Data Architect
Job Title: Data Architect – Palantir Foundry & Ontology (Healthcare)
Job Type: Contract · Inside IR35
Location: London, UK — Hybrid
Duration: 6 Months
The Role As a Data Architect, you will lead the design and delivery of scalable, secure, and compliant data-driven solutions on the Palantir Foundry platform, with a strong focus on Palantir Ontology modelling. You will work across the full solution lifecycle — from capturing complex clinical and operational requirements through to production-ready implementations that enable advanced analytics, AI readiness, and improved healthcare outcomes. This is a hands-on solution architecture role. You will translate business and clinical needs into robust, ontology-backed solutions that integrate Palantir Foundry with Azure data services and Databricks. You will provide technical leadership, architectural governance, and mentoring to multi-disciplinary delivery teams while ensuring full compliance with NHS standards and patient data protection requirements.
Key Responsibilities
Lead the end-to-end architectural design and implementation of solutions on Palantir Foundry, with particular emphasis on designing, building, and governing comprehensive Palantir Ontologies that model healthcare entities, relationships, clinical workflows, and business logic. Define and deliver integration architectures between Palantir Foundry, Azure services (Data Factory, ADLS Gen2, Synapse), and Databricks (Spark, Delta Lake) to create cohesive hybrid data platforms. Facilitate ontology modelling workshops with clinical, operational, and technical stakeholders to capture domain knowledge and translate it into production-ready semantic models and governed data products. Architect secure ETL/ELT pipelines, data integration patterns, and lakehouse architectures (including medallion patterns) that support analytics, ML/AI use cases, and real-time decisioning while respecting patient data sensitivity and de-identification requirements. Ensure all solutions meet NHS interoperability standards (FHIR, HL7, UK Core profiles), Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT), GDPR, information governance policies, and other relevant regulatory and security frameworks. Provide architectural leadership and governance across the solution lifecycle, including solution design reviews, proof-of-concept validation, trade-off analysis, and production readiness assessments. Mentor and guide delivery teams on Palantir Foundry best practices, ontology modelling, pipeline optimisation, and platform governance. Produce high-quality architecture artefacts (solution designs, ontology models, integration diagrams, decision records) and collaborate closely with product owners, engineers, clinicians, and NHS stakeholders.
Essential Skills, Knowledge & Experience
Demonstrable hands-on experience as a Data Architect (or equivalent) delivering production solutions on Palantir Foundry, including significant experience designing, building, and governing Palantir Ontologies in complex domains. Strong expertise with Azure data and analytics services (Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, Azure Synapse Analytics) and Databricks platform (Spark, Delta Lake; Unity Catalog and workflows desirable). Proven track record designing and delivering end-to-end data integration, transformation, and analytics solutions in highly regulated environments, ideally within healthcare or the NHS. Excellent understanding of modern data architectures (Lakehouse, semantic/ontological modelling) and data modelling techniques (star/snowflake schemas, dimensional modelling). Proficiency in Python and SQL for implementing complex data logic and transformations. In-depth knowledge of healthcare data standards and interoperability (FHIR, HL7) and UK healthcare data protection/governance requirements (DSPT, GDPR, information governance, patient confidentiality). Strong facilitation, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to bridge technical and non-technical/clinical audiences.
Desirable Skills, Knowledge & Experience
Previous experience delivering Palantir Foundry solutions within the NHS or UK healthcare sector. Familiarity with Palantir Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) and building ontology-driven applications or agents. Experience with Azure AI/ML services or Databricks AI/Feature Store capabilities. Knowledge of NHS national data strategies, federated analytics, or secure data environments. Relevant certifications (e.g., Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Databricks Certified Professional, TOGAF) or Palantir platform training/accreditation. Experience working in Agile/Scaled Agile environments and producing architecture decision records (ADRs).