About the Role
We are looking for a Principal Data & Solution Architect to lead the design, development, and governance of large-scale data and technology platforms in the government and public sector domain. The incumbent will serve as the apex technical authority on projects involving citizen data systems, national digital infrastructure, and e-governance platforms.
The architect must balance technical innovation with the stringent governance, security, and sovereignty requirements unique to government engagements.
Key Responsibilities
Architecture & Solution Design
- Define and govern solution and data architecture for government digital platforms, portals, and citizen-facing applications
- Lead end-to-end solution design from requirement analysis and High-Level Design/Low Level Design through to deployment and hypercare
- Produce Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), reference architectures, and technical blueprints for project boards
- Evaluate and recommend technology stacks, open-source frameworks, and approved government e-marketplace (GeM) solutions
- Design scalable, modular system architectures compliant with NIC, and MeitY standards
Data Architecture & Database Design
- Design enterprise data models — conceptual, logical, and physical — for complex government datasets including citizen records, beneficiary data, and transactional systems
- Create and maintain PostgreSQL database schemas, partitioning strategies, indexing policies, and performance tuning guidelines
- Architect data warehouses, data lakes, and operational data stores aligned to government reporting and analytics needs
- Define data lineage, metadata management, and data cataloguing practices across all systems
- Establish data retention, archival, and purge policies in compliance with statutory requirements
- Design normalised and denormalised schema structures appropriate to OLTP and OLAP workloads
API Design & Integration Architecture
- Design and govern RESTful and SOAP API ecosystems for inter-departmental and citizen-facing integrations
- Architect API gateways, rate limiting, versioning, and lifecycle management across government service platforms
- Define API security standards including OAuth 2.0, mutual TLS, and JWT-based authentication
- Lead integration with national platforms: UMANG, e-Sign, eKYC, NSDG, and Account Aggregator framework
- Establish and enforce OpenAPI specification standards and API documentation practices for developer portals
Data Privacy Compliance
- Design data processing systems that embed privacy-by-design principles — purpose limitation, data minimisation, consent management, and right to erasure
- Architect and oversee Data Principal consent artefacts and Consent Manager integrations
- Define data classification frameworks (public, sensitive, critical) and enforce appropriate handling controls at the system level
- Work with legal, compliance, and DPO teams to ensure all data flows, storage, and cross-border transfer mechanisms meet statutory obligations
- Conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for high-risk processing activities
Data Vault & Sensitive Data Handling
- Design and implement data vault architectures for secure storage of sensitive personally identifiable information (PII), financial data, and credentials
- Define tokenisation, pseudonymisation, and encryption-at-rest/in-transit standards for all sensitive data elements
- Architect hardware security module (HSM) integration and key management lifecycle processes
- Establish vault access control policies, break-glass procedures, and privileged access management (PAM) frameworks
- Design masking and redaction rules for non-production environments to prevent sensitive data leakage
- Own the sensitive data inventory and ensure all vaulted assets are accounted for in the data classification register
Security, Governance & Compliance
- Lead security architecture reviews, threat modelling and architecture risk assessments
- Define role-based access control (RBAC), attribute-based access control (ABAC), and least-privilege principles across all layers
- Oversee data residency and sovereignty requirements — ensuring citizen data remains within approved national boundaries
Stakeholder Management & Mentorship
- Engage with senior government officials, IAS/IPS stakeholders, and ministry/department heads to align architecture with policy mandates
- Present technical designs to empowered committees, Project Approval Committees (PACs), and review boards
- Mentor and guide a team of architects, developers, and database administrators
- Produce and maintain STQC-compliant technical documentation, SRS, SDD, and operations manuals
Pay: ₹1,000,000.00 - ₹2,000,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
