Data Architect

Salary: £90,000 – £100,000 per annum + annual discretionary bonus

Location: London (Hybrid — minimum 2 days on-site per week)

Start Date: ASAP

(Sponsorship not provided)

Our client, a best-in-class globally recognised strategic advisory firm, is seeking an experienced Data Architect to join their growing technology team.

Reporting into the leadership of the firm's in‑house AI function, you will shape the technical and data foundations that enable the business to build and scale proprietary AI products securely and at pace. This hands‑on, influential role spans architecture and practical delivery, giving you a portfolio‑wide view of how data, applications, models, APIs and shared components fit together, and the scope to create reusable patterns that let engineers move faster without compromising on security, resilience or maintainability.

This role is ideal for a data and solution architect with a strong engineering mindset, comfortable moving between strategic architecture and detailed technical decisions in a fast‑moving product environment.

Role Responsibilities

• Design and evolve the data and technical architecture underpinning a portfolio of proprietary AI products
• Define scalable patterns for how applications, data sources, models, APIs and enterprise systems connect and interact
• Design approaches to data modelling, access, storage, movement and governance, with particular care for sensitive and business‑critical information

Reusability & standards

• Identify opportunities to create reusable services, components and data capabilities that accelerate development across multiple products
• Establish standards and patterns for data pipelines, APIs, integration, environments, deployment and observability
• Simplify the data landscape, reduce duplication and improve interoperability across the firm
• Work closely with engineers to translate architectural principles into practical, buildable solutions, balancing long‑term scalability with rapid prototyping and delivery
• Partner with Infrastructure, Security, Data and other technology teams to ensure solutions meet the firm's security, privacy, governance and architectural standards
• Evaluate emerging technologies and architectural approaches that could strengthen the platform or unlock new capabilities
• Help build the scalable data foundations the business needs to develop and deploy AI responsibly, securely and effectively
• 6+ years of relevant experience in data architecture, solution architecture, data engineering, software engineering or a related technical role
• Strong experience designing scalable data and application architectures in cloud environments, with Microsoft Azure particularly relevant
• Experience designing data models, APIs, integrations and data flows across databases, SaaS applications and enterprise systems
• Strong knowledge of modern data architecture, including data modelling, ETL/ELT pipelines, storage and access patterns, data warehouses and lakes/lakehouses, and governance
• Good working knowledge of SQL and modern data engineering approaches, including Python
• Experience designing reusable technical components, shared services or platforms used across multiple products or teams
• A strong understanding of data governance, security, privacy, lineage and quality, and how these are embedded into architecture and delivery
• An understanding of the data requirements of AI and machine‑learning applications, including securely making structured and unstructured enterprise data available to AI solutions
• A good understanding of modern software engineering and SDLC practices (CI/CD, version control, testing and observability), with enough hands‑on depth to work credibly with engineers and contribute to implementation where useful
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, able to explain architectural decisions and trade‑offs to technical and non‑technical colleagues, with the judgement to balance reuse and consistency against experimentation and speed
• Architecting applications or platforms incorporating generative AI, large language models or machine learning
• Designing data and integration architectures for AI applications, including retrieval and grounding approaches
• Building internal developer platforms, shared services or reusable application frameworks
• Working with sensitive enterprise data and complex security or governance requirements
• Experience in professional services, financial services, advisory or another complex enterprise environment

Please note that the duties mentioned above are not exhaustive, and the role's responsibilities may evolve in response to changing circumstances and requirements.

Sure Commercial Limited (trading as Sure Exec Search) is a proud Equal Opportunities employer and does not discriminate against any candidate on the grounds of age, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnerships, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy is available on request.

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