Data Architect

Role: Data Architect

Location: Burgess Hill/Brighton (3 days in a week)

Employment: Fulltime

Financial Service / Financial Markets / Enterprise Data Architecture

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Data Architect to join a large-scale financial services transformation project. The successful candidate will play a critical role in understanding, documenting, and architecting enterprise data structures across both traditional relational database platforms and modern distributed NoSQL environments.

This role requires strong expertise in designing data models for OLTP systems, understanding different architectural patterns, and enterprise/domain modeling. The candidate must have the ability to work closely with business and technology stakeholders to define scalable, resilient, and well-governed data solutions for complex financial systems. Familiarity with Wide Column Database technologies such as Cassandra and distributed databases such as YugabyteDB or Google Cloud Spanner will be an advantage.

The ideal candidate combines deep technical knowledge with excellent communication and presentation skills and has prior experience working within financial markets, banking, or capital markets environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Understand, analyze, and document existing and target-state data architectures for large financial systems.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders, architects, application teams, and engineering leads to define enterprise data models and integration patterns.
• Develop and maintain:
• Domain models
• Conceptual data models
• Logical data models
• Physical data models
• Design scalable and high-performance database solutions across:
• Relational databases (Oracle, PostgreSQL)
• Distributed NoSQL platforms (Cassandra, YugabyteDB)
• Support enterprise-wide data strategy initiatives and contribute to architecture governance reviews.
• Produce architecture documentation, presentations, and technical artifacts for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Assess current-state systems and recommend modernization or optimization opportunities.
• Work closely with development and infrastructure teams to ensure implementation aligns with architectural guidelines.
• Participate in data migration, integration, and transformation planning activities.
• Support performance, scalability, resiliency, and disaster recovery considerations within data architecture designs.

Required Skills & Experience

Technical Skills

Data Architecture & Modeling

• Strong experience in data architecture and enterprise data modelling.
• Expertise in:
• Domain-Driven Design (DDD)
• CQRS implementation
• Experience creating:
• Domain models
• Conceptual data models
• Logical data models
• Physical data models

NoSQL & Distributed Databases

• Strong hands-on experience with NoSQL and distributed database design.
• Experience with:
• Cassandra
• YugabyteDB

Relational Databases

• Deep expertise in relational database design and modelling.
• Strong experience with:
• Oracle
• PostgreSQL

Data Design Principles

• Strong understanding of:
• Data normalization and denormalization
• Distributed data design
• Enterprise data governance principles
• Enterprise integration architecture

Data Modelling Tools

• Hands-on experience with data modelling tools such as:
• ER/Studio (preferred)
• Hackolade (preferred)

Cloud Technologies

• Familiarity with cloud and hybrid data architectures.

Functional / Domain Experience

Experience working within:

• Financial Services
• Capital Markets
• Investment Banking
• Trading Platforms
• Risk and Regulatory environments

Preferred:

• Strong understanding of financial data domains and transactional systems.

Communication & Soft Skills

• Excellent English communication skills (written and verbal).
• Strong presentation and stakeholder engagement capabilities.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both business and technical audiences.
• Strong analytical and documentation skills.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced enterprise environment.
• Collaborative mindset with strong problem-solving capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Experience working on large enterprise transformation programs.
• Exposure to data governance and enterprise architecture frameworks.
• Financial industry certifications or architecture certifications are advantageous.

Preferred Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate:

• Is a hands-on Enterprise Data Architect.
• Is comfortable working across both legacy and modern database ecosystems.
• Has experience in large-scale financial services environments.
• Demonstrates strong stakeholder communication and architecture documentation skills.
• Can successfully bridge business requirements with scalable technical data solutions.

Industry : Financial Services / Capital Markets / Banking

Databases: Oracle, PostgreSQL, Cassandra, YugabyteDB

Modelling: Domain-Driven Design (DDD), CQRS, ER/Studio, Hackolade

Architecture: Enterprise Data Architecture, Data Governance, Data Integration

Industry Domain: Financial Markets, Capital Markets, Investment Banking, Trading Platforms, Risk & Regulatory Systems

Cognizant is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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