Head of Data Architecture

The successful candidate will combine strong strategic leadership with hands-on architecture expertise, particularly across modern Microsoft data technologies, and will work closely with business stakeholders, technology teams, and data governance functions to establish best-in-class data management practices., Enterprise Data Architecture

• Define and maintain the enterprise data architecture roadmap aligned to business objectives.
• Design scalable and resilient data architectures supporting analytics, AI, reporting, and operational workloads.
• Establish architecture standards, patterns, and best practices across the data estate.
• Ensure alignment between business strategy, data strategy, and technology architecture.

Microsoft Fabric Architecture

• Lead the design and implementation of enterprise-scale Microsoft Fabric platforms.
• Architect solutions across:
• Fabric Data Engineering
• Fabric Lakehouse
• Fabric Data Warehouse
• Fabric Real Time Analytics
• Semantic Models
• Drive adoption of Microsoft Fabric capabilities and establish architectural standards for the platform.
• Provide guidance on performance optimisation, scalability, security, and governance within Microsoft Fabric environments.

Data Modelling & Integration

• Develop conceptual, logical, and physical data models across enterprise domains.
• Establish metadata-driven architecture principles and reusable integration patterns.
• Design enterprise integration solutions across internal and external systems.
• Define standards for data ingestion, transformation, storage, and consumption.

Data Governance & Management

• Partner with Data Governance teams to implement:
• Data Quality frameworks
• Data Lineage
• Metadata Management
• Master Data Management (MDM)
• Data Cataloguing
• Ensure compliance with data security, privacy, and regulatory requirements.
• Drive consistent data standards and ownership across the organisation.

Stakeholder Engagement & Leadership

• Collaborate with senior business and technology stakeholders to shape data initiatives.
• Provide architectural leadership across multiple programmes and projects.
• Mentor architects, engineers, and analysts within the wider data function.
• Present architecture roadmaps, recommendations, and governance decisions to executive leadership.

• Significant experience in Data Architecture leadership roles.
• Proven experience designing and implementing enterprise-scale data platforms.
• Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Fabric.

Deep understanding of:

• Data Architecture
• Data Modelling
• Data Governance
• Metadata Management
• Data Lineage
• Master Data Management (MDM)
• Experience delivering cloud-based data platforms within Microsoft Azure.
• Strong understanding of data warehousing, lakehouse architectures, and modern analytics platforms.
• Experience establishing enterprise architecture standards and governance frameworks.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.

Technical Skills

Essential

• Microsoft Fabric
• Fabric Lakehouse
• Fabric Data Warehouse
• Fabric Data Engineering
• Fabric Real Time Analytics
• Semantic Models
• Azure Data Platform
• Azure Data Lake Storage
• Azure Data Factory
• SQL
• Data Modelling
• Metadata Management
• Data Governance
• Master Data Management (MDM)
• Enterprise Integration Architecture

Desirable

• Microsoft Purview
• Databricks
• Power BI
• AI and Advanced Analytics platforms
• Data Mesh architecture
• Event-Driven Architecture
• TOGAF or equivalent architecture certification

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic thinking and roadmap development
• Enterprise architecture governance
• Stakeholder engagement and influencing skills
• Team leadership and mentoring
• Problem solving and decision making
• Change and transformation leadership

This position offers the opportunity to shape the future direction of a modern enterprise data platform and play a key role in driving data-driven decision making across the organisation.