Data Architect - SC Cleared

Location: Edinburgh or Luton (hybrid/onsite as required)
Engagement: Contract - Inside IR35
Rate: 550 - 650 per day
Security Clearance: Active SC Clearance required

We are seeking an experienced Data Architect to lead the design, implementation, and governance of enterprise-scale data architectures within a secure environment. You will be responsible for ensuring data across systems is accurate, accessible, secure, and aligned to business and technical objectives.

The role requires extensive experience delivering data-intensive systems end-to-end, from initial requirements capture through architecture design and implementation to production delivery. You will work closely with customers and stakeholders to translate business needs into robust, scalable data solutions.

You will act as a senior technical authority, collaborating proactively with IT teams, data engineers, system engineers, and business stakeholders to define data models, data flows, and governance frameworks.

• Design and implement enterprise-level data architecture solutions, including databases, data warehouses, data lakes, and lakehouse platforms

• Develop and maintain conceptual, logical, and physical data models

• Define and enforce data management standards, policies, and best practices

• Work closely with data engineers to design and optimise ETL/ELT pipelines for structured and unstructured data

• Ensure data quality, consistency, security, and compliance across platforms

• Collaborate with business stakeholders to gather requirements and translate them into technical solutions

• Oversee data integration across cloud and on-premises environments

• Support and lead data governance initiatives, including metadata management, MDM, and regulatory compliance

• Evaluate and recommend new data technologies, tools, and platforms

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to data engineering and analytics teams

• Active SC Clearance (mandatory)

• Bachelor's degree in STEM, Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, or related field (Master's preferred)

• Strong experience in data architecture, database design, or senior data engineering roles

• High proficiency in SQL and database technologies (e.g. Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL)

• Strong knowledge of data warehouse, data lake, and lakehouse architectures

• Experience with ETL/ELT frameworks and orchestration tools (e.g. Informatica, Talend, Apache Airflow)

• Proven experience establishing and maintaining data governance frameworks

• Strong understanding of data security, access controls, and compliance requirements

• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and documentation skills

• Familiarity with AI/ML data pipelines and analytics platforms

• Experience with cloud data platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)

• Experience with big data technologies (Hadoop, Spark, Kafka)

• Familiarity with UML / SysML

• Strong understanding of API integration and microservices data flows