Overview
The Senior Data Architect will lead the design and development of a greenfield data platform on Azure for a newly formed organization preparing for significant national scale operations. Working remotely with occasional meetings in London, the contractor will collaborate with enterprise architects and data governance specialists while focusing on creating robust data models and integration patterns. This is a key role, ensuring the platform is architected for substantial growth and compliance with relevant regulations.
Responsibilities
- Own the target data architecture, from conceptual through logical to physical design.
- Lead the final stack recommendation for the Azure data platform.
- Produce data models and integration patterns built for national scale volumes.
- Present and defend best practices to the client team to enhance their capabilities.
- Collaborate alongside enterprise architects, integration architects, and data governance specialists.
- Remain hands-on when necessary to unblock delivery issues.
Requirements
- Proven experience in enterprise scale data platform architecture, especially in greenfield or significant replatform projects.
- Expertise in conceptual, logical, and physical data modeling, with experience in dimensional and data vault modeling.
- Familiarity with lakehouse and medallion patterns, as well as batch and streaming ingestion techniques.
- Experience working with Databricks and/or Microsoft Fabric.
- Knowledge of Microsoft Purview for data governance, cataloging, and lineage.
- Proficient with Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL, and Data Lake Storage Gen2.
- Knowledge of UK GDPR and DPA 2018 practices related to public personal data.
- Background in consultancy, systems integration, or large corporates with strong client-facing skills.