We have an exciting contract opportunity for a Data Architect! This is a remote, 10-month contract for a senior level Data Architect looking to play a key role in a healthcare project. 

Our client is contributing to a national initiative to enhance digital health interoperability in Canada. They are supporting the development of a Common Semantic Data Model—both conceptual and logical—that will serve as a foundation for a new pan-Canadian health data standard. This work involves shaping the structure, semantics, and interoperability of health information across jurisdictions.

The project is part of a broader collaboration aimed at enabling seamless and secure health data exchange, improving access to personal health information for patients and providers, and ensuring timely data availability for care and system planning. It involves close coordination with provincial and territorial jurisdictions, which vary in digital health maturity and infrastructure. Core efforts focus on defining and maintaining standardized health data content and exchange protocols to support clinical collaboration, continuity of care, and overall health system performance.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Works part of a collaborative team of senior data/information architects dedicated to the project
• Develop and evolve the common semantic data model (information, conceptual and logical level) ensuring semantic clarity, consistency and alignment with real-world healthcare concepts, roles, workflows and terminologies. The models cover currently 900 data elements and expanding with features like:
  • Covers pan-Canadian space.
  • Technology agnostic.
  • Includes concepts, attributes, relationships, constraints.
  • Includes comprehensive metadata modelling.
  • Includes definitions that are based on thorough research of related data standards.
• Represents CIHI in collaborating with subject matter experts, terminology specialists, domain modellers, data architects and standards developers from external organizations (key national, provincial, and territorial stakeholders) to develop data architecture.
• Works closely with various internal stakeholders including analysts, business subject matter experts and architects to gather their input on semantic data models.
• Participate in reviews, governance processes and versioning activities related to the data models and their evolution.
• Provides strong expertise and an aptitude for abstract information design and for navigating ambiguity in the healthcare system.
• Participates actively in metadata modelling.
• Assesses current health landscape for relevant information such as data models and standards to determine future architecture (e.g. HL7 FHIR, SNOMED CT, LOINC, PS-CA, USCDI, NHS, OMOP, ISO-13940, ISO-11179 etc.).
• Collaborates on the definition of other standard architectural components such as, business glossary, architecture significant business requirements, business context model, data elements, value sets.
• Ensures that interoperability, data consistency, data lifecycle, technological risks are all addressed in the data architecture deliverables.
• Documents, communicates, and disseminate data architecture artifacts to multi-disciplinary audiences.
• Identifies risks, raises them and works with the project team to develop mitigation plans.
• As required, assist in both tactical and strategic planning for further development.

Qualifications and Skills

• Extensive experience in Information and Data Architecture, including standards, concepts, patterns, best practices, and methodologies (10+ years)
• Extensive experience in Logical Data Modelling (10+ years)
• Senior Information/Data Architect experience on enterprise-wide transformative initiatives (10+ years)
• Strong knowledge of healthcare data standards (e.g., HL7 FHIR, ISO) and terminologies/classifications (e.g., SNOMED, LOINC, ICD) (7+ years)
• Solid experience engaging with external stakeholders (clinical, technical, and policy experts) (7+ years)
• Proficient in formal modelling notations (e.g., UML, ER) (10+ years)
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Proven experience leading the development of enterprise data models for large organizations (5+ years)
• Demonstrated success delivering large-scale data architecture initiatives (5+ years)
• Strong understanding of data governance concepts (4 years)
• Experience with data semantics via enterprise information models, terminologies, ontologies, glossaries, etc. (4 years)
• Subject matter expertise in healthcare data, with experience across multiple healthcare sectors (4 years)