Data Architect - Bristol - Hybrid

Your new company

They are a specialist insurance and risk solutions provider, supporting clients with tailored coverage and expert advice across a range of sectors. The business is known for its client‐focused approach, strong market relationships and commitment to delivering practical, dependable solutions.

With a collaborative culture and a focus on professional development, they offer a supportive environment where people are trusted, valued and encouraged to grow their careers within a forward‐thinking organisation.

Your new role

As a Data Architect, you'll play a key role in shaping how data is designed, managed and used across the business. You'll set the architectural direction for the data estate - from the point data first lands on the platform, through the Bronze, Silver and Gold layers of the Medallion Architecture, and all the way to analytics, AI and self-service reporting.

Working within the Microsoft Azure and Databricks ecosystem, you'll help build a data platform that's scalable, flexible and built to last. Your work will directly support high‐impact use cases, including advanced analytics, pricing models, AI/ML solutions and regulatory reporting - ensuring teams across the business can trust and use data with confidence.

Data Architecture & Modelling

• Define and own the architectural principles, standards and policies governing SBG's data estate from the landing zone through to the Gold layer.
• Design and govern the Medallion Architecture (Bronze / Silver / Gold), ensuring every layer is built for analytics, AI/ML and self-service consumption.
• Own data modelling standards - conceptual, logical and physical - and ensure models are fit for both regulatory reporting and AI-driven insight.
• Define Unity Catalogue structure, metadata standards and data lineage governance across the estate. Data Ingestion & Processing
• Define ingestion standards and data contracts for data arriving from the landing zone into the Bronze layer, working in partnership with the Development and Application Management team.
• Design and optimise ETL/ELT pipeline frameworks using Databricks, Delta Lake and Azure Data Factory. * Ensure Silver and Gold layer data products are fit for purpose for analytics, pricing, AI and ML model consumption.
• Optimise data pipelines for efficiency, cost-effectiveness and high performance, leveraging Databricks for big data processing and machine learning.

Governance & Standards

• Act as the architectural authority for the data estate - reviewing designs, enforcing standards and preventing platform fragmentation as SBG scales.
• Ensure all data architecture decisions align with regulatory requirements - FCA, GDPR, Solvency II, IFRS 17 and BCBS 239.
• Define and maintain data architecture policies and guidelines ensuring long-term scalability and sustainability.

Analytics & AI Enablement

• Design the Gold layer to ensure data products are structured, documented and accessible for self-service analytics and AI/ML model consumption.
• Collaborate with ML Ops and Data Science teams to define data product standards and feature engineering patterns.
• Evaluate and lead adoption of emerging Azure and Databricks capabilities - including Microsoft Fabric, OneLake and DirectLake - where they advance the data architecture.
• Drive innovation by evaluating and implementing emerging cloud-based data technologies to enhance SBG's competitive advantage.

What you'll need:

• Strong stakeholder management across business, IT and compliance teams.
• Excellent communication, collaboration and influencing skills at all levels of an organisation.
• Experience leading data architecture and engineering teams in an enterprise environment.
• Ability to define and implement a data strategy aligned with business objectives.
• Proven track record of delivering enterprise-scale data solutions with a focus on performance, security and scalability.
• Experience in regulated financial services, ensuring compliance with industry standards.
• Deep expertise in data modelling - conceptual, logical and physical.
• Data warehousing and data lake architecture for high-performance analytics.
• ETL/ELT pipeline development and optimisation to support large-scale data processing.
• Data integration across structured and unstructured sources, ensuring high availability.
• Metadata management and governance to maintain data quality and lineage.
• Experience defining data contracts and ingestion standards between source delivery teams and the data estate.
• Deep expertise in Microsoft Azure cloud services - ADF, ADLS, Synapse, Purview.
• Databricks - Delta Lake architecture, optimisation and advanced data processing.
• Apache Spark for large-scale distributed computing and performance tuning.
• Microsoft Fabric - OneLake and DirectLake integration.
• Azure Synapse Analytics for enterprise-scale data warehousing.
• Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform or Azure Bicep) to automate cloud deployments.
• CI/CD pipelines with Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions for automated deployment of data pipelines.
• MLOps best practices - MLflow, Databricks Model Serving, Feature Store.
• Knowledge of IFRS 17, BCBS 239, UK Data Protection Act and Solvency II compliance.
• Experience with pricing models, claims processing and fraud detection in the insurance sector.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Ability to document and present complex data architectures to technical and non-technical stakeholders

What you'll get in return

• Hybrid working - 2 days in the office and 3 days working from home
• 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days over 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service. Plus bank holidays!
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Pension scheme - 5% employee, 6% employer

& many more

What you need to do now

If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV.

If this job isn't quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career.

Desired Skills and Experience

Data Architect, Medallion experience, Snowflake, Azure & Databricks, AI & ML solutions.

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