Data Architect / Engineer

Socket.dev; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Appnovation is seeking a Data Architect/Engineer to own graph data structures and ingestion pipelines. You will model knowledge domains, ingest from enterprise sources, and ensure the knowledge graph stays accurate as documents evolve.

You will define schema and governance standards, validate backend approaches, and drive scalable data pipelines across the stack.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS or related field is required.
• 5+ years in data engineering/architecture roles.
• Deep data modeling across relational and graph paradigms.
• Experience with graph databases (Neo4j) and Postgres/Supabase at scale.
• Proficient in Python-based ETL/data pipelines for large-scale ingestion.
• Experience with enterprise content ecosystems: SharePoint and Power Platform.
• Knowledge of taxonomies, ontologies, and versioned/temporal data.
• Understanding of data structures for RAG and LLM retrieval quality.
• Strong SQL, orchestration (Airflow), and cloud data services.
• Familiarity with data governance, security, and privacy practices.
• Excellent documentation and cross-team communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Define schema, taxonomy, and graph modeling for knowledge domains.
• Design document structures and temporal/versioned representations.
• Build ingestion/ETL pipelines from enterprise sources (SharePoint, MS stack).
• Keep knowledge graph in sync as source docs evolve.
• Advise on backend architecture (e.g., Supabase/Postgres) and QA ingested content.
• Establish data quality, lineage, and governance standards.
• Build monitoring, alerting, and error-handling for ingestions.
• Document data models, schemas, and pipeline architecture.
• Optimize pipeline cost, throughput, and reliability over time.

Skills

Data modeling

Graph databases

ETL pipelines in Python

SharePoint integration

Taxonomies & ontologies

RAG/LLM retrieval

SQL proficiency

Airflow

Data governance & privacy

Documentation & cross-team comms

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Neo4j

PostgreSQL

Supabase

SharePoint

Power Automate

Power Platform

Airflow

Job description

About us

Appnovation is a global, full-service digital partner that combines Strategy, Experience & Design, Engineering and Managed Services. We build digital solutions that deliver real impact today and serve as foundations for future growth. Bold ambition. Practical action. Endless possibilities.

Technology is foundational to all of Appnovation’s offerings, from consulting to digital innovation, to digital product and service creation. The technology department is focused on delivering software solutions that enable rich consumer experiences, from mobile and web applications to advanced analytics and machine learning, to content and engagement management service enablement platforms.

Inherent throughout our tech capabilities is deep expertise in the Software Development Life Cycle, a drive for creativity, a passion for the craft, and collaboration with other disciplines - all foundational ingredients in successful digital experiences and client partnerships.

As a Data Architect / Engineer, you will join a highly motivated and experienced team and own both the data structures behind our graph-RAG platform and the pipelines that get content into it — modeling the knowledge and pumping it in at scale. You will define the schema, taxonomy and graph model for our knowledge domains, build resilient ingestion pipelines from enterprise content sources such as SharePoint and the wider Microsoft stack, and keep the knowledge graph accurate as source documents evolve. We are looking for people who can bring a strong, solution-focused mindset and contribute to architectural decisions, best practices and get things done.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define the schema, taxonomy, and graph modeling for the knowledge domains.
• Design how documents, versions, and their machine-readable representations are structured, and how facts evolve over time (including temporal replay).
• Build ingestion/ETL pipelines from enterprise content sources (e.g., SharePoint and the wider Microsoft stack), handling multimodal content (presentations, documents, transcripts).
• Keep the knowledge graph in sync as source documents change frequently.
• Advise on whether the current backend approach (Supabase/Postgres) is the right long-term architecture, and validate ingested content quality with QA.
• Establish data quality, lineage, and governance standards across pipelines.
• Build monitoring, alerting, and error-handling for ingestion jobs.
• Document data models, schemas, and pipeline architecture.
• Optimize pipeline cost, throughput, and reliability over time.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in data engineering / architecture roles.
• Deep data modeling across relational and graph paradigms; graph databases (Neo4j) and Postgres/Supabase at scale.
• Strong ETL / data pipeline engineering in Python, including large-scale, incremental, and change-data ingestion.
• Experience with enterprise content ecosystems: SharePoint, ideally Power Platform / Power Automate.
• Knowledge representation, taxonomies/ontologies, and versioned/temporal data.
• Understanding of how data structures feed RAG and LLM retrieval quality.
• SQL proficiency; experience with orchestration tools (e.g., Airflow) and cloud data services.
• Familiarity with data governance, security, and privacy practices.
• Strong documentation and cross-team communication skills.

WHO YOU ARE

• You think about how to scale, automate and operate, not just how to build a solution to an immediate problem
• You understand lean thinking
• You set high standards for code quality, performance/scalability and security and seek continuous improvement
• You have solid analytical, problem solving and decision-making skills
• You have customer first mindset and a devotion to customer service
• You engage and build positive internal and external client relationships, while managing multiple initiatives, often with competing priorities
• You have strong self-initiative, passion, interpersonal, oral and written communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work, influence and make an impact in a cross-functional environment with all levels of the organization
• You are responsive and thrive in a fast-paced diverse high-performance environment with rapidly changing business needs
• You actively seek out things outside your comfort zone with the ability to rapidly learn and take advantage of new concepts, business models, and technologies
• You have prior experience in consulting
• Prior experience and connections in the Life Sciences industry is preferred

At Appnovation, we recognize that diverse teams are the strongest teams. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is not only something that we embrace - we celebrate it! We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and we encourage applicants from all backgrounds, lived experiences and industries to apply. Come join us at Appnovation, and learn more about how we stay true to our company values as we build better lives through better digital.

Accommodations are available upon request throughout the recruitment process.