Head of Data Architecture & Engineering

Head of Data Architecture & Engineering

Salary: £80,962 + £4,936 salary supplement + excellent benefits

Location: Wooburn Green, High Wycombe or Letchworth Garden City

Hybrid: Minimum 2 days per week in the office, 3 days from home

Contract: Permanent

Hours: 37 hours per week

Are you looking to join a growing, values‑led organisation with a clear social purpose?

Settle Paradigm is the largest housing group in the region, managing over 30,000 homes across Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire.

We’re recruiting a Head of Data Architecture & Engineering to lead the design, development and operation of our enterprise data environment. This pivotal role is within the Data, Insight & Analytics directorate, responsible for building the foundations that enable trusted reporting, analytics and future advanced data capabilities.

You’ll lead our Data Engineering and Data Architecture teams, ensuring our data is reliably sourced, integrated and made available through modern, scalable and secure cloud‑based platforms. You’ll set the technical direction, champion engineering standards and work closely with colleagues across Technology, Digital Platforms, Infrastructure, Information Governance and Business Systems.

You’re a technically credible and pragmatic leader with deep experience in enterprise data architecture, data engineering and cloud data platforms (Azure preferred). You understand what good looks like and know how to build it.

You enjoy creating clarity, setting direction and enabling engineers to do their best work. You’re comfortable working across boundaries and collaborating with infrastructure, security, digital, and business teams to ensure data needs are understood early and delivered effectively.

You bring curiosity, resilience and a continuous improvement mindset. You take ownership of the services you lead, and you’re motivated by seeing well‑engineered solutions directly support better decisions and better outcomes for colleagues and residents.

• Own and evolve the enterprise data architecture
• Lead the design and operation of the enterprise data platform (warehouse / lake / lakehouse)
• Ensure reliable, automated data pipelines from core business systems
• Define and enforce data engineering standards and patterns
• Ensure data platforms are secure, resilient and cost‑effective
• Provide technical leadership for data integration across the organisation
• Work closely with application, infrastructure and security teams
• Lead and develop high‑performing engineering teams

• Significant experience as a Data Architect or equivalent enterprise‑level architecture role
• Experience leading data engineering and/or data platform teams
• Strong experience designing and operating cloud data platforms (Azure preferred)
• Experience developing platforms such as Fabric, Snowflake or Databricks
• Knowledge of enterprise architecture patterns and data integration approaches
• Strong communication, stakeholder management and technical leadership skills
• Confidence making architectural decisions and balancing long‑term strategy with practical delivery

• Experience supporting large‑scale system integration or organisational change
• Experience working across complex, multi‑system environments
• Knowledge of modern data lake/lakehouse architectures
• Understanding of data security, resilience and platform governance
• Experience coaching and developing senior technical talent
• Experience in housing, public sector or regulated environments

• Annual salary: £80,962 + £4,936 salary supplement per annum
• 25 days holiday, increasing with service, plus Christmas closure and buy options
• Generous pension scheme – up to 9.5% employer contribution via salary sacrifice
• Family‑friendly leave:
  Enhanced maternity, paternity, and adoption leave
• Health cash plan – claim up to £1,800 for everyday health costs (plus free kids’ cover)
• Life cover and income protection
• Flexible working – hybrid options, modern offices, free parking & EV charging

• Mental Health First Aiders available to support
• Car leasing via salary sacrifice (for permanent colleagues subject to conditions)
• Fun…