Data Solutions Architect

SF Partners; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 157,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Job summary

SF Partners seeks an Interim Data Solutions Architect to rapidly assess the current data landscape, identify gaps, and design a pragmatic roadmap for an upcoming government contract.

You’ll analyse current data flows, evaluate proposed architectures, and translate operational needs into concrete, implementable technical solutions while advising senior stakeholders in a hybrid East Midlands delivery.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in current-state data discovery and mapping.
• Ability to define target-state architecture and practical roadmaps.
• Experience with cloud-based data integration and GIS/imagery data.

Responsibilities

• Assess current data landscape and integration points.
• Define changing requirements to support the new contract.
• Review supplier proposals for architectural fit and practicality.
• Produce a practical implementation roadmap and advise senior stakeholders.
• Determine internal vs external capability ownership.

Skills

Data discovery

Data flows

Solution architecture

Cloud data environments

Geospatial data

GIS

ArcGIS/Esri

Operational data

Stakeholder advisory

Roadmapping

Tools

ArcGIS/Esri

Cloud data platforms

GIS tooling

Job description

Interim Data Solutions Architect

£(Apply online only) per day East Midlands / Hybrid Initial 4 weeks

I'm looking for an experienced Interim Data Solutions Architect for an assignment with a specialist UK organisation that has recently secured a significant long‑term government contract.

The business is now moving through the mobilisation period ahead of operational go‑live next year.

They know what they have committed to deliver and already have proposals from specialist technology suppliers covering elements of the future environment.

What they need now is someone independent to come in and establish:

• What do we have today?
• What needs to change to support the new contract?
• Is what's being proposed technically appropriate?
• And what's the most sensible way of getting there?

This is not a high‑level data strategy exercise, nor is it a role simply implementing a predefined solution.

You’ll need to get underneath the existing environment and understand how data currently moves through the organisation, the systems and processes supporting it, where the gaps and risks sit, and how that compares with the future operational requirements.

From there, you’ll help define the target state and provide a practical roadmap for getting there.

The environment will involve a mixture of cloud technology, data integration, operational data, geospatial/GIS, imagery and video, alongside existing business systems and external technology partners.

The organisation has already received a detailed proposal from a specialist supplier, so part of the assignment will be independently assessing the proposed architecture and identifying whether it is appropriate, proportionate and complete.

You’ll also help the business understand what capability it should realistically own internally and where specialist external support makes more sense.

I'm particularly interested in people who can demonstrate experience across:

• Current‑state data and technology discovery
• Data flows, integration and solution architecture
• Target‑state architecture and solution design
• Cloud data environments
• Assessing existing systems and technical capability
• Reviewing and challenging supplier solutions
• Translating operational requirements into technical solutions
• Identifying architectural gaps, risks and dependencies
• Producing practical implementation roadmaps
• Advising senior non‑technical stakeholders

Experience with geospatial/GIS, ArcGIS/Esri, imagery, video, sensor or other complex operational data would be particularly interesting, but I don't want to restrict the search purely to GIS specialists.

This is a relatively small organisation, so I'm looking for somebody who can be pragmatic and hands‑on rather than introducing unnecessary enterprise complexity.

Ultimately, the MD needs someone who can understand the requirement, understand what exists today, assess what is already being proposed and give them a clear view of:

• This is what you have.
• This is what you need.
• These are the gaps.
• And this is what I would do next.

£650-£850 per day

East Midlands / Hybrid

Initial 4-8 week engagement, with potential to extend

If you've personally delivered this kind of discovery architecture recommendation roadmap assignment before, I'd be interested in speaking.