Data Scientist

About the role

Data Scientist

Position Details

Job Title: Data Scientist

Client: MTA

Work Arrangement: Hybrid – 3 days onsite / 2 days remote

Location: MTA, New York

Experience Required: 8+ years overall; 6+ years architecture-focused

Position Overview

The MTA is seeking an experienced Data & AI Architect to design, define, and deliver enterprise-scale data and artificial intelligence solutions across a large, multi-department organization.

This is a hands-on architecture role that combines deep technical expertise with strong stakeholder engagement. The architect will work directly with business and operational teams to identify ambiguous or emerging data and AI needs, translate them into actionable requirements, obtain stakeholder and governance approval, and take solutions through implementation and production.

The ideal candidate will have recent, primarily Azure-based experience, hands-on knowledge of Copilot-style and agentic AI development tooling, and broad experience across multiple cloud providers, databases, and AI/ML technologies.

Key Responsibilities

• Business & Stakeholder Engagement

Engage with stakeholders across MTA departments to identify and shape emerging data and AI use cases.

Extract clarity from ambiguous business problems and convert them into well-defined opportunities.

Gather, analyze, and document business and technical requirements.

Prepare actionable requirements documents for both technical and non-technical audiences.

Present proposed solutions, technical trade-offs, and business value to stakeholders and governance bodies.

Drive requirements through formal review and approval.

• Data & AI Architecture

Architect end-to-end enterprise data and AI solutions.

Design architectures covering:

Data Ingestion

Data Storage

Data Transformation

Data Modeling

Data Serving

Data Consumption

Define scalable and reusable reference architectures, patterns, and standards.

Design solutions across multi-cloud and multi-database environments.

• AI & Agentic Development

Design and implement AI solutions using modern agentic development tooling.

Leverage AI-assisted development workflows to accelerate solution delivery.

Work with technologies and concepts including:

LLMs

Generative AI

RAG

ML Pipelines

Model Orchestration

Ensure AI solutions meet enterprise requirements for quality, security, maintainability, and scalability.

• Cloud Architecture

Design and deliver solutions across multiple major cloud platforms.

Work across at least two of:

Microsoft Azure

AWS

GCP

Provide architectural guidance for multi-cloud data and AI platforms.

Develop primarily on the Microsoft Azure stack where applicable.

• Data Platforms & Databases

Design solutions across multiple database technologies, including:

Relational Databases

NoSQL Databases

Analytical / Data Warehouse Platforms

Vector Databases

Graph Databases

Define appropriate data architecture and technology choices based on business and technical requirements.

• Security, Governance & Compliance

Ensure solutions meet enterprise requirements for:

Security

Privacy

Data Governance

Cost Efficiency

Regulatory Compliance

Incorporate responsible AI and data governance practices into architecture decisions.

• Solution Delivery

Take solutions from concept through approval and production implementation.

Collaborate with:

Engineering Teams

Data Scientists

Platform Teams

Product Teams

Ensure architectural designs are effectively translated into production solutions.

Provide technical guidance throughout implementation.

• Technical Leadership & Mentoring

Mentor engineers and analysts.

Provide technical guidance on data and AI architecture.

Establish and promote enterprise-wide data and AI best practices.

Support continuous improvement of organizational architecture standards.

Required Qualifications

Experience

8+ years of overall experience in:

Data Engineering

Data Architecture

Software Engineering

Or closely related fields

6+ years in an architecture-focused role.

Demonstrated experience taking solutions from concept through production.

Multi-Cloud

Hands-on experience designing and delivering solutions across at least two major cloud providers:

Azure

AWS

GCP

Data & Database Technologies

Experience across multiple database categories:

Relational

NoSQL

Analytical / Data Warehouse

Vector

Graph

AI / ML

Practical experience with multiple AI/ML and Generative AI technologies.

Experience with:

LLMs

RAG

ML Pipelines

Model Orchestration

Generative AI

Agentic Development

Hands-on experience delivering solutions using agentic development tooling / AI-assisted development workflows.

Requirements & Stakeholder Management

Strong requirements-gathering experience.

Ability to extract clarity from ambiguous requirements.

Strong stakeholder-facing and presentation skills.

Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.

Proven ability to secure stakeholder buy-in.

Preferred Qualifications

Recent, primary experience with Microsoft Azure.

Experience with:

Azure Data Services

Azure Synapse

Microsoft Fabric

Azure OpenAI

Azure ML

Hands-on experience with Microsoft Copilot tooling:

GitHub Copilot

Copilot Studio

M365 Copilot

Experience within large, complex organizations.

Public-sector, transportation, or infrastructure experience.

Cloud or data architecture certifications.

Enterprise data governance experience.

MLOps experience.

Responsible AI experience.