Data Architect

Leonardo Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

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The Data Architect is responsible for designing, creating, deploying, and managing an organization’s data architecture. This role ensures that data across systems is accurate, accessible, secure, and supports business objectives.

As a Data Architect, you will have extensive experience in the development of data‑intensive systems. You should have worked with customers to derive requirements and design solutions to meet their needs. The successful applicant will have at least 5+ years of experience and have seen a project through from inception to delivery.

To succeed in this position you will need to be proactive and tirelessly collaborate with IT teams, data engineers, system engineers, and stakeholders to define data models, data flow processes, and governance frameworks.

• Design and implement enterprise‑level data architecture solutions, including databases, data warehouses, and data lakes.
• Develop and maintain logical, physical, and conceptual data models.
• Define data management standards, policies, and best practices.
• Work with data engineers to design and optimise ETL/ELT pipelines for structured and unstructured data.
• Ensure data quality, consistency, and security across platforms.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to understand data requirements and translate them into technical solutions.
• Evaluate and recommend new data technologies, tools, and platforms to enhance data capabilities.
• Oversee data integration across cloud and on‑premises environments.
• Support data governance initiatives, including metadata management, master data management (MDM), and compliance.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to data engineering and analytics teams.

Successful candidates will have previous experience as a data architect or data/software engineer in a similar role. Attributes required include:

• Bachelor’s degree in STEM, Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• Strong experience in data architecture, database design, or data engineering.
• Strong proficiency in SQL and database technologies (e.g., Oracle, SQL Server, Postgre
  
  SQL, MySQL).
• Knowledge of data warehouse and lakehouse architectures.
• Familiarity with ETL/ELT and orchestration tools (e.g., Informatica, Talend, Apache Airflow).
• Experience establishing and maintaining data governance frameworks.
• Experience complying with data security requirements.
• Experience designing data models.
• Excellent problem‑solving, communication, and documentation skills.
• Familiarity with AI/ML data pipelines and analytics platforms.

• Experience with cloud data platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
• Experience with big data technologies (e.g., Hadoop, Spark, Kafka).
• Experience with UML/SYSML.
• Strong understanding of API integration and microservices data flow.

This is not an exhaustive list, and we are keen to hear from you even if you might not have experience in all the above. The most important skill is a good attitude and willingness to learn.

This role is subject to pre‑employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). All successful applicants must be eligible for full security clearance and access to UK‑caveated and ITAR controlled information. For more information and guidance, please visit

• Time to Recharge – Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi‑days each year.
• Secure your Future – Benefit from our award‑winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters – Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee‑led networks championing inclusion and diversity (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity).
• Rewarding Performance – All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning – Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and Linked In Learning.
• Refer a friend – Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
• Tailored Perks – Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible working – Flexible hours with hybrid working options. For part‑time opportunities, please talk to us about what might be possible for this role.

• Primary
  
  Location:
  
  GB – Edinburgh
• Additional Locations: GB – Newcastle
• Contract Type:
  Permanent
• Hybrid Working:
  Hybrid
• Seniority level:
  Mid‑Senior level
• Employment type:
  
  Full‑time
• Job function:
  Engineering and Information Technology
• Industries:
  Defense and Space Manufacturing, Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing, Computer and Network Security