We are looking for a highly capable Data Architect to join us on a 24-month FTC, bringing the ability to translate business needs into robust, scalable data architectures and confidently lead end-to-end design across complex, multi-domain technology landscapes.

The role requires someone who can work collaboratively with business stakeholders, solution architects, data engineers, and product teams to shape, govern, and deliver scalable, reliable, and data-driven solutions that support operational, analytical, and regulatory objectives, while embedding integrity, lineage, and governance throughout the wider data estate and ensuring alignment to enterprise architecture and strategy.

The ideal candidate will bring strong expertise in conceptual, logical, and physical data modelling, alongside deep experience in data governance, data quality, and metadata management. A strong knowledge of Master and Reference Data Management (MDM/RDM), with experience working across integrated data governance and metadata management ecosystems, including Infosphere, Alation, Informatica, and Ataccama, supporting data quality, lineage, governance, and enterprise-wide data consistency, would be highly valuable.

Key Responsibilities

Data Architecture & Modelling

• Develop conceptual, logical, and physical data models for operational, analytical, and regulatory workloads.

• Create and maintain data architecture blueprints and reference architectures covering ingestion, integration, storage, lineage, and consumption.

• Define modelling patterns (3NF, dimensional/star, Data Vault, canonical models) and guide teams on when and how to apply them.

• Optimise physical designs for performance, scalability, cost and resilience across cloud data platforms (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks, Synapse, BigQuery).

• Lead design reviews, ensuring models are accurate, high-quality, and aligned with business capabilities and domain boundaries.

Data Governance & Metadata Management

• Define data ownership, stewardship models, and contribute to the governance operating framework.

• Build and maintain data dictionaries, business glossaries, critical data elements (CDEs) and metadata standards.

• Ensure all data solutions align with governance policies, including lineage, retention, access, and security requirements.

• Support governance forums and collaborate with business stewards to drive consistent definitions and controlled change.

Data Quality Architecture & Pipelines

• Embed data quality rules and dimensions (completeness, timeliness, accuracy, uniqueness, validity, consistency) across ETL/ELT and streaming pipelines.

• Design data quality metrics, alerts, and monitoring frameworks to surface quality issues to stewards and downstream consumers.

• Partner with engineering teams to implement automated DQ checks, profiling, and remediation patterns.

• Ensure DQ scoring and lineage are built into architecture in a systematic and reusable way.

Stakeholder Engagement & Requirements Leadership

• Lead architectural discovery to capture business needs, translate them into data requirements, and shape programme/solution scope.

• Manage and communicate architectural decisions with senior business and technical stakeholders.

• Navigate ambiguity and stakeholder nuance, ensuring alignment across product teams, SMEs, vendors, and governance bodies.

• Produce high-quality design documentation and present designs to Architecture Review Boards or equivalent governance forums.

Delivery Governance & Technical Leadership

• Oversee the implementation of data architectures and ensure engineering teams follow patterns, standards, and best practices.

• Provide technical guidance on integration design, ingestion patterns, transformation methods, caching, orchestration, and storage optimisation.

• Conduct design assurance throughout delivery, ensuring solutions adhere to non-functional requirements (performance, availability, resilience, cost).

• Coach engineers, analysts, and stewards on modelling, data quality, and governance practices.

Skills & Experience Required

Essential

• Proven experience as a Data Architect, Solution Architect with strong data background, or senior data engineer/analyst transitioning into architecture.

• Knowledge of Master and Reference Data Management and experience of integrated associated systems (Infosphere, Alation, Informatica, Ataccama etc)

• Demonstrable expertise in conceptual, logical, and physical data modelling with clear understanding of modelling patterns and trade-offs.

• Strong understanding of data governance frameworks, metadata management, data ownership/stewardship models, and business glossaries.

• Hands-on experience embedding data quality rules, profiling, scoring, and exception management into pipelines.

• Familiarity with modern cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, Azure Synapse, BigQuery, Redshift, etc.).

• Ability to lead architectural thinking across multiple domains and manage stakeholder complexity.

• Ability to produce high-quality architectural artefacts: blueprints, models, solution designs, integration specifications.

• Experience working in regulated sectors (utilities, financial services, health, etc.) is advantageous.

Desirable

• Experience with data mesh, domain-driven design, or federated data ownership models.

• Experience with Great Expectations, dbt tests, or enterprise DQ tooling.

• Knowledge of MDM, reference data management, and semantic modelling.

• Experience with streaming platforms (Kafka, EventHub) and API-based integration.

• Understanding of AI/ML data preparation pipelines and feature store design.

What Success Looks Like in This Role

Clear, scalable data models adopted across teams and projects.

• High trust and alignment among stakeholders because architectural decisions are well-reasoned and clearly communicated.

• Measurable improvements in data quality, lineage visibility, and governance adoption.

• Production of repeatable design patterns and frameworks that accelerate delivery.

• Delivery teams are confident, aligned, and able to execute effectively because the architecture removes ambiguity.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary dependant on skills and experience

• Learning and development opportunities, including mentoring and a range of formal courses and open learning resources.

• Entry into the company annual bonus scheme.

• Annual leave from 26-30 rising with length of service, and the option to purchase up to 5 extra days.

• A ‘Celebration Day’ in addition to public holidays that people can use to celebrate a religious festival or other occasion that is important to them.

• A generous 'double match pension scheme' that doubles the contributions you make (company contribution capped at 12%)

• We offer a range of family benefits including enhanced Maternity, Adoption, Paternity, Shared Parental Leave, Fertility Support Leave and up to 5 full or 10 half days of paid Carers Leave.

• Menopause policy and Reasonable Adjustment policy to help everyone perform at their best.

• Access to our Wellbeing Centre with support for looking after your physical and mental health.

• Discounts at a Range of Retail Outlets through our Tap4Perks scheme

• Discounts on Dental and Medical Insurance through our Tap4Perks scheme through salary sacrifice

• Up to 4 Affinity days a year to volunteer in the community.

• Life Assurance.

Disability Confident

As a Disability Confident employer, we’re committed to offering interviews to disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria and opt in on the application form. Ask the Talent Acquisition lead for the full job description to see all the criteria. If we have a very high volume of applicants and we’re not able to offer interviews to all, we’ll take a fair and proportionate number of disabled candidates through.

Affinity Water recognises the benefits of greater diversity in our workforce to better reflect the communities we serve. We are committed to building a more inclusive culture where every member of our workforce can thrive.

You can find out what it’s like to work at Affinity Water through our career site https://www.affinitywatercareers.co.uk/ where our colleagues share their career development stories and you can get a feel for our company culture.