Data Architect

Somerset Bridge Group; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 82,000 - 98,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading insurance company as a Data Architect to shape the data backbone of an ambitious business in Newcastle. You will design scalable and secure data architectures in Microsoft Azure, ensuring data integrity and compliance while enabling advanced analytics and data solutions.

Benefits

Hybrid working – 2 days in the office and 3 days from home

25 days annual leave

Discretionary annual bonus

Flexible working hours

Healthcare cash plan

Employee referral scheme

Qualifications

• Strong stakeholder management across business, IT, and compliance teams.
• Experience leading data architecture and engineering teams in an enterprise environment.
• Deep expertise in Microsoft Azure cloud services, particularly for data analytics and engineering.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement robust data architectures within Microsoft Azure.
• Collaborate with data engineering and science teams to enable real-time analytics.
• Optimise and modernise data pipelines for efficiency and high performance.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Communication

Collaboration

Problem-solving

Education

Experience in regulated financial services

Expertise in Microsoft Azure

Tools

Databricks

Delta Lake

Job description

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Application Deadline: 27 June 2025

Department: [SBSS] Enterprise Data Management

Location: Newcastle

Compensation: £82,500 - £98,000 / year

Description

Are you ready to shape the data backbone of an ambitious insurance business?

We're on the lookout for a Data Architect to help us build a modern, scalable, and secure data estate that unlocks value across pricing, customer experience, operations, and regulatory reporting.

This role is central to our mission to become a truly data-driven organisation. You’ll play a key part in designing our future state architecture, guiding our move to an Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW), and enabling advanced analytics, governance, and data protection by design.

The role will focus on ensuring data integrity, scalability, security, and performance within the Microsoft Azure ecosystem, leveraging Databricks as the core platform for advanced analytics, data engineering, and machine learning.

The Data Architect will collaborate closely with stakeholders across the business and in particular with data engineering, data science, and pricing teams to optimise data solutions that drive business intelligence, predictive modelling, and real-time decision-making. The role also involves leading innovation by adopting best practices in cloud-based data architecture, ensuring alignment with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and industry standards.

Additionally, the Data Architect will play a key role in modernising and optimising data pipelines, enabling high-performance, cost-efficient, and scalable solutions that support AI-driven insights and pricing optimisation.

What You'll Be Responsible For

• Design and implement robust, scalable, and secure data architectures within Microsoft Azure, with Databricks as the core platform for data engineering and analytics.
• Develop and optimise data models, ETL/ELT pipelines, and data processing frameworks using Databricks, Delta Lake, and other Azure data services.
• Ensure data solutions align with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and best practices in data governance, security, and compliance.
• Define and maintain data architecture standards, policies, and guidelines, ensuring scalability and long-term sustainability.
• Optimise and modernise data pipelines for efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and high performance, leveraging Databricks’ capabilities for big data processing and machine learning.
• Collaborate closely with data engineering, data science, and pricing teams to enable real-time analytics, AI-driven insights, and predictive modelling.
• Drive innovation by evaluating and implementing emerging cloud-based data technologies to enhance Somerset Bridge Group’s data strategy and competitive advantage.
  
  

What You'll Need

• Strong stakeholder management across business, IT, and compliance teams.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and influencing skills across all levels of an organisation.
• Experience leading data architecture and engineering teams in an enterprise environment.
• Ability to define and implement a data strategy aligned with business objectives.
• Proven track record of delivering enterprise-scale data solutions with a focus on performance, security, and scalability.
• Experience in regulated financial services environments, ensuring compliance with industry standards.
• Vendor and third-party relationship management, including Microsoft and Databricks.
• Knowledge of IFRS 17 and BCBS 239 for financial reporting and risk management.
• Understanding of the UK Data Protection Act and Solvency II compliance.
• Experience with pricing models, claims processing, and fraud detection within the insurance sector
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to translate business needs into technical solutions
• Ability to document and present complex data architectures to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Expertise in data modelling (conceptual, logical, and physical).
• Data warehousing and data lake architecture for high-performance analytics.
• ETL/ELT pipeline development and optimisation to support large-scale data processing.
• Data integration across structured and unstructured sources, ensuring high availability.
• Metadata management and governance to maintain data quality and lineage.
• Deep expertise in Microsoft Azure cloud services, particularly for data analytics and engineering
• Databricks, including Delta Lake architecture, optimisation, and advanced data processing.
  
  

Our Benefits

• Hybrid working – 2 days in the office and 3 days working from home
• 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days over 2 years’ service and 30 days after 5 years’ service. Plus bank holidays!
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Pension scheme – 5% employee, 6% employer
• Flexible working – we will always consider applications for those who require less than the advertised hours
• Flexi-time
• Healthcare Cash Plan – claim cashback on a variety of everyday healthcare costs
• Electric vehicle – salary sacrifice scheme
• 100’s of exclusive retailer discounts
• Professional wellbeing, health & fitness app - Wrkit
• Enhanced parental leave, including time off for IVF appointments
• Religious bank holidays – if you don’t celebrate Christmas and Easter, you can use these annual leave days on other occasions throughout the year.
• Life Assurance - 4 times your salary
• 25% Car Insurance Discount
• 20% Travel Insurance Discount
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Employee Referral Scheme
• Community support day

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Engineering and Information Technology

• Industries

  Insurance

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