Data Architect Job Sheffield area,England UK,IT/Tech

What You'll Be Doing as a Data Architect:

Methods Analytics (MA) is recruiting for a Data Architect to join our team a permanent basis.

This role will be mainly remote but require flexibility to travel to client sites, and our offices based in London, Sheffield, and Bristol.

Advocate the business benefit of data standards, championing and governing those standards across projects and the organisation
Demonstrate an overall perspective on business issues and activities, determining patterns, standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements
Make and guide effective decisions, explaining clearly how decisions have been reached and resolving technical disputes across varying levels of complexity and risk
Communicate effectively across organisational, technical and political boundaries, making complex technical information accessible for non-technical audiences
Design how to expose data from systems (APIs, real-time streams), link data from multiple systems, and deliver modern data services
Ensure that risks associated with deployment are adequately understood and documented
Design end-to-end data solutions from requirements through implementation, including technical documentation and architecture blueprints
Lead complex data migration projects from legacy systems to modern cloud-native platforms
Evaluate and recommend appropriate technologies across the modern data stack to meet specific client needs
Mentor junior team members and collaborate with data engineers, software engineers, data scientists, and business stakeholders

Your Impact:

Enable transformative business decisions through robust, scalable data architectures
Drive adoption of modern data platforms and AI-enabled analytics solutions
Establish technical standards and architectural patterns that ensure quality, security, and maintainability
Help cultivate a data-driven culture within client organisations and internally
Deliver architectures that seamlessly integrate traditional and modern data systems

You Will Demonstrate:

Deep knowledge of the Azure data stack (Azure SQL Server, CosmosDB, Azure Data Factory, Purview, Synapse, Event Hub, Azure Databricks/Fabric)
Extensive data modelling experience: both normalised relational models and de-normalised Star Schema/dimensional models
Excellent relational database design skills with expertise in diagnosing and optimising performance across SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and cloud databases
Proven track record with complex data migration projects (terabyte+ datasets, multiple legacy source systems, structures and unstructured data)
Proficiency with Parquet/Delta Lake or other modern data storage formats
Experience with streaming architectures using Kafka, Event Hubs, or Kinesis for real-time data processing
Knowledge of data architectures supporting AI/ML workloads, including vector databases, feature stores and MLOps pipelines
Experience processing and managing unstructured data types (text, images, logs, sensor data)
Understanding of Lambda and Kappa architectural patterns and when to apply each

You May Also Have:

Exposure to high-performing, low latency or large volume data systems
Knowledge of and/or experience with Government Digital Service practices across Discovery/Alpha/Beta/Live phases
Understanding of vector databases and similarity search for AI applications
Experience with Infrastructure as Code and modern Dev Ops practices
Knowledge of how to design and analyse operational logs for data processing, and triage incidents
Awareness of advances in AI technologies, data services, and architectural practices
Industry specialisation in specific sectors (Engineering, Manufacturing, Healthcare etc.)
Public sector or defence experience
Experience with modern unified data platforms like Databricks or Microsoft Fabric
Understanding of data mesh or data fabric architectural approaches
Relevant industry certifications such as TOGAF 9, CDMP (Certified Data Management Professional), or Microsoft Certified:
Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)

Security Clearance:

UKSV (United Kingdom Security Vetting) clearance is required for this role, with Security Check (SC) as the minimum standard, either already held or with a willingness to…