Associate Data Architect

About Us

The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news organisations, globally recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy, with a mission to deliver quality information and services worldwide.

At the FT, curiosity thrives and ambitious thinking is rewarded. Here, you’re given the chance to reach millions, create work that matters and deliver impartial journalism in a polarised world.

In our warm, collaborative culture, you’ll connect with a diverse community of experts who support your growth, career aspirations and wellbeing.

Your future at the FT will be filled with opportunities that challenge and inspire you. With no fixed path, you’ll discover new skills and forge a career that can take you anywhere.

Build a newsworthy career at the FT.

We believe in the power of unique perspectives and want all voices in our organisation to be heard, respected and valued. A supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves and operate to their full potential. We are committed to removing barriers for everyone, with a focus on addressing those faced by underrepresented groups.

The role sits in the Data Governance & Architecture team, whose mission is to maximise the potential to create value from our data by engaging the business to make continuous improvements to the quality, reliability and usability of the data that we create within, and bring into, the FT, in order that it meets the FT’s current and future needs. This team sits within a broader Data & Analytics function, also responsible for Data Science, BI, Data Strategy, Insight and Analytics.

This is a new role within the expanding Data Architecture team at the FT (reporting to our Data Architect), placed within the wider Data Governance & Architecture team that forms part of the FT’s Data and Analytics department. The successful applicant will work across all teams with responsibility for producing and/or consuming data, including, but not limited to, Product & Technology, Commercial and Editorial.

• Support the development and maintenance of an understanding of the flow of data between teams, processes and systems, working closely with existing roles within the broader Data Governance & Architecture team
• Help review existing data models, schemas, taxonomies, standards etc and assess ways in which to enhance, simplify, and scale them, aligned to a set of principles/blueprint defined by senior team members.
• Build strong working relationships with Technical Architecture and engineering roles within our Technology team, as well as with teams across Data & Analytics
• Engage, influence, and collaborate effectively with a wide range of commercial stakeholders, understanding the needs of the business and be proficient in articulating how effective Data Architecture underpins our commercial strategy.

This role is increasingly important as the FT diversifies its products and grows the number of data consumers across the business, as we move at pace towards the democratisation of our data. To support this, we need a sharp focus on enabling the reuse of data created/ingested in one product/process by others, improving the consistency and understandability of our data, and helping teams adopt better practices with minimal friction.

The role-holder will have a unique opportunity to learn the FT’s data ecosystem end-to-end, while directly improving how teams collaborate around data.

• Translate business needs into clear, actionable data requirements, aligned with architectural principles, by identifying data complexity/inconsistency and proposing pragmatic improvements that balance near‑term benefits with long‑term strategy
• Support delivery of data architecture work by assisting with discovery, analysis and documentation of current state data flows, models and definitions
• Contribute to the evolution of the FT’s data architecture by maintaining artefacts (e.g. diagrams, definitions, mappings), providing input into the development of architectural principles and standards, and supporting roadmap activities led by senior team members.
• Play a role, along…