Data Architect

Sword is a leading provider of business technology solutions within the Energy, Public, and Finance Sectors, driving transformational change for our clients. We use proven technology, specialist teams and domain expertise to build solid technical foundations across platforms, data, and business applications. We have a passion for using technology to solve business problems, working in partnership with our clients to help them achieve their goals.

This is a pivotal leadership role at a time of significant evolution for Sword. As the organisation continues its journey to evolve and strengthen its Data, Analytics, AI & automation offerings, this role will play a critical part in shaping how we position, sell, and scale our AI & Data transformation services.

The Data Lead will be instrumental in leading the Senior Data Engineering team, you will play a major role in shaping our engineering capability, standards, and technical strategy.

This is an exciting opportunity for a senior data professional to take a pivotal leadership role within our growing Data Analytics, AI & automation who are focusing on supporting strategic customers on their transformation journeys.

You will work alongside the Senior Leadership team as well as 2 other Lead roles, helping us reach our ambitions, aligning our strategic transformation propositions to client requirements.

We are seeking a highly motivated, growth‑oriented individual who wants to be part of an exciting and forward‑looking journey. The successful candidate will thrive in an environment of change, be energized by building and expanding customer relationships, and be passionate about helping organisations realise value through data‑led and AI‑enabled transformation.

As the Data Lead you will play a major role in shaping our engineering capability, standards, and technical strategy. You will lead a team of Senior Data Engineers, provide hands‑on coaching, and deliver technical assurance across multiple client engagements to ensure high‑quality, secure, and scalable data solutions. You will also be instrumental in helping to build and secure future work for our teams;

preparing statements of work and engaging with clients alongside our sales team.

The role offers the chance to work with the very latest Microsoft technologies, such as Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Purview, and Microsoft Foundry, while influencing solution design, architectural decisions, and delivery excellence. You will work closely with clients across a range of industries, supporting discovery, design, and delivery, and you will also contribute to pre‑sales activity by joining client calls, shaping proposals, and advising on solution approaches.

This role provides the perfect blend of leadership, technical depth, innovation, and client interaction, offering substantial scope to make a lasting impact on both our clients and the direction of our Data Engineering service offerings.

• Lead, mentor, and develop Senior Data Engineers, promoting best practices and high‑quality engineering delivery
• Provide technical direction, guidance, and oversight across all data engineering projects
• Deliver technical assurance by reviewing solution designs, pipelines, architectures, and implementation approaches
• Oversee the design and delivery of scalable, cloud‑native data solutions using Azure technologies
• Ensure engineering teams follow best‑practice patterns for ETL/ELT, data modelling, data lakes, governance, and optimisation
• Support the Data & AI Technical Director in shaping the engineering strategy, standards, and capability roadmap
• Act as a senior technical advisor to clients, translating business requirements into modern data engineering solutions
• Facilitate discovery sessions, workshops, and technical design reviews with client stakeholders
• Support the sales team by joining client calls, providing technical expertise, and contributing to solution shaping
• Participate in scoping, estimation, and the creation of technical content for proposals and bids
• Ensure all solutions meet governance, security, compliance, and data quality standards
• Promote…