A data architect is a practitioner of data architecture, an information technology discipline concerned with designing, creating, deploying and managing an organization's data architecture. Data architects define how the data will be stored, consumed, integrated and managed by different data entities and IT systems, as well as any applications using or processing that data in some way. It is closely allied with business architecture and is considered to be one of the four domains of enterprise architecture.
According to the Data Management Body of Knowledge, the data architect “provides a standard common business vocabulary, expresses strategic data requirements, outlines high level integrated designs to meet these requirements, and aligns with enterprise strategy and related business architecture.”
According to the Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), a data architect is expected to set data architecture principles, create models of data that enable the implementation of the intended business architecture, create diagrams showing key data entities, and create an inventory of the data needed to implement the architecture vision.
Bob Lambert, Director of Data Architecture at consulting firm CapTech, describes the necessary skills of a Data Architect as follows: