Sunderland
Data Architect 3 days a week onsite in Sunderland 35hr working week with flexible working hours We're looking for an experienced Data Architect to join a well-established company who are going through an enterprise-wide modernisation programme. This is a brand-new role within the business and you'll be responsible for defining and evolving the data architecture that underpins enterprise-scale BI and self-service analytics across a large, complex organisation operating across the UK and Europe. This is a strategic and hands-on role where you will set the technical vision, standards, and frameworks for modern data platforms, ensuring they are scalable, secure, cost-effective, and aligned with business priorities. You will act as a technical authority for data architecture, working closely with BI Engineers, Developers, Product, and senior stakeholders to enable high-quality analytics and data products today and in the future. What you'll be doing Architecture & Strategy • Assess existing data architectures, documenting current-state models, pipelines, tools, and standards, • Define and maintain the enterprise data architecture vision and roadmap aligned to BI strategy and business goals, • Design logical and physical data models optimised for reporting, analytics, and self-service BI, • Establish and govern architectural patterns (eg medallion architecture, dimensional modelling, data vault), • Evaluate and recommend modern data technologies and tooling, • Stay current with industry trends such as open table formats (Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake), data observability, and cloud-native services, • Lead proofs-of-concept and technical assessments for new technologies, • Define standard business entities, metrics, and KPIs for consistent reporting, • Review and approve complex data models created by BI Engineers, • Partner with BI leadership to shape data and analytics strategy, • Provide architectural guidance and mentorship to BI Engineers and Developers, • Work closely with Front End BI Developers to ensure data structures support performant dashboards, • Translate business requirements into clear, practical architectural solutions Essential experience • Extensive experience in data architecture, designing and delivering enterprise-scale data solutions, • Strong expertise in data modelling with excellent SQL skills, • Deep knowledge of modern data engineering patterns (ETL/ELT, data lakes, lakehouse, warehousing), • Hands-on experience with cloud data platforms (AWS preferred: Redshift, Athena, S3, Glue; Azure or GCP beneficial), • Strong business acumen and ability to link data architecture to real business outcomes, • Pragmatic mindset: balancing architectural best practice with delivery and cost constraints, • Curious, continuous learner with an interest in emerging technologies If you're passionate about building robust, scalable data architectures and want to have a meaningful impact on how data is used across an organisation, please send your CV.