Senior Manager, Solution & Data Architecture

Pandora; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working flexibility

Private healthcare

25 days annual leave

Bonus scheme

Wellness & EAP

Job summary

Pandora is seeking a Senior Solution & Data Architecture Manager to lead a team of solution and data architects while delivering end-to-end data platform solutions in Azure Synapse and Databricks.

You will drive architectural direction, set team OKRs, manage budgets, and ensure delivery across supply chain, commerce, manufacturing, corporate tech, and omni‑channel divisions. This dual role combines leadership with hands‑on technical work in a global jewellery business.

Qualifications

• Proven hands-on experience designing and implementing data platform solutions at scale.
• Experience leading and mentoring solution/data architects and engineers.
• Strong delivery of end-to-end data platform projects across cloud environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of solution and data architects, including coaching and performance management.
• Own the architecture team roadmap and OKRs, align with Data & Analytics objectives.
• Oversee budget/resource planning and engage with external consultants as needed.
• Define architecture patterns, review designs, and ensure consistency across projects.
• Balance strategic guidance with hands-on architectural work across Azure Synapse and Databricks.

Skills

Team leadership

Architectural leadership

Azure Synapse

Databricks

Data modeling

Cloud architecture

Stakeholder comms

Data governance

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS / Data Eng

Tools

Azure Data Factory

Delta Lake

Databricks Workflows

Job description

Contract: Permanent/fixed-term

Location: Flexible hybrid working style with three days in the London office

The role

We are looking for a senior Solution & Data Architecture Manager who will be responsible for leading a team of solution architects while contributing hands‑on to the design and delivery of end‑to‑end data platform solutions across Pandora’s Azure Synapse and Databricks environments. This is a dual role combining architectural leadership with people management. You will lead a small, experienced team of solution and data architects, setting direction for how the team operates, develops, and delivers. At the same time, you will remain close to the technical work -reviewing designs, guiding architectural decisions, and ensuring consistency across key transformation projects. Working across supply chain, commerce, manufacturing, corporate tech, and omni‑channel, you will ensure your team delivers solutions that are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with data solution architecture principles, enabling Pandora’s journey to becoming the world’s leading jewellery company.

Management Accountabilities

• Leading and developing a team of solution and data architects, including coaching, performance management, career development conversations, and hiring.
• Defining and maintaining team OKRs that align architecture delivery with broader Data & Analytics and business objectives.
• Owning the architecture team’s roadmap, prioritising work across transformation projects and ensuring capacity is allocated effectively across workstreams.
• Managing the team’s budget and resource planning, including engagement with external consulting resources where needed.
• Establishing team ways of working, including architecture review processes, documentation standards, and quality gates.
• Representing the architecture team in leadership forums, steering committees, and cross‑functional planning processes.
• Building a collaborative team culture that balances architectural rigour with pragmatic delivery, ensuring architects remain hands‑on and close to engineering teams.

What to expect from the role

• Leading and developing a team of solution and data architects, including coaching, performance management, career development, and building team culture.
• Defining and maintaining team OKRs that align architecture delivery with broader Data & Analytics and business objectives.
• Owning the architecture team’s roadmap, prioritising work across transformation projects and ensuring capacity is allocated effectively across workstreams.
• Managing the team’s budget and resource planning, including engagement with external consulting resources where needed.
• Establishing team ways of working, including architecture review processes, documentation standards, and quality gates.
• Representing the architecture team in leadership forums, steering committees, and cross‑functional planning processes.
• Building a collaborative team culture that balances architectural rigour with pragmatic delivery, ensuring architects remain hands‑on and close to engineering teams.

Architecture Accountabilities

• Setting architectural direction across the data platform, ensuring consistency and coherence of solution designs across both Azure Synapse and Databricks environments.
• Reviewing and providing feedback on technical designs from solution architects and lead engineers, ensuring adherence to data platform standards and best practices.
• Ensuring solutions balance centralised approaches (Synapse with CDM/RDM models, tabular models in Analysis Services) and lakehouse patterns (Databricks with decentralised principles) appropriately.
• Defining and evolving solution patterns, reference architectures, and best practices that build quality across data products.
• Leading technical design sessions with the architect team, engineering teams, and stakeholders to solve complex data platform challenges collaboratively.
• Supporting modernisation and migration from legacy to cloud‑native solutions, overseeing transitional architectures that maintain business continuity.

The successful candidate

• Proven hands‑on experience designing and implementing data platform solutions with proven delivery of production‑grade systems at scale, with at least 2–3 years in a team lead, manager, or senior architect role with people management responsibilities.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing technical teams, including performance management, career development, and building team culture.
• Experience owning delivery roadmaps, OKRs, and budgets for an architecture or engineering function.
• Strong technical foundation across the data platform stack: Databricks lakehouse architecture (Delta Lake, medallion patterns), Azure Synapse (star schemas, dedicated pools), and data pipeline orchestration (ADF or Databricks Workflows).
• Experience with data quality frameworks, data contracts, and computational governance approaches.
• Understanding of retail, manufacturing, finance, or supply chain business processes and how data flows through a business.
• Strong collaboration skills working alongside domain architects, lead engineers, and development teams in a peer‑based environment.
• Excellent communication skills translating technical architecture into understandable concepts for both technical and business stakeholders, including creating solution designs, architecture decision records, and data flow diagrams.
• Ability to balance strategic perspective with pragmatic delivery - comfortable stepping into technical detail when needed while maintaining focus on team effectiveness and architectural coherence.

Craft Your Future with Pandora: A Career Built Around You

At Pandora, your career is a journey of growth, development, and limitless potential. We believe in empowering you to shape your own path and craft your own incredible.

What We Offer

• Career Development & Growth: Be at the forefront of an inspiring journey with tailored development plans, mentorship, and regular reviews to ensure you’re on track to achieving your goals.
• Competitive Salary & Regular Reviews: We make sure your efforts are rewarded fairly, with regular opportunities to review your progress and success.
• Generous Bonus Scheme: Your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed, with opportunities to earn performance‑related bonuses.
• Hybrid Working Flexibility: Strike the perfect balance between collaboration and focus, with three office days and two work‑from‑home days between Monday and Thursday.
• Early Finish Fridays: Start your weekends early by finishing work at 3 PM every Friday.
• Private Healthcare: Your wellbeing is our priority, with access to private healthcare that keeps you covered.
• Employee Discounts & Perks: Enjoy 55% off Pandora products and exclusive access to discounted brands, cinema tickets, gym memberships, holidays, and more.
• Annual Leave & Flexibility: 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell leave, and your birthday off to celebrate YOU!
• Wellness Hub & Support: Access to wellness resources and a dedicated Employee Assistance Programme offering free, confidential support 24/7.
• Recognition & Celebrations: Your achievements are our success. With a recognition programme and regular celebrations, we ensure every success is shared and appreciated.

At Pandora, we believe in creating not just a job, but a journey of fulfillment, growth, and success. If you’re ready to take the next step in crafting your incredible career, join us and let’s build something extraordinary together.

About Pandora

Pandora is the world's largest jewellery brand, specialising in the design, crafting and marketing of accessible luxury jewellery made from high-quality materials. Each piece is created to inspire self-expression, allowing people to share their stories and passions through meaningful jewellery. Pandora jewellery is sold in more than 100 countries through 7,000 points of sale, including more than 2,800 concept stores.
Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Pandora employs around 39,000 people worldwide and crafts its jewellery with 100% recycled silver and gold. Pandora is committed to leadership in sustainability and has set out to halve greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2030. Pandora is listed on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange and generated revenue of DKK 32.5 billion (EUR 4.4 billion) in 2025.

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