Data Principal – Information Technology

Alberta Blue Cross® is an Alberta based organization dedicated to delivering exceptional customer experience and community leadership. We’re committed to providing the best health coverage to over 1.8 million members and take an active role in promoting wellness. We believe in what we do—and place trust in our employees to deliver our vision.

Working at Alberta Blue Cross® means having a career where you’ll be recognized for your contributions. We value diversity, encourage our team members to maintain a healthy work-life balance and provide opportunities for career growth.

OVERVIEW:

We are looking for a strategic and hands-on Data Principal to lead the design and delivery of scalable, trusted, and reusable enterprise data solutions leveraging innovative methodologies and a variety of data, AI, and automation capabilities. As a senior technical leader, you will play a critical role in operationalizing our data strategy-liberating data, ensuring its trustworthiness, and democratizing access and skills across the organization.

In addition to driving enterprise data strategy, the Data Principal will play a pivotal role in elevating the experience and effectiveness of business users in the Power BI/Fabric and reporting ecosystem. Acting as a trusted partner and provider of a white‑glove service, this role will help business teams translate questions into well‑designed, performant, and trusted insights. The Data Principal will help shape and lead a Power BI and Reporting Centre of Excellence (CoE), establishing best practices for semantic models, report design, performance optimization, and self‑service enablement. Through hands‑on guidance, coaching, and thoughtful governance, this role will ensure business users are empowered by standards, accelerating insight delivery while maintaining consistency, quality, and trust across enterprise reporting solutions.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

• Architect Enterprise Data Solutions - Lead the design of end-to-end data architectures that support ingestion, transformation, modeling, and consumption across structured and unstructured data.

• Champion Data Strategy Execution - Translate strategic data goals into actionable design, architecture and delivery plans that support data liberation, trust, and democratization.

• Collaborate Across Domains - Partner with Data Governance, Enterprise Architecture, Data Engineering and Data Quality teams to:

• Maintain visibility into key data sources and upstream systems, including acting as a subject matter expert in partnership with the Enterprise Data Office.

• Ensure alignment with self-service access models and semantic layer development.

• Embed data quality and governance-by-design into all solutions.

• Guide and Mentor Technical Teams - Provide architectural oversight and mentorship to data engineers, solution architects, and technical leads to ensure scalable, sustainable, and performant data solutions.

• Develop and Promote Standards – Partner to define and evolve architectural patterns, reusable data models, and data engineering standards that accelerate delivery through CI/CD and improve consistency through the use of development practices.

• Evaluate and Recommend Technologies - Stay current with modern data platforms and tools, recommending innovations that enhance our data ecosystem.

• Ensure Compliance and Security - Design solutions that meet enterprise security, privacy, and regulatory requirements.

• Drive Measurable Outcomes - Contribute to KPIs such as data availability, speed-to-solution, reuse of semantic models, and solution scalability. Champion the growth of data-enabled users across the organization and ensure that data solutions directly support and accelerate the achievement of business partner goals.

• Co-Create Business-Aligned Solutions – Partner with business stakeholders to deeply understand their challenges and opportunities, then identify the right-fit solutions across data, AI, automation, and more. Leverage your broad knowledge of enterprise data and technology stacks to architect scalable, impactful approaches, and guide delivery teams through mentorship and collaboration. Success is measured by the outcomes we enable for our business partners.

WHAT YOU WILL HAVE:

• A related technical degree or diploma in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• A minimum of ten years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, data analysis, or enterprise solution design.

• Deep experience in modern reporting and data platforms, specifically PowerBI/Fabric and Azure. Certifications considered an asset.

• Demonstrated proficiency in programming languages including Python, .NET, C#, SQL, PL/SQL, Power Query, M, DAX, VBScript, and PowerShell scripting.

• Strong understanding of data modeling, semantic layer design, and data integration patterns.

• Hands-on experience incorporating AI into product solutions.

• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Power Platform (Power Automate, Power Apps, Power BI) and proven expertise in enterprise-level implementations.

• Experience working with data governance, metadata management, and cataloging tools (e.g., Collibra, Informatica, Microsoft Purview, Unity Catalogue).

• Excellent leadership and team management skills with proven ability to mentor and develop technical talent.

• Analytical and problem-solving abilities with experience in architectural design and solution planning.

• Proven ability to translate business needs into scalable, reusable, technical solutions.

• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, including ability to present technical concepts to business stakeholders and executive leadership.

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in fast-paced, changing environments while managing multiple priorities.

• Experience in insurance or healthcare industry is preferred.

• Knowledge of Agile methodologies and Lean practices.

This position will remain open until a suitable candidate is selected.

Alberta Blue Cross® is an inclusive employer committed to a workplace that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We empower and are advocates for our team members by welcoming, respecting and valuing their unique perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences.

We offer the opportunity to work in an innovative, high-energy team-focused environment. If you have the qualifications we are looking for, apply online at careers.ab.bluecross.ca

A criminal record check satisfactory to Alberta Blue Cross will be required as a condition of employment, following a conditional offer.