Data Architect

lastminute.com; Chiasso; Hybrid; CHF 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

36h week

Flexible hours

Work from anywhere period

No-meeting Friday mornings

Learning platforms access

Volunteer days

Staff travel discounts

Leave options for life events

Job summary

lastminute.com is seeking a Data Architect to lead our data platform design. You will shape the data stack on BigQuery and dbt, manage IaC with Terraform, and guide ingestion from batch to streams.

The role requires experience with GCP, Cloud Run, and Kubernetes in a hybrid Chiasso setting, partnering with engineers and analysts to deliver scalable data services. You will act as a technical reference, drive architecture decisions, and contribute to cost efficiency, data governance and

Qualifications

• Proven hands-on experience designing and running data platforms on a public cloud, ideally GCP.
• Strong infrastructure-as-code skills with Terraform and CI/CD, plus cloud IAM, networking and containerised workloads (Kubernetes, Cloud Run).
• Deep knowledge of BigQuery or a comparable cloud data warehouse: data modelling, partitioning and clustering, performance and cost optimisation.
• Hands-on experience with dbt and Airflow/Cloud Composer, and Python for automation.
• Fluent written and spoken English and ability to explain architectural trade-offs to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture of the modern data stack on BigQuery and dbt, setting patterns and standards.
• Design and evolve the GCP data platform architecture (BigQuery, Airflow, GKE, Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, GCS) with IaC via Terraform and GitLab CI.
• Own the data ingestion layer from batch and CDC to event streams with reliability, freshness, cost and schema evolution in mind.
• Define cross-cutting foundations: access management, cost efficiency, data lineage and observability.
• Act as technical reference for data engineers and analysts, review designs and write architecture decision records.

Skills

Terraform

GitLab CI

IAM & Networking

Kubernetes

BigQuery

dbt

Airflow

Python

English

Tools

Cloud Composer

Airflow

Cloud Run

GKE

Job description

At lastminute.com, we live for the holidays. We are the European Travel-Tech leader in Dynamic Holiday Packages. With technology, we turn spontaneous thoughts into meaningful experiences, helping people travel the world.

Job Description

We are looking for a Data Architect to join our team of around 1,700 people worldwide to help us power up the traveller's journey for millions of holidaymakers. If you are a master at infrastructure as code and cloud solution architecture, and passionate about teamwork and knowledge sharing, keep on reading, as you might be the perfect fit for this job.

The job in brief:

Job Title - Data Architect

Working model - hybrid from Chiasso

Team - you will join the Data Platform & Architecture team within the Data department.
Level - Professional

Contract - Permanent - full-time (36 h/week)

What your impact will be:

Lead the architecture of our modern data stack on BigQuery and dbt, setting the patterns, standards and trade-offs that new and migrated workloads follow.

Design and evolve the architecture of our GCP data platform (BigQuery, Cloud Composer/Airflow, GKE, Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, GCS), including how we build and deploy data services and AI agents, all managed as infrastructure as code with Terraform and GitLab CI.

Own the data ingestion layer, from batch and CDC replication to event streams, with clear standards for reliability, freshness, cost and schema evolution.

Define and maintain the cross-cutting foundations of the platform: access management and security, cost efficiency (FinOps), data lineage and observability.

Act as the technical reference for data engineers and analysts: review designs, write architecture decision records, and turn recurring solutions into reusable assets (Terraform modules, templates, documentation, AI context).

Qualifications

Your expertise:

Proven hands-on experience designing and running data platforms on a public cloud, ideally GCP. We care more about what you’ve designed and built than about the number of years.

Strong infrastructure-as-code skills with Terraform and CI/CD (GitLab CI or similar), plus a solid grasp of cloud IAM, networking and containerised workloads (Kubernetes, Cloud Run).

Deep knowledge of BigQuery or a comparable cloud data warehouse: data modelling, partitioning and clustering, performance and cost optimisation.

Hands-on experience with dbt and Airflow/Cloud Composer, and Python for automation and lightweight services.

The ability to explain architectural trade-offs to engineers and non-technical stakeholders alike and to drive decisions through to completion, with fluent written and spoken English.

Experience building and deploying AI agents, and daily use of AI-assisted development tools (e. g. Claude), including writing the context (instruction files, skills, glossaries) that makes them reliable.

Experience with data integration and streaming tools in production, such as Airbyte, Debezium/CDC or Kafka.

Familiarity with data governance practices: data contracts, lineage, semantic or metric layers used by BI tools and AI agents.

Additional Information

Perks of working with us:

How we work together:

• An inclusive, friendly, and international environment (you’ll be working with colleagues from +10 countries and over 48 nationalities)
• Shorter working week (36h as full time), with a half working day on Fridays
• Flexible start and end of the working day, with core hours from 10:00 to 4:00 pm
• Possibility to work from anywhere for a period of time per year defined according to local regulations

How we learn together:

• Fri-Yays: half a day on Friday morning with a no-meeting mandate and dedicated to deep work, personal growth, learning and training and/or focus time.
• Professional and managerial skills development training paths, access to e-learning platforms such as O’reilly, Udemy, Coursera (depending on the department), and to our internal platform offering bespoke training content

Other perks:

• 2 paid days off per year for volunteering purposes
• Occasional social events to foster connections among colleagues
• Travel industry discounts and flash exclusive staff fares
• We support our employees through life's significant moments with leave options (e parental responsibilities, marriages, bereavements, relocations, etc.) in line with local laws.

Wish you were here? We do, too!

Selection process steps*:

HR interview (30 minutes)

2nd interview (Team): technical knowledge

(*Please note the process can slightly vary. The recruiter in charge will share more details when setting up the interview)

Our commitment to celebrate diversity and generate belonging

At the heart of our culture is a commitment to inclusion across race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, gender identity or expression, and accessibility. We strongly believe in an equal opportunity space, which is welcoming and celebrates the uniqueness of everyone who works here. We value different lived experiences and respect viewpoints, as we know unicity drives innovation. We want to make sure our people reflect the communities across the world we help travel.

Eligibility criteria:
By submitting your information and application, you confirm that you are legally authorised to work in the country of employment and that you do not require visa sponsorship to obtain employment visa status.

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