Senior Data Architect

Contract: 12 months

Rate: Up to £700/day (Inside IR35)

Start: ASAP

Hours: 35 hours per week

The Role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Data Architect to join a major enterprise data transformation programme within the aviation data and analytics space.

The organisation is redesigning and modernising its data estate to support the next generation of AI, advanced analytics and real‑time data capabilities. A key challenge is connecting historically siloed data estates and creating an architecture that enables data to move seamlessly across the wider business.

This is not a purely strategic or advisory architecture position. You will be expected to work closely with engineering, product, data and AI teams, helping shape the target architecture while remaining close enough to delivery to understand the technical realities and drive change.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead the design and evolution of enterprise data architecture across a large‑scale transformation programme.
• Drive data interoperability across previously siloed data estates, creating a more connected and reusable data ecosystem.
• Design architectures that enable AI, advanced analytics, predictive modelling and real‑time data capabilities.
• Lead architectural decisions across AWS and Snowflake, with exposure to Databricks.
• Work closely with engineers and delivery teams to ensure architectural designs are practical, scalable and deliverable.
• Define and evolve approaches to data modelling, schema design and data structuring.
• Ensure the data estate is structured appropriately to support modern AI use cases, including LLMs and knowledge graphs.
• Work with technologies and capabilities including AWS Bedrock and Neo4j, while remaining technology‑agnostic when evaluating future AI solutions.
• Embed data governance, lineage, privacy and metadata principles into architectural designs, working alongside an established governance function.
• Translate complex technical architecture into clear business language and build alignment across technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Balance long‑term architectural direction with the immediate requirements of delivery teams.

What We're Looking For

• Extensive experience as a Senior Data Architect, Enterprise Data Architect or similar, working within complex enterprise environments.
• Proven experience delivering or leading large‑scale data transformation and modernisation programmes.
• Strong, hands‑on architectural experience with AWS and Snowflake.
• Good understanding of Databricks and modern cloud data platforms.
• Strong knowledge of data modelling, schema design and data architecture patterns.
• Strong SQL and data analysis capabilities.
• Experience designing architectures that connect and integrate data across multiple platforms, systems and business domains.
• Strong understanding of how enterprise data estates need to be structured to support AI and machine learning use cases.
• Knowledge of modern AI concepts including LLMs, GenAI, knowledge graphs and scalable model deployment.
• Understanding of data governance, lineage, privacy and metadata principles.
• Ability to work closely with engineers and challenge or guide technical decisions without needing to personally build every component.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to business stakeholders.
• A pragmatic, delivery‑focused approach, comfortable working in a fast‑paced environment with ambiguity.

Particularly Valuable

• A background progressing from Data Engineering into Data Architecture.
• Experience with AWS Bedrock or similar GenAI services.
• Experience with Neo4j, knowledge graphs or graph‑based data architectures.
• Previous experience within aviation, travel or another data‑intensive industry.
• Experience designing enterprise data platforms specifically to support AI‑driven products and analytics.

If this sounds like you and you’re looking for a long‑term contract where you can have genuine influence over a major data transformation and help shape an enterprise data estate for the next generation of AI, we’d love to hear from you.