Data Architect

FalconSmartIT; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Part time

Job summary

FalconSmartIT is seeking a Data Architect for a 6-month contract in Guildford, UK. The role leads the end-to-end architectural design of the enterprise data and analytics platform on Azure, spanning ingestion, transformation, and orchestration with ADF and Databricks.

The ideal candidate has 15+ years in Data & AI services, strong communication, insurance domain knowledge, and hands-on experience with Azure ecosystem including Key Vault, Synapse, and ML tools.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or Decision Sciences.
• 15+ years of experience at a Data & AI services firm.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with storytelling ability.
• Hands-on with Azure Data Factory for pipeline orchestration.
• Experience leading end-to-end data architecture for enterprise platforms.
• Strong knowledge of insurance domain processes (policy, claims, underwriting, regulatory reporting).
• Proficient in SQL for advanced data modelling and validation.
• Familiarity with CI/CD for data and data quality frameworks.
• Ability to design governance, guardrails, and engineering best practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end architectural design for the enterprise data and analytics platform on Azure.
• Design scalable data ingestion, transformation, and orchestration using ADF and Databricks.
• Collaborate with UK Data Science team on analytical requirements, models, and AI/ML integration patterns.
• Develop design guardrails, governance standards, and coding frameworks across the data engineering ecosystem.
• Define monitoring, observability, and operational integration for data pipelines and analytics environments.
• Architect integration patterns between operational systems, data platforms, ML pipelines, and reporting layers.
• Provide SME in the insurance domain guiding data modelling and regulatory considerations.
• Support AI/ML model design, deployment, and monitoring within the data platform.
• Engage with IT, Data Science, and Business teams to translate needs into scalable architectures.
• Ensure compliance with security, governance, and enterprise standards.
• Produce architecture docs, data flow diagrams, and technical specifications.
• Lead workshops to clarify requirements and propose optimal solutions.
• Assess reporting/visualisation landscapes and rationalise tool portfolios for cloud modernisation.

Skills

15+ years experience

Storytelling and communication

Enterprise data architecture

Stakeholder collaboration

Architecture governance

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in IT/CS/Engineering/Business/Decision Sciences

Tools

Azure Data Factory

Databricks

Azure Synapse

Azure Key Vault

MLflow

PySpark

Delta Lake

Job description

Job Role: Data Architect

Location: Guildford, UK

Job Type: Contract/FTC (6 months duration)

Job Description -

Role & Responsibilities

Possess 15 plus years of work experience at a reputable Data & AI services firm.

Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with a flair for compelling storytelling.

Lead the end-to-end architectural design for the enterprise data and analytics platform across Azure.

Design scalable data ingestion, transformation, and orchestration solutions using Azure Data Factory (ADF) and Databricks.

Collaborate closely with the UK Data Science team to understand analytical requirements, model needs, and integration patterns for AI/ML workloads.

Develop and enforce design guardrails, governance standards, coding frameworks, and best practices across the data engineering ecosystem.

Define and establish monitoring, observability, and operational integration for data pipelines and analytical environments.

Architect integration patterns between operational systems, data platforms, machine learning pipelines, and reporting layers.

Provide subject‑matter expertise in the insurance domain, guiding data modeling, business logic, and regulatory considerations.

Support the design and operationalization of AI/ML models, including data preparation, feature engineering, model deployment, and monitoring.

Partner with stakeholders across IT, Data Science, and Business teams to translate functional needs into scalable technical architectures.

Ensure all solutions adhere to enterprise security, compliance, and governance standards.

Produce high‑quality architecture documents, solution designs, data flow diagrams, and technical specifications.

Develop documentation, architecture diagrams, and data flow designs for operational and governance purposes.

Engage with business and technology stakeholders, collect necessary information, comprehend client expectations, clarify details through workshops, and propose and discuss optimal solutions.

The ability to conduct reporting, visualisation and analytics landscape assessments and rationalise portfolios for tools or platforms. You should be able to provide solutions for modernising, migrating, and integrating applications on cloud, using industry best practices.

Work closely with the pre‑sales, account, and sales teams, providing support throughout all phases of Data & AI deal pursuits and expand existing projects.

You Must Posses

Possess a Bachelor or master s degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or Decision Sciences.

Drive meaningful customer conversations and achieve positive business outcomes.

Proven experience as a Technical Architect, Data Architect, or Lead Data Engineer in large enterprise environments.

Strong knowledge of insurance domain processes, including policy, claims, underwriting, pricing, risk, and regulatory reporting.

Hands-on expertise with:

• Azure Data Factory (ADF) for pipeline orchestration
• Databricks (PySpark, Delta Lake, MLflow) for data engineering and ML integration
• Azure ecosystem (Key Vault, Data Lake, Synapse, Functions, Logic Apps)

Strong understanding of AI/ML lifecycle, model operationalization, and integration with enterprise data platforms.

Experience creating architecture standards, guardrails, governance frameworks, and engineering best practices.

Deep technical knowledge of data architecture, integration patterns, CI/CD for data, pipeline monitoring, and data quality frameworks.

Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, particularly with Data Science teams and business leaders.

Strong documentation and solutioning skills, capable of producing high‑quality architectural blueprints.

Strong understanding of data governance, metadata management, and data lineage.

Proficiency in SQL for advanced data modelling, optimization, and validation.

Excellent ability to translate business requirements into technical designs.

Strong problem‑solving and analytical thinking skills.

Understanding of the Agile methodology for development and execution.

Maintains an active learning approach, staying current with industry trends, and applying these insights to develop solutions, initiate new projects, and shape capability roadmaps.

Contribute to the development of solutions and automation accelerators and mentor emerging Data & AI talent.

Adept at recruiting top‑tier Data & AI practitioners.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with Microsoft Fabric, Databricks Unity Catalog, or Snowflake.

Familiarity with ML Ops, model performance monitoring, and responsible AI frameworks.

Cloud certification (e.g., Azure Solutions Architect, Databricks, or equivalent).

Experience with Power BI or semantic model design is beneficial.

Exposure to data governance, metadata management, and master data management (MDM).