The tech sector is beaming with lucrative career opportunities. One of them is data architect. As big data has become a larger part of our daily lives, the importance of data architects skyrocketed. They help companies evaluate their data requirements and provide them with the solutions to meet the same. It’s a fantastic career to pursue if you like technology and high pay.
However, you might wonder, “Exactly how much does a data architect make in the US?”
The following article will help you find the answer as we’ll discuss the average salary for data architects, the factors that determine how much you’ll make, and how you can pursue a career as a data architect.
What is the Average Data Architect’s Salary in the United States?
The average salary for a data architect in the US is $121k per annum. Pay for this role starts from $78k per annum and goes up to $179k per annum. Bonuses for data architects can go as high as $29k, while shared profits can go up to $25k.
Certainly, it’s one of the most lucrative fields you can enter in the tech industry. The global big data market is expected to grow to $103 billion by 2027, which is more than twice the expected market size of 2018. The big data industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors globally, and hence, the demand for specialized roles in this field, such as data architect, is increasing substantially.
The average big data architect’s salary proves this fact. Moreover, demand for big data roles is increasing significantly in multiple industries as companies become more data-driven. Due to these reasons, highly advanced positions such as data architect and data scientist can enjoy higher salaries in the near future.
What does a Data Architect do?
Data architects are senior tech experts who translate an organization’s vision of data management infrastructure into reality through planning, strategizing, designing, and implementing the necessary modifications. They are responsible for understanding the big data requirements of their organization to determine what kind of database management infrastructure would be suitable for them. They also provide their company with a standard common business vocabulary, outline high-level designs that meet the organization’s strategic requirements and align with the enterprise strategy.
They have to ensure that the data management framework enhances the company’s operations and doesn’t interfere with any processes. Data architects also have to look after their organization’s current data management implementations and ensure that they remain free from any issues. They must ensure that the organization can easily access accurate data relevant to their needs.
Large companies might employ data architects to create and manage data management solutions for specific projects. Managing and organizing data requires expertise in big data and various technologies such as XML and SQL. Hence, data architects must be proficient in multiple database management solutions and technologies. Data architects must define the data flows for their organizations, including identifying areas that produce data, areas that consume data, and how to manage the data flow.
Their seniority level requires them to work with multiple departments in their organization to be skilled at collaboration and communication. They must be able to share their ideas and queries effectively while understanding others’ questions as well.
What factors affect your Salary as a Data Architect in the United States?
The pay for data architects starts from $78k per annum and goes up to $179k. It’s certainly a broad range, and where you fall in this spectrum depends on several factors. Understanding how these factors affect your database architect salary can help you plan your career more effectively and determine where you should put more effort.
While many factors affect your salary as a data architect, the most prominent ones among them are:
- Experience
- Skills
- Location
Here’s how each of these factors affects your pay in this field in detail:
Experience
One of the biggest factors that determine how much you’ll make as a data architect is your professional experience. Statistics show that your pay will increase steadily as you’ll gain more experience. Moreover, data architect is a highly specialized role and requires several years of experience to join.
Entry-level architects earn 43% lower than the average, while early-career professionals in this field earn 29% less than the average. On the other hand, late-career data architects make 7% more than the average, and highly experienced ones in this field make 11% more than the industry average.
Data architects with less than a year’s experience make $69k per annum on average, while those with one to four years of experience earn $86k per annum. Similarly, data architects with five to nine years of experience earn $111k per annum, and those with 10 to 19 years of experience make $129k per year on average.
Data architects that have more than 20 years of professional experience make $135k per annum on average.
Skills
Your skills would play a huge role in determining your pay as a data architect. The most popular skills among data architects currently are data warehousing, data modeling, SQL, business intelligence, and database architecture.
Having the popular skills under your belt will help you stand out from your peers and would make it much easier to start your career in this field. Moreover, some skills pay more than others. If you want to increase your pay as a data architect, it would be best to develop the skills that pay the best.
The most lucrative skill for data architects is cloud computing, as professionals with this skill earn 26% more than the industry average. Other skills that help you make more in this field are:
- Apache Spark (7% more than the average)
- Enterprise application integration (7% more than the average)
- Big data analytics (12% % more than the average)
- Software architecture (11% more than the average)
- NoSQL (12% more than the average)
- Teradata (4% more than the average)
- Apache Hadoop (7% more than the average)
Location
Your pay as a data architect would also depend considerably on the city you work in. Several cities offer higher salaries than others, while some cities offer below-average salaries for this role. Cities that offer the most attractive salaries to data architects are New York (20% more than the average), Dallas (4% more than the average), and Chicago (2% more than the average).
On the other hand, some cities that offer less than the average salary are Charlotte (5% less than the average) and Denver (1% less than the average).
How to Become a Data Architect?
Data architects are experts in big data, cloud computing, database management, and multiple other fields. Hence, the best way to pursue a career in this field is by joining a big data course that teaches you these concepts and helps you become a specialized expert in this field.
At upGrad, we offer the Advanced Certificate Program in Big Data in partnership with the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore. It’s a 7.5- month program that teaches you how to organize, analyze, and interpret big data. upGrad has students in over 85 countries with a learner base of more than 40,000 students, so you can network with global peers by joining this program.
This course offers 250+ hours of study material and 1:1 personalized mentorship from big data experts.
Conclusion
Data architects are one of the most sought-after professionals, especially in the tech sector. You only need to be skilled in big data, database management, and related concepts and technologies to pursue a career as a data architect. If you’re interested, we recommend checking out the course we shared above. It would help you greatly in your career pursuit.
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