Lead Data & Systems Architect

Lead Data & Systems Architect The closing date is 23 September 2025

The post-holder will provide technical expertise and leadership in data engineering, ensuring that data solutions are designed, developed, and deployed in line with NHS and organisational best practices. They will work within the Business Intelligence team to support the delivery of scalable, efficient, and innovative data solutions.

Main duties of the job The Lead Data & Systems Architect will oversee the development and implementation of cloud-based data pipelines, ensuring data quality, accessibility, and security. They will also support the Head of Data Engineering in defining best practices, supporting team development, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

The post-holder will collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to align data engineering solutions with national and local data strategies. They will ensure that data solutions support operational and analytical needs, contributing to effective decision-making and service improvements across the organisation.

About us We are a multi award-winning organisation that has achieved the prestigious Investors in People Gold Award for "We invest in people" and "We invest in wellbeing" and are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We believe that every team member should have the opportunity to contribute and share their ideas.

We reward the hard work and commitment of our people with the following benefits:

• A competitive salary with annual pay reviews
• A generous annual leave entitlement starting at 27 days
• Membership of the NHS Pension Scheme
• Flexible working and family friendly policies, including enhanced parental leave and pay
• A wide range of in-house and external learning and development opportunities
• Access to salary sacrifice and discount schemes
• Access to employee assistance and occupational health services.

Job responsibilities Core Duties and Responsibilities (Key Result Areas)

Communication and Relationships

• Build and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including NHS partners, suppliers, and technical teams.
• Provide expert technical guidance to colleagues, ensuring clear communication of complex data engineering concepts.
• Present technical recommendations and project updates to senior leadership and stakeholders.
• Support the Head of Data Engineering in promoting best practices across data engineering and analytics teams.
• Contribute to documentation, reports, and formal papers on data engineering projects and initiatives.

Having the ability to deal with potentially aggressive/antagonistic situations.

Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive, and contentious information, presenting information to a wide range of stakeholders in a formal setting.

To oversee team members to deliver the requirements listed above; engage and liaise with key stakeholders, in particular:

• To support the delivery of day-to-day activities and projects
• To manage the team and drive delivery of a range of business initiatives and projects
• To support the identification and sharing of best practice in employee engagement
• To operate in a highly political and sensitive environment
• Support the portfolio of initiatives in demonstrating value for money for the current spend through tracking, managing, and delivering agreed benefits.

Analytical and Judgemental

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable and secure data pipelines in cloud environments.
• Analyse complex datasets to ensure data integrity, accuracy, and reliability.
• Support the evaluation and implementation of new data technologies and tools.
• Apply data engineering best practices to improve the efficiency of data processing and storage.
• Identify risks and mitigation strategies related to data engineering initiatives.

Be responsible for a high standard of work supporting the delivery of projects on time, to quality standards and in a cost-effective manner. Maintain project initiation documents and associated plans with regular team meetings to monitor progress and resources.

Demonstrate effective stakeholder management across different departments and at all levels.

Ensure that the projects maintain business focus, have clear authority and that the context, including risks, are actively managed in alignment with the strategic priorities of NHS.

Financial and Physical Resources

• Support cost-effective data engineering solutions within allocated budgets.
• Contribute to procurement decisions for data platforms, tools, and services.
• Ensure optimal use of cloud resources to maintain budgetary efficiency.

Act in a way that is compliant with Standing Orders and Standing Financial Instructions in the discharge of budget management responsibilities.

Budget holder for Data Engineering team, budget setting with the Head of Data Engineering. Responsible for ensuring adherence to the budget, ongoing monitoring of expenditure against budget and ensuring the appropriate documentation is available for scrutiny.

HR Responsibilities

Directly manages the Data Engineering team, responsible for day-to-day work assigned to Team.

Responsible for the recruitment of team staff, chair of recruitment panels and acting as the recruiting officer.

• Provide mentorship and technical guidance to data engineers.
• Support training and development initiatives to enhance team capabilities.
• Contribute to performance reviews and team development discussions.
• Foster an inclusive and collaborative working environment.

Managing third parties (such as consultants/interims) to ensure deliverables are met in a timely manner and within budget.

Information Resources

• Ensure adherence to NHS data governance and security policies.
• Support the implementation and maintenance of cloud-based data infrastructure.
• Contribute to the development of standard operating procedures for data engineering processes.
• Maintain technical documentation and ensure compliance with data management best practices.

Drafting reports summarising status on issues, appraising outcomes, and providing progress reports for the Data Engineering leads

Collate as required, qualitative and quantitative information and lead appropriate analysis to develop robust business cases and contribute to project products.

Analyse, interpret and present data to highlight issues, risks and support decision making.

Policy and Service Development Implementation

• Ensure compliance with NHS data governance, security, and privacy policies.
• Support the development and maintenance of robust data engineering standards.
• Promote the adoption of automation and modern data engineering practices.
• Provide recommendations for policy and process improvements related to data management.

Responsible for proposing and drafting changes, implementation and interpretation to policies, guidelines, and service level agreements (SLAs) which may impact service.

The post holder will need to maintain a good knowledge of emerging policies from government departments for example pensions, change management, constitution. This will assist in the thinking and definition of the strategy discussions for the data engineering CoP and stakeholders.

Research and Development

• Keep up to date with emerging data engineering technologies and methodologies.
• Research and evaluate new tools, techniques, and best practices to enhance data engineering capabilities.
• Support innovation in data-driven decision-making within the organisation.

Plan, develop and evaluate methods and processes for gathering, analysing, interpreting, and presenting data and information.

Deliver projects to comply with key performance indicators.

Co-ordinating Research & Development initiatives, delegating as appropriate.

Planning and Organisation

• Contribute to strategic planning for the data engineering function.
• Work collaboratively with the Business Intelligence and Data teams to align data engineering efforts with organisational goals.
• Plan and prioritise workload to meet project deadlines and service delivery requirements.

Contribute to identifying interdependencies across projects/functions, potential impacts on wider organisation, resource requirements and building in contingency and adjustments as necessary.

Contribute to the development of performance and governance strategies and the development and implementation of improvement programmes, in accordance with the CSU.

Contribute to short-, medium- and long-term business plans, achieving quality outcomes.

The job description and person specification are an outline of the tasks, responsibilities and outcomes required of the role. The job holder will carry out any other duties as may reasonably be required by their line manager.

Person Specification Education / Training / Qualifications

• Professional qualification at degree level in an information related discipline or equivalent experience
• Evidence of continued professional development

Experience

• Proven experience in the provision of data management systems
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