Data Architect

Challenger School seeks a full-time Data Architect to work on-site in our Sandy, Utah, office.

Hiring Objective: To fill a role that is part of a team that will design and implement a structured data architecture that will be the basis for a modernized content management system. This will be a massive conversion of over ten thousand preschool–grade 8 educational-based assessments, keys, guides, lesson plans, etc., that will consequently require us to streamline publishing workflows, enable automation, and incorporate AI-driven insights that will result in multi-platform content delivery.

As a result, Challenger School is seeking a skilled Data Architect to design and implement a structured, one-source, scalable data framework (most likely within Alfresco) that ensures seamless content organization, retrieval, and ability to generate outputs needed for online/LMS (Schoology) access, AI reference (ChatGPT), and printing purposes (pdfs). This role will establish the taxonomy, metadata standards, and data workflows (while providing thorough documentation throughout), as well as help identify next steps for the integration needed to enhance efficiency, establish content integrity, and ensure long-term scalability.

This role reports to the Director of Communication and works closely with curriculum, publishing teams, and
IT to architect a data infrastructure that supports long-term content transformation. The selected candidate must be highly analytical, be ethically grounded, and have a proven track record in structured publishing (preferrable ed tech), content transformation, and workflow automation.

Key Responsibilities

1. Design and implement the data structure in Alfresco, ensuring a scalable and efficient content hierarchy that supports metadata frameworks, storage architecture, and structured organization for long-term usability.
2. Develop and maintain a robust content taxonomy, defining classification standards, tagging structures, and establishing metadata rules that enable intuitive retrieval, automation, and seamless integration with editorial workflows.
3. Establish and enforce data governance policies by implementing version control, access management, and compliance standards that ensure content accuracy, security, and consistency across all systems.
4. Optimize data workflows to support automation, structuring metadata and content models in a way that facilitates automated content ingestion, tagging, and workflow triggers within Alfresco and related systems.
5. Define and implement data structures that support seamless interoperability between Alfresco and external platforms, including structuring content to enable AI-driven analytics, LMS (Schoology), SIS (PowerSchool), and automation tools. Ensure data models facilitate structured content distribution, intelligent retrieval, and automated publishing workflows.
6. Collaborate with content managers, subject matter experts (SMEs), and IT teams to align data structures with editorial and publishing workflows, ensuring content is easily accessible, properly categorized, efficiently maintained, and meets operational needs.
7. Support reporting and analytics by structuring data for AI-driven content tracking, enabling real-time insights into content usage, search optimization, and overall system performance.
8. Develop best practices and documentation for long-term scalability, ensuring that data models, governance policies, and integration standards are well-documented and adaptable to future system enhancements and operational growth.

Technical and Leadership Qualifications

• 5+ years in data architecture with expertise in designing scalable data models, metadata structures, and governance frameworks, preferably within Alfresco or similar enterprise CMS platforms.
• Proven proficiency in metadata management, taxonomy development, and structured data organization, ensuring efficient classification, retrieval, and automation of digital assets.
• Demonstrated experience in converting non-structured content (that includes tables, images, equations, layers, graphics) into organized, one-source, structured data. Background in STEM content publishing preferred (MathML, LaTeX).
• Experience integrating content repositories with automation tools, AI-driven analytics, and external systems such as LMS (e.g., Schoology), SIS (e.g., PowerSchool), and API-driven platforms, ensuring seamless data interoperability.
• Knowledge or understanding of relational and NoSQL databases, data modeling, and query optimization, with the ability to design and implement scalable architectures that support complex workflows and high-volume content operations is preferred.

Personality Criteria

This is a high-impact role for a technically proficient, strategically minded leader who values precision and transparency and who thrives in a meritocratic, results-driven environment.

We are looking for an individual who, for the first six to nine months, will fully immerse him or herself in the current curriculum content, publishing practices, and workflows to gain a full understanding of existing content structures and metadata taxonomy within Challenger’s legacy systems. This person will need to absorb much and learn from publishing and curriculum departments before determining next steps. This role is for a cooperative person who values learning, evaluating, and architecting a solution that aligns with the long-term strategic goals of an established, elite private school.

If you thrive in a cross-functional leadership role of balancing technology, content, and workflows, and want to help pioneer a high enterprise, digital transformation project, we want to hear from you!

Application Process

Must submit a cover letter with application that includes:

1. An example of how you designed a scalable data architecture, starting from an immersion phase to full implementation, ensuring taxonomy, metadata, and automation alignment.
2. A case study or project where you transformed non-structured, image-heavy content (including tables, graphics, and equations) into a structured, single-source format for multi-platform delivery.
3. Details on how you integrated structured content into an automation or AI-driven workflow, ensuring seamless retrieval, tagging, and data integrity across a publishing ecosystem.

#CSURGENT