Data Architect
Data Architect
UK-Based Hybrid Working
SC Clearable Required
Permanent
Meraki are working on behalf of a leading digital consultancy delivering complex, secure data platforms across the UK public sector.
We re seeking an experienced Data Architect to lead the design and evolution of enterprise-scale data architectures supporting digital services, analytics and operational decision-making.
This is a lead-level position combining hands-on architecture with technical leadership, assurance and stakeholder engagement. You ll shape strategic data decisions across multiple delivery teams ensuring solutions are secure, sustainable, user-focused and aligned with government standards.
This role is ideal for someone operating at SFIA Level 5 (Lead) providing authoritative guidance, influencing architectural direction, and ensuring long-term value without being tied to a single cloud provider or vendor ecosystem.
The Role
You will:
- Define and own end-to-end data architecture designs across digital services and analytics platforms
- Establish architecture principles, standards and reusable patterns across teams
- Ensure architectures address the full data lifecycle (acquisition through to decommissioning)
- Provide technical leadership and architectural assurance across delivery teams
- Align data decisions with user needs, business outcomes, risk appetite and security requirements
- Influence and support data governance including metadata, lineage, ownership and data quality
- Engage senior stakeholders to explain trade-offs and support informed decision-making
Technical Experience
You ll bring extensive commercial experience across several of the following:
- Designing end-to-end data architectures (ingestion, processing, storage, analytics, access layers)
- Strong data modelling expertise (conceptual, logical, physical, operational and analytical models)
- Architecting modern analytics platforms (data warehouses, lakehouse architectures, domain-oriented data platforms)
- Data integration patterns (batch, event-driven, API-led approaches)
- Applying security-by-design and privacy-by-design principles
- Working across cloud environments in a vendor-neutral capacity
- Familiarity with modern data engineering tooling and open-source ecosystems
What We re Looking For
- Operates confidently at Lead level (SFIA 5)
- Provides authoritative architectural guidance across teams
- Strong communicator able to engage both technical teams and senior leadership
- Balances strategic direction with delivery pragmatism
- Comfortable influencing across multiple teams and suppliers
- Experienced within UK Government Digital, Data & Technology environments
- Outcome-focused, avoiding vendor-led or technology-first thinking
Security Clearance
Due to the nature of the work, candidates must:
- Be eligible for SC Clearance
- Have lived continuously in the UK for the past 5+ years
- Have the right to work in the UK without sponsorship
What s on Offer
Employer pension starting at 5%, increasing with tenure Group life assurance
Genuine hybrid working + home setup allowance
25 days annual leave + bank holidays (with buy/sell option)
Fully funded professional certifications (AWS, GCP, Agile etc.)
5 days paid study leave + £500 annual personal development fund
1-2-1 coaching and structured career development
Private medical insurance
Cycle to Work scheme
2 paid volunteering days per year
Inclusive Hiring
We strongly encourage applications from individuals who may not meet every single requirement. If this opportunity excites you but you don t tick every box, we would still love to hear from you.