Full-Time
Principal Data Architect
AI
Meridian Link
501-1,000 employees
Cloud-based SaaS for loan origination
Compensation Overview
$126k - $214.9k/yr
Remote in USA
Remote
 Data & Analytics (1) |
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- 12–15+ years of progressive experience in data engineering, data warehousing, and data architecture roles, with at least the most recent several years at the architect level
- Demonstrated experience as a Data Architect at a SaaS company in the FinTech or financial services software space (lending, banking, payments, capital markets, insurance, or a closely related domain)
- Deep, hands-on expertise with Databricks and PySpark on Azure, including Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, structured streaming, and performance tuning at scale
- Production experience with Informatica Data Management Cloud (IDMC) — or comparable enterprise integration platforms — for ingestion, transformation, and metadata-driven pipelines
- Proven track record of designing and implementing detailed meta-models and end-to-end data models (conceptual, logical, and physical) that have shipped to production and stood up over time
- Strong command of dimensional modeling (Kimball), Data Vault 2.0, and modern lakehouse patterns, including the ability to choose the right approach for the right use case
- Expert SQL skills and strong proficiency in Python/PySpark; comfortable writing the code, not just the diagrams
- Demonstrated experience implementing data governance, lineage, and metadata management programs (e.g., Unity Catalog, IDMC Data Governance, Collibra, Atlan, or similar)
- Working knowledge of FinTech-relevant regulatory and compliance considerations (e.g., GLBA, SOC 2, PCI, NIST, state lending regulations) and how they shape data design
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to explain complex data concepts to engineers, executives, customers, and auditors
- Define the enterprise data architecture: Own the conceptual, logical, and physical data models for MeridianLink's analytical and operational data platform, including source-aligned, integrated, and consumption-ready layers
- Build the meta-model: Design and maintain a meta-model that captures entities, relationships, business definitions, ownership, lineage, sensitivity classifications, and SLAs — and make sure it is wired into our tooling, not stuck in a slide deck
- Drive the lakehouse strategy: Architect our medallion (bronze / silver / gold) Delta Lake patterns on Databricks; define standards for partitioning, clustering, schema evolution, slowly changing dimensions, and historical reproducibility
- Be hands-on: Write PySpark, SQL, and Delta Lake code. Build reference implementations, prototype patterns, review pull requests, and personally model critical domains rather than delegating every detail
- Lead data integration design: Set patterns for ingestion through Informatica Data Management Cloud (IDMC) and direct Databricks pipelines, including CDC, batch, streaming, and API-based sourcing from our SaaS products and third-party systems
- Champion data governance and lineage: Partner with data governance, security, and compliance leaders to operationalize cataloging, lineage, classification, masking, and access controls across the platform (Unity Catalog, IDMC, and adjacent tools)
- Standardize data modeling practices: Establish the standards, naming conventions, and review processes used by the Data Engineering team. Coach engineers on dimensional modeling, Data Vault, and other techniques where they best fit the use case
- Partner across the business: Work closely with Product, Engineering, Analytics, ML, Finance, Risk, and Customer-facing teams to translate business needs into durable data designs
- Influence the roadmap: Identify gaps in tooling, capability, and skill; propose investments; and drive multi-quarter initiatives that materially improve how MeridianLink uses its data
- Prior experience designing data architectures for multi-tenant SaaS platforms with customer-facing analytics or embedded reporting
- Experience supporting Loan Origination, deposit account opening, or other consumer lending workflows and the underlying data domains (applicants, applications, decisions, funding, servicing, credit data, fraud, KYC/AML)
- Experience building feature stores or curated data products that serve both ML/AI workloads and BI consumers
- Familiarity with Azure data services (ADLS Gen2, Azure Data Factory, Event Hubs, Synapse, Purview) and their interplay with Databricks
- Experience with dbt, Great Expectations, or other modern data quality and transformation tooling layered on top of Databricks
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
MeridianLink provides cloud-based SaaS software for financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, and fintechs. Its product suite includes loan origination systems (LOS), automated decisioning engines, and data reporting/business intelligence tools, all accessed through subscription-based cloud platforms. The LOS guides a loan from application to approval, while the automated decisioning engine analyzes data to quickly and accurately approve or reject loans. Data reporting and BI help institutions monitor performance and optimize offerings, with dashboards and insights drawn from stored data. MeridianLink differentiates itself by serving a broad base of over 2,000 clients and ranking on IDC’s Global FinTech 100, offering an integrated, scalable platform that combines lending, decisioning, and analytics in one solution. Its goal is to improve digital banking experiences and operational efficiency for financial institutions through data-driven, cloud-based software.
Company Size
501-1,000
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Irvine, California
Founded
1998
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Millie AI agents automate document workflows, with Doc Agent launching Q4 2026 for mortgage.
- Plaid Income integration drives 80% conversion rates in consumer lending flows via bank data.
- MANTL partnership enables API-driven POS lending with instant approvals and real-time memberization.
What critics are saying
- CFPB Section 1071 rule forces costly platform retrofits; natively compliant competitors gain market share.
- nCino's bundled Bank Operating System captures 15% market share from legacy LOS providers.
- ICE Mortgage Technology's Empower LOS dominates 60% IMB market, displacing MeridianLink from 200+ clients.
What makes Meridian Link unique
- Unified MeridianLink One platform integrates loan origination, account opening, collections, and reporting seamlessly.
- 2,000+ financial institution clients rely on MeridianLink's comprehensive suite across consumer, mortgage, business lending.
- Share-of-Wallet module launched September 2024 identifies growth opportunities within existing customer relationships.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
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Vision Insurance
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
Unlimited Paid Time Off
Paid Holidays
401(k) Company Match
Remote Work Options
Stock Options
Company News
TazWorks, a background screening technology platform powered by MeridianLink, has integrated Cerebrum Synapse, an AI-powered decisioning engine, into its InstaScreen platform. The integration helps consumer reporting agencies address operational bottlenecks including slow turnaround times, error-prone decisions and rising costs. Synapse acts as an intelligent assistant that pre-processes records, identifies jurisdictions for criminal dispatching, and flags relevant information whilst providing audit trails. The system delivers 35% faster processing times, 30–50 times fewer adjudication errors, and 20–30% operational cost savings at scale. In comparative testing of 5,000 cases, traditional manual processing resulted in 315 errors, whilst Synapse-assisted workflows produced fewer than 20 errors. The AI handles routine decisions whilst flagging complex cases for human review, enabling agencies to scale operations without adding headcount.
MANTL, an Alkami solution team, has partnered with MeridianLink to launch an integrated point-of-sale solution for banks and credit unions. The API-driven integration connects MANTL's digital front end with MeridianLink's consumer loan origination system, enabling instant approvals, automated KYC checks and seamless application transfers. The solution aims to boost conversion rates through a modern loan application experience whilst reducing manual work through automation. It supports real-time membership verification, creates primary share accounts for new members automatically, and enables cross-sell opportunities based on applicant data profiles. Financial institutions using MeridianLink's underwriting engine can now access MANTL's digital lending platform, offering a unified experience across loans and deposits. MANTL was acquired by Alkami Technology in March 2025.
MANTL partners with MeridianLink to offer integrated point-of-sale (POS) solution. Benjamin Conant MANTL, an Alkami solution team and leading provider of loan and deposit account opening technology, today announced that it is partnering with MeridianLink, a leading provider of lending software platforms for financial institutions. Together, the companies will offer an optional integrated point-of-sale (POS) solution to mutual clients. As part of their shared effort to advance innovation in the loan market, MANTL is broadening access to its high-converting digital lending experience for financial institutions that use the MeridianLink Consumer loan origination system (LOS). The MANTL and MeridianLink integration is the result of close collaboration between two industry leaders. This modern, application programming interface (API)-driven loan application experience connects MANTL's digital front end with MeridianLink's underwriting engine and LOS workflows. The solution allows for instant approvals, automated Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, seamless application transfers, and a unified experience across loans and deposits. Financial institutions will be able to control flexibility, faster decisions, and a seamless customer journey. Key benefits of the MANTL POS and MeridianLink integration include: * Boost conversion rates: Deliver a modern, fintech-grade loan application experience that improves completion rates and reduces drop-off. * Enable faster decisions: Support instant approvals and denials through real-time API connectivity with MeridianLink's underwriting engine. * Reduce manual work: Automate KYC and application transfer to eliminate manual document collection and operational back-and-forth. * Automate memberization: Verify membership eligibility and create primary share accounts for new members in real time. * Unlock cross-sell opportunities: Deliver hyper-personalized cross-sell offers based on an applicant's existing data profile during the account origination workflow. * Unify the digital banking experience: Create a single, consistent applicant experience across loans and deposits using MANTL's front end. "We believe innovation means making modern lending accessible, not just powerful," said Benjamin Conant, chief product officer, Alkami and co-founder, MANTL. "Our integration with MeridianLink allows us to deliver our digital lending experience to institutions that want to modernize their consumer experience. It's a major step forward in expanding our capabilities to service the consumer lending market. Regardless of where a bank or credit union is in their technology journey, they can offer a fintech-grade lending experience that grows relationships through hyper-personalized cross-sells, automation, and digital-first loan origination." Alkami has been certified by J.D. Power in 2024 and 2025 for providing "An Outstanding Mobile Banking Platform Experience."1
Raj Patel named CTO of irvine-based MeridianLink. Irvine-based MeridianLink, which makes financial software for small banks and credit unions, said it has named industry veteran Raj Patel as the company's new chief technology officer. Most recently, Patel served as Executive in Residence for R&D at Permira, a global private and growth equity firm with more than $80 billion in assets under management. He previously served as senior vice president at Genesys, and held senior technology roles at Symantec, Pinterest, Salesforce, Cisco/Webex and Yahoo. Investment firm Centerbridge Partners purchased MeridianLink in October in a $2 billion deal and delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country? Sign-up for its FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!
First American Data & Analytics' RegsData(R) compliance solution now integrated with MeridianLink(R) Mortgage LOS. First American Data & Analytics(opens in a new tab/window), a leading national provider of property-centric information, risk management and valuation solutions, and a division of First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF), today announced that its powerful loan-level regulatory compliance tool, RegsData(R), is now fully integrated into the MeridianLink(R) Mortgage loan origination system (LOS). This integration provides lenders with seamless, one-click access to compliance monitoring directly within the MeridianLink LOS environment, helping ensure loans meet regulatory and investor requirements before closing. "Compliance is a moving target with rules and requirements constantly evolving at the federal, state and local levels. RegsData takes the guesswork out of compliance by regularly tracking regulatory changes and delivering an automated solution that flags potential compliance issues in real time," said Jennifer Menard, senior director of product management. "With this integration into MeridianLink, we're delivering convenience, speed and peace of mind that every loan meets the latest requirements before it closes." RegsData is a robust, interactive solution that compares loan data against current laws, regulations and investor guidelines. It alerts users to potential compliance violations and fee calculation issues early in the loan process, allowing lenders to correct issues before the loan is originated, ultimately reducing risk (opens in a new tab/window)[SD1] and supporting faster, more confident loan closings. * Automatic compliance checks flagging issues related to TRID, QM, TILA, HOEPA and other regulatory violations, eliminating the need for manual review and optimizing workflows(opens in a new tab/window)[LT2] . * Fully embedded functionality that enables users to review and act on compliance results without leaving the LOS environment. * Quick and efficient ordering process with reports that are automatically delivered to the eDocs repository. * Interactive PDF reports with clickable summaries linking directly to detailed result sections. * Override capabilities for approved users to adjust fee treatments and condition tolerances. * Historical access to prior orders and compliance reports. "We're excited to expand our long-standing partnership with First American Data & Analytics," said JP Kelly, senior vice president of mortgage, MeridianLink. "The integration with their RegsData compliance solution provides MeridianLink lenders with seamless, one-click access to compliance monitoring to help ensure all loans meet regulatory and investor requirements before closing. We're adding value for our MeridianLink Mortgage customers by supporting faster, more confident loan closings, and we're expanding our MeridianLink Marketplace with solutions that drive origination efficiency and compliance." About First American Data & Analytics. First American Data & Analytics, a division of First American Financial Corporation, is a national provider of property-centric information, risk management and valuation solutions. First American maintains the industry's largest public records property and ownership dataset that includes more than 8.6 billion document images. Its major platforms and products include: DataTree(R), FraudGuard(R), RegsData(R), First American TaxSource(TM) and ACI(R). Find out more about how First American Data & Analytics powers the real estate, mortgage and title settlement services industries with advanced solutions at www.FirstAmDNA.com. About First American. First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF) is a premier provider of title, settlement and risk solutions for real estate transactions. With its combination of financial strength and stability built over more than 135 years, innovative proprietary technologies, and unmatched data assets, the company is leading the digital transformation of its industry. First American also provides data products to the title industry and other third parties; valuation products and services; mortgage subservicing; home warranty products; banking, trust and wealth management services; and other related products and services. With total revenue of $6.1 billion in 2024, the company offers its products and services directly and through its agents throughout the United States and abroad. In 2025, First American was named one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by Great Place to Work(R) and Fortune Magazine for the tenth consecutive year. More information about the company can be found at www.firstam.com(opens in a new tab/window).