Data Architect (Snowflake, 8 Month FTC)

Join our team as a Data Architect for an 8-month fixed-term contract. In this hands-on role, you will define data strategy, architectural principles, and target/transition architectures within a complex, cloud-native environment. You will combine strategic leadership with deep technical expertise in data modeling, detailed design, distributed systems, and engineering problem-solving. Your responsibilities will include defining and evolving data strategy, architecture principles, and standards, as well as designing secure, well-governed cloud data architectures. Experience in UK wealth management, financial services, or fintech is preferred.

- Defining and evolving data strategy, architecture principles, standards, and target-state roadmaps. - Designing and operating event streaming platforms, including Kafka, Kinesis, or equivalent. - Architecting operational and analytical data pipelines across APIs, streaming, CDC, batch, and ETL/ELT.

- Cloud-Native & Distributed Systems: Deep expertise in microservices, domain-driven design (DDD), bounded contexts, data ownership, event-driven integration, eventual consistency and distributed transactions - Data Modelling & Storage: Strong data modelling skills and the ability to select appropriate data stores—including relational, NoSQL, graph, time-series, distributed SQL and lakehouse technologies—based on business and technical requirements - Event Streaming: Hands-on experience designing and operating Kafka, Kinesis or equivalent platforms, including partitioning, ordering, event contracts, schema evolution, idempotency, replay, delivery guarantees, fault tolerance, security and operational support - End-to-End Data Flows: Architect operational and analytical data pipelines across APIs, streaming, CDC, batch and ETL/ELT, embedding data quality, lineage, metadata, security, testing and observability throughout - Technical Leadership & Delivery: Work closely with engineering and product teams in fast-paced agile environments, making pragmatic trade-offs and establishing lightweight guardrails, automation and architecture decision records - AI-Assisted Engineering: Practical experimentation with AI-assisted architecture and engineering tools, understanding their benefits and limitations across research, modelling, coding, testing and documentation - Risk, Security & Resilience: Design secure, well-governed cloud data architectures that support sensitive data handling, operational resilience, traceable controls and regulatory obligations - UK wealth management, financial services or fintech experience; candidates from other complex, regulated industries will also be considered - Legacy modernisation experience involving Oracle, Sybase, ISAM storage and SFTP/file-based integration, including migration, coexistence, reconciliation, CDC and progressive decoupling