Data Architect – Central Government

Overview

As a Data Architect, you will lead the design and delivery of secure cloud-based data platforms for UK Central Government. You will shape target-state architectures and oversee pragmatic implementation in regulated, security-conscious environments. You will navigate between traditional enterprise data approaches and modern patterns such as lakehouse, streaming, data mesh, and ML-enabled platforms. You’ll work with cross-functional teams to ensure governance, clarity, and technical rigor, contributing to mission-critical public sector data initiatives. You will operate within a governance framework and engage senior stakeholders to drive meaningful architectural decisions.

Pay / Benefits

• flexible work options
• learning and development opportunities
• focus on wellbeing and inclusion
• inclusive, diverse work environment
• equal opportunities employer
• Disability Confident Committed Employer

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and delivery of secure, cloud-based data platforms for UK Central Government departments
• Shape target-state architectures and provide delivery oversight
• Ensure architectures are implemented pragmatically within regulated, security-conscious environments
• Balance traditional enterprise patterns with modern data patterns (lakehouse, streaming, data mesh)
• Promote governance, clarity, and technical rigor across projects
• Collaborate with stakeholders and lead mentoring of architects and engineers

Key requirements

• Lead Data Architect / Data Solutions Architect or equivalent senior role
• Experience in consulting, systems integration, or delivery partner roles
• Experience in UK Central Government or ALBs preferred
• Practical architecture experience across cloud-native platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and multiple tools (Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, SageMaker)
• Knowledge of data lake/lakehouse, event-driven architectures, data mesh/fabric
• Strong data engineering knowledge (Spark, Hadoop, SQL/NoSQL, ETL/ELT) and awareness of DevOps/CI-CD for data platforms
• Understanding of ML/AI workloads integration into data architectures
• Governance frameworks, metadata management, GDPR and UK public sector data protection
• Experience designing within government assurance processes and design authorities
• Stakeholder engagement and mentoring capabilities
• Familiarity with Agile delivery models (SAFe, Scrum, Kanban)
• Hands-on coding ability beneficial (Python/Java/R)

• Influence at senior stakeholder level
• Clear and structured communicator
• Mentoring and leadership of architects and engineers
• Cloud-native data platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Snowflake
• Microsoft Fabric

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