Specialist: Data Architecture

Absa Group; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 700 000 - 900 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading African banking institution is seeking a Data Architect responsible for designing and governing data architectures that enable analytics and reporting. The role requires expertise in data modeling, cloud data platforms, and strong communication skills to collaborate with technical and business stakeholders. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree and over 7 years of relevant experience, contributing to modernizing the bank's data capabilities in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• Strong experience in data modelling across various paradigms.
• Deep understanding of data engineering technologies and principles.
• Proficiency with cloud data platforms and hybrid environments.

Responsibilities

• Design data architectures supporting operational systems and analytics.
• Define data models and structures aligned to enterprise standards.
• Guide data engineers on best practices for ETL/ELT.

Skills

Data modelling (conceptual, logical, physical)

Data engineering principles

Cloud-based data platforms (AWS, Azure)

Data warehouses and data lakes

Integration patterns (ETL/ELT)

Communication skills

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering or related field

Professional certifications (AWS/Azure Data Architect, Databricks)

Tools

SQL

Spark

Kafka

Flink

Airflow

Job description

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.

With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

Job Summary

The Data Architect is responsible for designing, governing, and optimising the data architectures that enable analytics, operational systems, regulatory reporting, and enterprise data platforms within the bank. The role focuses on defining end‑to‑end data design and ensuring scalable, secure, compliant, and aligned to enterprise standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Design conceptual, logical, and physical data architectures supporting operational systems, analytics, and regulatory reporting.
• Design end‑to‑end data flows including ingestion, transformation, storage, integration, and output models.
• Define data models, schemas, and structures aligned to enterprise information architecture and canonical models.
• Create architectural blueprints, data pipeline designs, and integration patterns (streaming, batch, event‑driven).
• Ensure data solutions meet NFRs, performance, reliability, scalability, and security requirements.
• Collaborate with platform teams to shape the bank’s cloud and on‑prem data platforms, including data lakehouse, MDM, and metadata catalog.
• Guide data engineers on best‑practice patterns for ETL/ELT, distributed processing, storage optimisation, and schema evolution.
• Influence the selection and configuration of data processing frameworks and tooling.
• Support BU‑aligned delivery teams by translating business requirements into robust architecture designs.
• Ensure data architectures comply with enterprise standards, data governance requirements, and regulatory obligations (POPIA, AML/KYC, retention policies).
• Maintain standards for data modelling, data lifecycle management, lineage, and monitoring.
• Promote the adoption of reusable data assets, common data domains, and golden sources.
• Participate in solution reviews, architecture governance forums, and design assurance activities.
• Partner with Information, Solution, Business Architects, Data Engineers, and Analysts to drive coherent end‑to‑end solutions.
• Engage with business stakeholders to understand domain context and ensure data requirements are accurately reflected in technical designs.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to BU teams on data‑related design decisions.
• Contribute to defining the bank’s data architecture target state, focusing on modernisation, simplification, interoperability, and automation.
• Advocate modern data concepts: data products, federated domain‑oriented ownership, event‑driven integration, and open‑table formats (Parquet/Iceberg).
• Evaluate emerging technologies and propose evolution paths for the bank’s data ecosystem.

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong experience in data modelling (conceptual, logical, physical) across relational, dimensional, and NoSQL paradigms.
• Deep understanding of data engineering principles and technologies (e.g., SQL, Spark, Kafka, Flink, Airflow).
• Proficiency with cloud‑based data platforms (AWS, Azure) and hybrid/on‑premise environments.
• Expertise with data warehouses, data lakes, and lakehouse architectures.
• Familiarity with metadata/catalog tools, governance frameworks, and data quality tooling.
• Knowledge of integration patterns (ETL/ELT, API‑based, stream processing, microservices).
• Experience in designing high‑volume, high‑throughput, and low‑latency data architectures.

• Strong communication skills with both technical and business stakeholders.
• Ability to simplify complexity and explain technical concepts in business‑friendly language.
• Effective collaboration with a track record of influencing decision‑making across federated teams.
• Analytical thinker with strong problem‑solving skills and architectural discipline.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field.
• Professional certifications advantageous: AWS/Azure Data Architect, Databricks.
• 7+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or solution architecture roles—preferably within banking or other highly regulated sectors.

Key Outcomes & Measures of Success

• Delivery of high‑quality, scalable data architectures adopted across BU and group teams.
• Performance, reliability, and resilience improvements across data pipelines and platforms.
• Increased standardisation and decreased redundancy of data solutions.
• Strong alignment between data architecture, information architecture, and solution architectures.
• Compliance with governance and regulatory requirements with traceable lineageand controls.
• Improved ability of business teams to access trusted, well‑structured data for analytics and reporting.

Working Model

• Hybrid working arrangement.
• Active participation in Architecture Council, Data Governance Board, and design authority sessions.
• Frequent engagement with engineering teams to provide hands‑on architectural direction.

Education

Bachelor’s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Data Science, Bachelor’s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Information Technology.

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised.