Data Architect

We are looking for a highly capable Data Architect to join us on a 24-month FTC, bringing the ability to translate business needs into robust, scalable data architectures and confidently lead end-to-end design across complex, multi-domain technology landscapes.

The role requires someone who can work collaboratively with business stakeholders, solution architects, data engineers, and product teams to shape, govern, and deliver scalable, reliable, and data-driven solutions that support operational, analytical, and regulatory objectives, while embedding integrity, lineage, and governance throughout the wider data estate and ensuring alignment to enterprise architecture and strategy.

The ideal candidate will bring strong expertise in conceptual, logical, and physical data modelling, alongside deep experience in data governance, data quality, and metadata management. A strong knowledge of Master and Reference Data Management (MDM/RDM), with experience working across integrated data governance and metadata management ecosystems, including Infosphere, Alation, Informatica, and Ataccama, supporting data quality, lineage, governance, and enterprise-wide data consistency, would be highly valuable.

• Develop conceptual, logical, and physical data models for operational, analytical, and regulatory workloads.
• Create and maintain data architecture blueprints and reference architectures covering ingestion, integration, storage, lineage, and consumption.
• Define modelling patterns (3NF, dimensional/star, Data Vault, canonical models) and guide teams on when and how to apply them.
• Optimise physical designs for performance, scalability, cost and resilience across cloud data platforms (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks, Synapse, Big Query).
• Lead design reviews, ensuring models are accurate, high-quality, and aligned with business capabilities and domain boundaries.

• Define data ownership, stewardship models, and contribute to the governance operating framework.
• Build and maintain data dictionaries, business glossaries, critical data elements (CDEs) and metadata standards.
• Ensure all data solutions align with governance policies, including lineage, retention, access, and security requirements.
• Support governance forums and collaborate with business stewards to drive consistent definitions and controlled change.

• Embed data quality rules and dimensions (completeness, timeliness, accuracy, uniqueness, validity, consistency) across ETL/ELT and streaming pipelines.
• Design data quality metrics, alerts, and monitoring frameworks to surface quality issues to stewards and downstream consumers.
• Partner with engineering teams to implement automated DQ checks, profiling, and remediation patterns.
• Ensure DQ scoring and lineage are built into architecture in a systematic and reusable way.

• Lead architectural discovery to capture business needs, translate them into data requirements, and shape programme/solution scope.
• Manage and communicate architectural decisions with senior business and technical stakeholders.
• Navigate ambiguity and stakeholder nuance, ensuring alignment across product teams, SMEs, vendors, and governance bodies.
• Produce high-quality design documentation and present designs to Architecture Review Boards or equivalent governance forums.

• Oversee the implementation of data architectures and ensure engineering teams follow patterns, standards, and best practices.
• Provide technical guidance on integration design, ingestion patterns, transformation methods, caching, orchestration, and storage optimisation.
• Conduct design assurance throughout delivery, ensuring solutions adhere to non-functional requirements (performance, availability, resilience, cost).
• Coach engineers, analysts, and stewards on modelling, data quality, and governance practices.

• Proven experience as a Data Architect, Solution Architect with strong data background, or senior data engineer/analyst transitioning into architecture.
• Knowledge of Master and Reference Data Management and experience of integrated associated systems (Infosphere, Alation, Informatica, Ataccama etc)
• Demonstrable expertise in conceptual, logical, and physical data modelling with clear understanding of modelling patterns and trade-offs.
• Strong understanding of data governance frameworks, metadata management, data ownership/stewardship models, and business glossaries.
• Hands-on experience embedding data quality rules, profiling, scoring, and exception management into pipelines.
• Familiarity with modern cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, Azure Synapse, Big Query, Redshift, etc.).
• Ability to lead architectural thinking across multiple domains and manage stakeholder complexity.
• Ability to produce high-quality architectural artefacts: blueprints, models, solution designs, integration specifications.
• Experience working…