Jaco van der Laan

Expertise · Engineering & architecture

Design once. Generate many.

Most data platforms hide their structure inside scattered SQL scripts. I make the design executable: models, rules and metadata in the middle, generating the SQL, control flow, tests and lineage — with governance shifted left, into the model, not bolted on after.

Layered data architecture source to integration to delivery, metadata-driven across every layer
Source to integration to delivery, metadata-driven throughout — design once, generate many.

The ideas behind it

What makes my approach different.

Executable metadata, not just diagrams

ERDs and lineage should not be decoration. When the metadata is executable, the same design generates the SQL, the tests, the docs and the lineage. Design once, generate many.

Transformations are where modeling really happens

Business logic should not be scattered across SQL scripts. I design business-oriented transformation layers where the meaning lives in metadata, governed and visible — not buried in pipelines.

Functional lineage beats code-based lineage

Lineage extracted from code alone tells you what connects to what. It cannot tell you why it matters. Business-friendly, semantic lineage — intent, not just wiring — is what teams actually need.

Bank discipline for any size stack

dbt and SQLMesh bring declarative, versioned engineering. I carry bank-grade governance into them — shift-left quality, contracts, metadata diffing — disciplined without being bureaucratic.

From the writing

The engineering, thought through.

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Want your platform design to be executable, not just documented?

That is the heart of how I work — let us make your metadata do the building.

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