Data Architect

Data Architects – ADF / Databricks / Data Governance

£425–£475 per day (Outside IR35)

6-month contract

Hybrid – Bournemouth or Guildford (ideally 3 days onsite/week)

Experience: 15+ years

We are seeking two highly experienced Data Architects to support a major data and AI transformation programme. This role requires deep technical expertise, strong architectural leadership, and the ability to drive high-impact conversations across business and technical teams.

The Opportunity

You will play a key role in shaping and delivering enterprise-scale data architecture across Azure, working with modern data engineering and AI/ML technologies. This is a hands-on architectural position suited to individuals passionate about designing best-practice data platforms, governance frameworks, and scalable cloud solutions.

You will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams—including Data Science, Engineering, and Business stakeholders—and contribute to both delivery and strategic direction.

Role & Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end architecture of an enterprise Azure data and analytics platform.
• Design scalable data ingestion, transformation, and orchestration using Azure Data Factory (ADF) and Databricks .
• Work closely with Data Science teams to support AI/ML workloads, feature engineering, model integration, and operationalisation.
• Develop architectural guardrails, governance standards, coding frameworks, and best practices across the data engineering ecosystem.
• Define monitoring, observability, and operational integration for pipelines and analytical environments.
• Architect integration patterns across operational systems, data platforms, ML pipelines, and reporting layers.
• Provide subject-matter expertise in the insurance domain (policy, claims, underwriting, pricing, risk, regulatory reporting).
• Produce high-quality architecture documents, solution designs, data flow diagrams, and specifications.
• Conduct analytics and visualisation landscape assessments and propose modernisation/migration strategies.
• Engage with multiple stakeholder groups, lead workshops, and propose optimal data and AI solutions.
• Support pre-sales/account activities where needed and help shape capability roadmaps.

You Must Possess

• 15+ years’ experience in Data & AI within large-scale enterprise environments.
• Proven background as a Data Architect, Technical Architect, or Lead Data Engineer .
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Hands-on expertise with:
• ADF (pipeline orchestration)
• Databricks (PySpark, Delta Lake, MLflow)
• Azure ecosystem (Key Vault, Data Lake, Synapse, Functions, Logic Apps)
• Strong understanding of the full AI/ML lifecycle and how it integrates with enterprise data platforms.
• Experience building architecture standards, governance frameworks, CI/CD patterns, and data quality controls.
• Strong documentation and architectural blueprinting skills.
• Proficiency in SQL and advanced data modelling.
• Deep knowledge of data governance, metadata management, and data lineage.
• Strong problem-solving ability and comfort translating business requirements into scalable technical designs.
• Understanding of Agile methodologies and continuous improvement practices.
• Active learning mindset and awareness of industry trends.
• Ability to mentor, support capability development, and contribute to accelerators/automation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Microsoft Fabric , Unity Catalog , or Snowflake .
• Familiarity with MLOps , model monitoring, and responsible AI frameworks.
• Azure or Databricks cloud certifications.
• Experience with Power BI or semantic model design.
• Exposure to MDM, metadata management, or wider data governance tooling.

How to Apply

If you are a senior Data Architect with deep Azure, ADF, and Databricks experience and can commit to a hybrid role in Bournemouth or Guildford , we’d love to hear from you.