is welcome. We don’t want you to ‘fit our culture’ we want you to help define it and we actively celebrate the unique talents of each and every colleague. We don’t just look at your CV, we’re more focused on who you are and your potential. As part of our values, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone has a voice, is appreciated and has the same opportunities. We work hard to ensure that everyone feels part of our business, as we care for one another and connect the world through food and trusted partnerships. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that everyone belongs and thrives at Sysco International and we recognize that Sysco International can only thrive when everyone feels they belong. We’ll do everything we can to support you during your application. If you need us to make any adjustments to our recruitment process, speak to our resourcing team who will be happy to support you.