Principal Information Security Architect - Data Security

JOB SUMMARY

***CANDIDATE MUST BE US Citizen (due to contractual/access requirements)***

The Principal Information Security Architect - Data Security serves as the enterprise leader for designing and advancing data security architectures that protect sensitive information across its entire lifecycle. This role partners with business, technology, data, cloud, and security teams to establish secure solutions for modern data platforms, analytics environments, distributed query engines, and enterprise data movement capabilities. The position provides technical leadership for securing platforms such as Starburst and other data services by ensuring appropriate controls for data access, sharing, storage, processing, and analytics across cloud and on-premises environments. The architect develops enterprise strategies for encryption, key management, tokenization, data masking, data classification, data loss prevention, and database security to safeguard sensitive and regulated data. This role guides the adoption of Zero Trust principles and data-centric security controls that enable secure access while reducing organizational risk.

The position evaluates emerging technologies, develops security roadmaps, and promotes secure design patterns for data integration, APIs, data pipelines, and information exchange. The architect serves as a trusted advisor to executive leadership and engineering teams, helping balance business innovation, regulatory compliance, privacy requirements, and security objectives. Additionally, the role provides thought leadership for securing AI and machine learning workloads, mentors security professionals, and champions security-by-design principles across enterprise data initiatives.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop systems and component architectures and APIs that meet the test of time. Articulate and evangelize architectural principles reciprocally with engineering, architecture and product teams that ensure system components fit securely, are sustainable, and align with company’s business direction. Analyze and recommend novel technologies, architectural solutions (and associated business cases) to the various technology executives across the company which simultaneously optimize value, risk, spend & design footprints.

• Influence enterprise solutions architects and engineers to define, develop, maintain, and communicate the technology and platform strategy, guidelines, and re-usable design patterns to all levels including the Highmark Health executive team. 

• Work with external and internal engineering teams to provide continuous architecture and design mentorship/leadership and be a source of support that ensures successful product delivery and operational excellence in production, including leadership and support for application development and change management activities.

• Establish relationships with key architects and executive technology leadership across the enterprise technology organization and collaborate on promoting architectural standard methodologies.

• Collaborate with key internal and external partners such as security, developers, development managers, product and program management and senior technical and business executives to drive the Architecture strategy, reference enterprise architecture documents, functional specifications, designs, and architectural libraries.

• Resolve approaches for new areas by quickly investigating and synthesizing the state of the art and available technologies including leading the development of enterprise solutions which meet current and future business requirements.

• Take a consultative approach to develop, present and share the value and vision of proposed architectures and solutions to a wide audience

• Promote architecture standard methodologies and mentor key technical people within the Data Product organization.

• Champion a culture of innovation in an environment that requires high levels of scalability, security and reliability for our most critical enterprise cloud and 'on premise' applications and infrastructure.

• Other duties as assigned or requested.

EXPERIENCE

Required

• 10 years of experience in Information Security.

• 4 years of experience as Information Security Architect with deep understanding of domains of security (e.g. zero trust, data protection, identity & access mgmt., threat mgmt., etc.)

• 3 years of experience with data management, query processing, distributed processing, high availability, statistical and machine learning and operational excellence of production systems.

Preferred

• 3 years of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions (evaluation, integration, etc.)

• 3 years of experience managing and leading teams. 

SKILLS

• Outstanding verbal, written, presentation, facilitation, and interaction skills, including ability to effectively communicate architectural issues and concepts to technical and non-technical people at multiple organization levels

• Outstanding technical acumen across a broad range of cloud and on premise technologies, architectures, applications and APIs

• Demonstrated ability to initiate and guide enterprise technical programs and/or products and services business cases to successful outcomes at scale

• Demonstrated ability to both navigate technical details for enterprise security programs and services, and guide staff through solution development

• Outstanding judgement and ability to methodically analyze cyber risk, and intelligence and both offer risk appropriate advice and make risk appropriate decisions

EDUCATION

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field of study or relevant experience and/or education as determined by the company in lieu of bachelor's degree.  

Preferred

• Masters Computer Science or related field of study. 

LICENSES or CERTIFICATIONS

Required

• None

Preferred

• Security certifications (e.g. The Open Group Architecture Framework Certification (TOGAF), Certified Information Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), etc.)

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Language (Other than English):

None

Travel Requirement:

0% - 25%

PHYSICAL, MENTAL DEMANDS and WORKING CONDITIONS

Position Type

Office- or Remote-based

Teaches / trains others

Occasionally

Travel from the office to various work sites or from site-to-site

Rarely

Works primarily out-of-the office selling products/services (sales employees)

Never

Physical work site required

No

Lifting: up to 10 pounds

Constantly

Lifting: 10 to 25 pounds

Occasionally

Lifting: 25 to 50 pounds

Rarely

Disclaimer: The job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and essential duties and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this job title. It may not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees to do this job.
Compliance Requirement: This job adheres to the ethical and legal standards and behavioral expectations as set forth in the code of business conduct and company policies.
As a component of job responsibilities, employees may have access to covered information, cardholder data, or other confidential customer information that must be protected at all times.  In connection with this, all employees must comply with both the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) as described in the Notice of Privacy Practices and Privacy Policies and Procedures as well as all data security guidelines established within the Company’s Handbook of Privacy Policies and Practices and Information Security Policy. 
Furthermore, it is every employee’s responsibility to comply with the company’s Code of Business Conduct. This includes but is not limited to adherence to applicable federal and state laws, rules, and regulations as well as company policies and training requirements.

Pay Range Minimum:

Pay Range Maximum:

Base pay is determined by a variety of factors including a candidate’s qualifications, experience, and expected contributions, as well as internal peer equity, market, and business considerations.  The displayed salary range does not reflect any geographic differential Highmark may apply for certain locations based upon comparative markets.

Highmark Health and its affiliates prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on any category protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

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