Platform Architect

Experis - ManpowerGroup; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 57,933 - 96,678; Full time

Job summary

Experis - ManpowerGroup in London is seeking a Platform Architect to lead the evolution of our Enterprise Data Platform (EDP). You will drive platform engineering, FinOps, DevOps automation, and data engineering capabilities across the organization to deliver measurable business value and modernise the EDP landscape.

This contract role requires combining strategic architecture leadership with hands-on Databricks, Azure, and IaC expertise to implement governance, security, and operational

Qualifications

• Senior-level experience in cloud-based data platforms.
• Proven Databricks architecture and admin expertise.
• Hands-on Azure, IaC and DevOps automation experience.
• Implementing FinOps and cloud cost optimisations.
• Strong governance, security, and regulatory compliance understanding.

Responsibilities

• Lead Databricks serverless enablement across the platform.
• Define FinOps operating model and cost governance across teams.
• Architect expansion of the EDP to support POSIT/RStudio workloads.
• Define IaC and CI/CD pipelines; automate provisioning and governance.

Skills

SFIA Level 6

Cloud architecture

Databricks architecture

Azure cloud services

DevOps / CI/CD

Infrastructure as Code

FinOps

Data governance & compliance

Stakeholder management

Platform transformation

Tools

Azure

Terraform

Databricks Serverless

Cloud administration

Governance & security tooling

Job description

Platform Architect

Rate: up to £524.40 per day - Umbrella only
Duration: 4 months
Location: London - 3 days a week in the office

Platform Architect to lead the evolution of our Enterprise Data Platform (EDP), driving platform engineering, FinOps, DevOps automation, and data engineering capabilities across the organization. This role is ideal for an architect who can combine strategic architecture leadership with DevOps, FinOps, and Data Engineering expertise to deliver measurable business value, modernise the EDP landscape, and drive significant operational and cost efficiencies.

Key Responsibilities

1. Databricks Serverless Enablement

   Lead the design and implementation of Databricks Serverless capabilities across the platform.

   Establish governance and monitoring frameworks to track Serverless consumption and ROI. Establish workload governance.

2. FinOps Enablement & Cost Governance

   Lead enterprise‑wide FinOps adoption across the EDP ecosystem. Key deliverables:

   • Define and implement a FinOps operating model.
   • Establish cost accountability across business and engineering teams.
   • Design tagging standards and policy controls.
   • Implement automated cost governance within DevOps deployment pipelines.
   • Enable user‑level and project‑level cost visibility and reporting.
   • Implement budget controls, spending guardrails, and proactive alerting mechanisms.
3. Discovery Zone Enhancement & POSIT Migration

   Architect the expansion of the Enterprise Data Platform to support capabilities currently delivered through POSIT/RStudio. Key deliverables:

   • Design a consolidated analytics and data science platform on Databricks.
   • Enable notebook‑based development, data science experimentation, MLOps, API integrations, and application deployment.
   • Support external data ingestion, scheduling, BI connectivity, developer tooling, and operational reporting.
   • Enable AI and LLM integration patterns.
   • Develop migration strategies for workloads currently hosted on POSIT.
4. DevOps & Platform Engineering
   • Define and implement platform engineering standards and self‑service capabilities.
   • Design Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions using Terraform and cloud‑native tooling.
   • Implement CI/CD pipelines for platform deployments and data engineering workloads.
   • Automate platform provisioning, governance, monitoring, and compliance controls.
   • Integrate security and policy enforcement into DevSecOps processes.
   • Establish platform observability using monitoring and logging frameworks.

Required Experience

Essential

• SFIA level 6 and above
• Proven experience architecting large‑scale cloud‑based data platforms
• Strong expertise in Databricks architecture and platform administration
• Hands‑on experience with Azure cloud services
• Deep understanding of DevOps, CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, and automation frameworks
• Experience implementing FinOps practices and cloud cost optimisation strategies
• Strong understanding of data governance, security, and compliance requirements
• Experience leading platform transformation and modernisation programmes
• Stakeholder management experience across technical and business functions

Technical Skills

• Azure and Terraform
• Platform Engineering
• Databricks Serverless capabilities
• Cloud administration
• Platform cost management
• Governance and compliance controls
• Manage platform operational overhead
• Manage platform reliability and performance
• Manage security and supportability