Senior Data Architect - Defence Systems & Data Solutions

Thales Group; Glasgow; On-site; GBP 66,000 - 106,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

Annual bonus

Cycle to work scheme

Employee discounts

Volunteer day

Stocks and shares

Job summary

Thales Group in Glasgow (Linthouse) seeks a Data & Architecture Specialist to drive data architecture for UK defence projects. You will deliver architecture artefacts, work with engineering teams, and shape data solutions compliant with MoD standards.

Proven experience in pre-sales or architecture roles, strong data modelling, and the ability to develop high-quality technical documentation are essential. This full-time role requires SC clearance and offers a competitive package.

Qualifications

• Degree/HND in Engineering, Data, or IT fields.
• Experience in defence industry architecture and data roles.
• Technical pre-sales or Product Line Architect experience.
• Experience with architecture methodology for complex systems.
• Strong data and application experience with underpinning infrastructure solution development.
• Experience designing and modelling current/target architectures for data solutions.
• Ability to produce technical documentation to high standards.
• Governing architecture or detailed designs through project lifecycle valued.
• Solution development and implementation on large-scale data projects valued.
• TOGAF 9 or similar architecture certification valued.
• Vendor tech qualifications like MCITP, VCP, CCSE, CCNP valued.
• UK National with SC clearance without caveats is required.
• UK residency in last 5 years for full SC eligibility preferred.

Responsibilities

• Support realisation of solutions through architecture, delivery, roll-out, operation and lifecycle management.
• Lead Data Thinking workshops with business and customer communities.
• Act as a data solutions architect in customer engagements.
• Develop solutions where data brings value to offers and customers.
• Provide oversight across project delivery to ensure solution integrity.
• Support Customer Enterprise Data Architect in data landscaping and cataloguing in the UK.
• Contribute to UK MoD standards for Data Management and Architecture.
• Collaborate with Digital Platforms and architecture teams on data management/analytics solutions.
• Meet stakeholders to understand needs and requirements.
• Deliver solution designs meeting strategic needs and work with teams to implement them.
• Develop strategies/plans to ensure cross-organisational collaboration.
• Work on third-party data integrations for internal/external use cases.
• Collaborate with squads/technical roles to improve delivery.
• Create technology architecture deliverables.
• Horizon-scan disruptive tech trends with practical guidance.

Skills

Data architecture

Defence industry experience

Pre-sales / PL Architect

Architecture methodology

Data and application experience

Technical design authority

Data modelling for data solutions

Technical documentation

Solution governance

Large-scale data projects

UK National & SC clearance

UK residency 3–5 years

Education

Degree/HND in Engineering, Data or IT

TOGAF 9 or equivalent arch cert

MCITP / VCP / CCSE / CCNP certifications

UK Security Clearance eligibility (SC)

Tools

TOGAF

Cloud

Big Data

IaaS

PaaS

Microservices

Machine Learning

AI

Security

ITIL

Job description

Thales Group in Glasgow (Linthouse) seeks a Data & Architecture Specialist to drive data architecture for UK defence projects. You will deliver architecture artefacts, work with engineering teams, and shape data solutions compliant with MoD standards.

Proven experience in pre-sales or architecture roles, strong data modelling, and the ability to develop high-quality technical documentation are essential. This full-time role requires SC clearance and offers a competitive package.