Data Architect

Location: Hertfordshire

Data Architect - Hybrid (2 Days On‑Site Per Week)

Contract Type:
Fixed‑Term Contract

About the Role

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Data Architect to join a growing data function undergoing significant transformation. The successful candidate will shape enterprise‑wide data architecture, ensuring high‑quality, well‑governed, scalable data solutions that support operational, analytical, and regulatory needs.

This role suits someone who is confident designing end‑to‑end data architectures, working across complex technology landscapes, and engaging senior business and technical stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

Data Architecture & Modelling
Design conceptual, logical, and physical data models.
Create and maintain data architecture blueprints covering ingestion, integration, storage, lineage, and consumption.
Apply appropriate modelling techniques
Lead design reviews and ensure models align with business needs and domain boundaries.
Data Governance & Metadata Management
Contribute to data governance frameworks, ownership models, and stewardship processes.
Build and maintain business glossaries, data dictionaries, and metadata standards.
Ensure adherence to governance policies including lineage, retention, access control, and security.
Support governance forums and drive consistent data definitions across the business.
Data Quality Architecture
Embed data quality rules and controls across ETL/ELT and streaming pipelines.
Develop data quality metrics, monitoring frameworks, and alerting mechanisms.
Work with engineering teams to automate profiling, scoring, and remediation.
Ensure data quality and lineage are embedded in reusable architectural patterns.
Stakeholder Engagement & Requirements Leadership
Lead discovery sessions to translate business needs into architectural data requirements.
Communicate architectural decisions to senior stakeholders.
Navigate ambiguity and align product teams, SMEs, and governance bodies.
Prepare high‑quality documentation and present to review boards when required.
Delivery Governance & Technical Leadership
Oversee the implementation of data architecture standards across engineering teams.
Provide technical guidance on integration, ingestion, transformation, orchestration, and storage.
Conduct design assurance to meet non‑functional requirements (performance, resilience, cost).
Coach engineers, analysts, and stewards on modelling, governance, and data quality practices.

Skills & Experience

Proven experience as a Data Architect or Solution Architect with strong data focus.
Expertise in conceptual, logical, and physical data modelling.
Strong knowledge of data governance, metadata, stewardship, and glossaries.
Experience embedding data quality controls and monitoring into pipelines.
Familiarity with cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, Synapse, Big Query, Redshift).
Ability to manage complex stakeholder landscapes and lead architectural design.
Ability to create high‑quality architectural artefacts and documentation