IT Director – Data & AI Architecture

Abbott

. Define and deliver Abbott's enterprise data and AI architecture vision .

Posted 10/19/2026full-timeWaukegan • Illinois • United StatesLead💰 $149,300 - $298,700 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in enterprise data architecture, cloud-native data platforms, and AI-ready ecosystems, with a strong focus on defining standards for data management, integration, and governance. Proven ability to lead architecture reviews and influence stakeholders across technical and business domains.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Enterprise Data ArchitectureCloud Data Platform ArchitectureAI-Ready Data EcosystemsData Mesh PrinciplesTechnical Architecture Leadership

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

DataOpsCI/CDMetadata ManagementMachine LearningGenerative AILakehouse ArchitectureEvent-Driven ArchitecturesReal-Time Data ProcessingDomain-Driven DesignCloud-Native Technologies

Soft Skills

Strong Communication SkillsInfluencing Senior Executives

Tools & Technologies

SnowflakeDatabricksMicrosoft FabricAzure Data ServicesKubernetesApache AirflowDelta LakeApache IcebergKafkaVector Databases

Certifications & Qualifications

Cloud ArchitectureData EngineeringAI EngineeringEnterprise Architecture

Industry Keywords

HealthcareMedical DevicesLife SciencesPharmaceuticalsRegulated Manufacturing

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AirflowApacheAzureCloudKafkaKubernetes

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Define and deliver Abbott's enterprise data and AI architecture vision
Architect scalable, secure, high-performing, and AI-ready data platforms
Enable advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, automation, and machine learning use cases
Establish technical standards, reference architectures, implementation standards, and technology roadmaps
Lead architecture reviews for major data and analytics initiatives
Advise engineering, architecture, business, and executive leaders on enterprise data strategy
Drive architecture for lakehouse, medallion, semantic layer, metadata, observability, vector database, and enterprise AI solutions
Define enterprise information architecture, canonical data models, domain ownership boundaries, and data product standards
Review and challenge engineering designs for scalability, resiliency, performance, maintainability, and cost optimization
Chair architecture review boards and provide final recommendations for critical investments
Define standards for ingestion, transformation, orchestration, observability, DataOps, CI/CD, and platform automation
Establish patterns for structured, semi-structured, streaming, and unstructured data workloads
Define integration standards using APIs, event-driven architectures, messaging, and real-time processing
Guide Infrastructure as Code, platform engineering, containerization, and automated deployment practices
Establish standards for data products, contracts, metadata, discoverability, interoperability, and lifecycle management
Drive Data Mesh and federated data ownership principles
Architect AI-ready ecosystems for predictive analytics, Generative AI, agentic AI, RAG, semantic search, and vector databases
Establish LLMOps and MLOps standards for deployment, monitoring, governance, and lifecycle management
Partner with governance teams on metadata, lineage, master data, quality, privacy, security, and regulatory requirements
Mentor architects and engineers while serving as a senior hands-on technical leader and trusted advisor

Requirements

What you’ll need

Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field
10+ years of experience in enterprise data architecture, cloud data platform architecture, or large-scale analytics architecture
5+ years designing and implementing modern cloud-native data platforms and enterprise-scale technology architectures and solutions
Minimum 10 years of overall professional experience in technology
Minimum 3 years at the Director level or in a comparable senior individual contributor leadership role
Expertise in technical architecture leadership and strategic technology initiatives
Hands-on expertise with Snowflake, Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Services, or equivalent modern data platforms
Experience designing and implementing large-scale lakehouse architectures
Experience architecting AI-ready data ecosystems supporting machine learning, Generative AI, vector retrieval, semantic search, and RAG architectures
Understanding of Data Mesh, Data Fabric, Data Products, domain-driven design, and modern information architecture
Experience with APIs, event-driven architectures, Kafka, streaming platforms, and real-time data processing
Experience defining standards for metadata, lineage, master data management, and data quality
Experience leading architecture reviews and providing technical oversight
Strong communication skills and ability to influence senior executives, architects, engineers, and business stakeholders
Preferred: experience as Chief Data Architect, Lead Data Architect, Enterprise Data Architect, Principal Architect, or similar
Preferred: experience in healthcare, medical devices, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, or regulated manufacturing
Preferred: expertise with Kubernetes, Apache Airflow, Delta Lake, Apache Iceberg, and related cloud-native technologies
Preferred: experience with vector databases, knowledge graphs, semantic search platforms, and enterprise AI platforms
Preferred: relevant certifications in Cloud Architecture, Data Engineering, AI Engineering, Enterprise Architecture, or related disciplines

Benefits

Comp & perks

10% travel opportunity/requirement
Standard work shift
Equal opportunity employment