Senior Fabric Architect

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation in London is seeking a Senior Fabric Architect to lead the design and delivery of enterprise data platforms built on Microsoft Fabric. You will shape secure, governed pipelines, drive migration from legacy workloads, and enable teams to deliver trusted data products and insights with a strong emphasis on performance and cost efficiency.

You will collaborate with data engineers, analysts, architects and DevOps to deliver scalable, production-ready

Qualifications

• Hands-on design and delivery of Fabric-based data platforms in an enterprise setting.
• Strong data pipelines, Lakehouse architecture and Medallion design patterns.
• Proficient in DAX, T-SQL, Python and PowerShell for production workloads.
• Experience with Power BI optimization and Direct Lake capabilities.
• Knowledge of data governance, security (Purview, RBAC) and CI/CD.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex issues and lead delivery teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management and clear technical communication.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across Microsoft Fabric architecture, engineering and implementation.
• Design production-grade data platforms and pipelines using Bronze/Silver/Gold patterns.
• Lead migrations from legacy analytics to Fabric pipelines and Dataflows.
• Develop reusable data assets and analytics solutions aligned with business needs.
• Integrate Fabric with ERP/CRM and other cloud systems.
• Maintain CI/CD, Git version control and automated deployment standards.
• Apply governance, security controls, lineage and data classification.
• Monitor and optimise pipeline performance, storage and costs.
• Review designs and delivery with internal teams and external partners.
• Produce architecture diagrams, runbooks and deployment guides for knowledge transfer.

Skills

Microsoft Fabric

Data engineering

DAX

T-SQL

Python

PowerShell

CI/CD

DevOps practices

RBAC

Purview

Tools

Power BI

Data Factory

Git

Job description

Role: Senior Fabric Architect

Location: London (Hybrid)

Employment: Fulltime

The opportunity

We are looking for an experienced Microsoft Fabric Technical Architect to help design, build and optimise modern enterprise data and analytics solutions. Combining hands-on engineering with technical leadership, you will shape scalable, secure and well-governed data platforms, support the migration of legacy analytics workloads to Microsoft Fabric, and enable teams to deliver trusted data products and insights.

What you’ll do

• Provide technical leadership across Microsoft Fabric architecture, engineering and implementation, advising on the appropriate use of Data Factory, Dataflows Gen2, notebooks, Lakehouse, semantic models and Direct Lake.
• Design and deliver production-grade data platforms, Lakehouse solutions and pipelines, applying Medallion (Bronze/Silver/Gold) architecture and dimensional modelling principles.
• Lead or contribute to migration from legacy data and analytics solutions, including SQL Server datasets and Alteryx workflows, to Fabric pipelines, Dataflows and other suitable Fabric capabilities.
• Develop new analytics solutions and reusable data assets that support business requirements and improve time to insight.
• Integrate Fabric with enterprise applications and cloud-based systems, including ERP and CRM platforms.
• Implement and maintain engineering standards for CI/CD, Git-based version control, automated deployment and environment promotion.
• Apply data governance, security and compliance controls, including Microsoft Purview, OneLake security, role-based access control (RBAC), data lineage and classification.
• Monitor and optimise pipeline, query, storage, semantic model and capacity performance, balancing service quality with efficient platform utilisation and cost.
• Review technical designs and delivery from internal teams and external partners, ensuring solutions meet architecture, quality, performance, security and documentation standards.
• Produce clear technical documentation, including architecture diagrams, pipeline designs, runbooks, deployment guides and architecture decision records, and support knowledge transfer.
• Work collaboratively with data engineers, analysts, architects, DevOps specialists, delivery teams and business stakeholders to resolve issues and deliver reliable outcomes.

Essential experience and skills

• Proven hands-on experience designing and delivering Microsoft Fabric solutions in an enterprise environment.
• Strong data engineering skills, including data pipelines, Lakehouse architecture, Medallion design patterns and dimensional modelling.
• Practical proficiency in DAX, T-SQL, Python and PowerShell.
• Experience with Power BI optimisation and Direct Lake.
• Knowledge and practical experience of data governance and security, including Microsoft Purview and access control.
• Experience implementing CI/CD, Git-based version control and DevOps practices for data solutions.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex technical issues and deliver scalable, secure, production-ready solutions.
• Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to explain technical decisions and influence delivery teams.

Desirable

• Experience working in financial services or another regulated environment.
• Experience delivering large-scale data and analytics migrations, including legacy platform decommissioning.
• Experience working with multiple delivery partners or vendors.
• Microsoft Fabric certification, such as DP-700, or an equivalent relevant certification.

How you’ll work

You’ll be hands-on, pragmatic and delivery-focused, with strong analytical and troubleshooting skills. You’ll be comfortable working across distributed teams, constructively challenging design decisions, and helping others adopt consistent engineering practices. You’ll balance architectural quality with the practical needs of delivery and business users.

What success looks like

• Reliable, well-governed data pipelines, models and data products delivered to production.
• Successful migration of priority datasets and analytics workflows to Microsoft Fabric.
• Improved platform adoption, data quality, performance and delivery speed.
• Reduced reliance on legacy analytics platforms and more efficient use of platform capacity.
• Clear technical documentation and effective knowledge transfer that build capability within the wider team.