Technical Architect - Data Platforms

Description

We are seeking an experienced Technical Architect to support the design and evolution of large-scale, cloud-based data platforms across, working across our portfolio of clients.

The Technical Architect will play a key role in shaping solution design patterns, ensuring alignment with established standards, and supporting a strategic transition and migrations across/to/from AWS & Azure.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and evolve technical architecture patterns for data ingestion, processing, and access.
• Design scalable, resilient, and cost-efficient data solutions within a Hub and Spoke model.
• Support the design of new data ingestion pipelines (batch and Real Time).
• Ensure alignment with organisational architectural standards and governance frameworks.
• Contribute to target architecture roadmaps.
• Provide architectural guidance across:
  • Data ingestion (Kafka, APIs, SFTP)
  • Data processing (PySpark, EMR, Glue)
  • Storage (S3 and data lake patterns)
• Collaborate with DevOps, Data Engineers, and Testers to ensure cohesive delivery.
• Promote engineering best practices, including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and observability.
• Ensure robust handling of schema evolution and upstream data changes.
• Support onboarding of new data sources and services into the platform.
• Ensure solutions meet requirements for:
  • Data quality and consistency
  • Performance and scalability
  • Security and compliance
• Work within defined data modelling ownership boundaries where applicable.
• Support cloud strategy evolution.
• Avoid platform lock-in and ensure portable, future-proof designs.
• Contribute to technical decision-making for future platform direction.
• Work in blended, cross-functional teams.
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to delivery teams.
• Ensure effective knowledge transfer and capability uplift.

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong experience designing modern cloud-based data platforms.
• Hands-on architectural experience with:
  • AWS (essential): S3, EMR, Glue
  • Kafka/event streaming architectures
  • Python & PySpark-based data processing
• Experience designing data ingestion pipelines (batch and Real Time).
• Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (Terraform).
• Experience with GitHub-based workflows and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with data lake and lakehouse architectures.
• Strong understanding of:
  • Data ingestion patterns
  • Data transformation and curation layers
  • Data access and productisation
• Ability to design for large-scale datasets.
• Experience supporting cloud migrations
• Knowledge and experience with Azure & Microsoft Fabric & Databricks would be beneficial
• Familiarity with event-driven and streaming-first architectures at scale.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and cross-team collaboration skills.
• Ability to operate effectively within existing governance and standards.
• Pragmatic decision-making balancing delivery pace and technical quality.
• Clear communicator able to translate complex architecture into actionable guidance.
• Experience working in large, complex enterprise environments.

This role will require the ability to obtain and hold UK SC Clearance