Data Architect - Outside IR35 - London, UK

Job Description: Data Architect

Location: London/United Kingdom | Experience: 10-12 years

Role type

Hands-on architecture and technical leadership role within a larger team

Seniority

Lead/senior individual contributor

Primary focus

Domain-driven data design for NoSQL and distributed database platforms

Stakeholder scope

Works closely with the Product Owner and business stakeholders on design decisions

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced, hands-on Data Architect to join a larger delivery team in London. The role will lead data and database design decisions, working closely with the Product Owner, business stakeholders and engineering teams. The successful candidate will combine strong architectural judgement with practical modelling capability, particularly in Domain-Driven Design, NoSQL and distributed database environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and lead data architecture and database design decisions within the assigned product or domain.
• Partner with the Product Owner and business stakeholders to translate business capabilities and domain requirements into robust data designs.
• Apply Domain-Driven Design principles, including clear domain boundaries, data ownership and appropriate modelling of business concepts.
• Produce hands-on conceptual, logical and physical data models for NoSQL and distributed database platforms.
• Design solutions using Cassandra and distributed SQL technologies such as YugabyteDB or Google Cloud Spanner, where appropriate.
• Guide the use of CQRS patterns and associated read/write models when they fit the solution context.
• Lead technical design reviews, evaluate trade-offs and provide clear recommendations to the wider team.
• Work alongside engineers to ensure designs are implementable, scalable, maintainable and aligned with agreed architecture principles.
• Support database solutions and non-production environments when specialist architectural input or hands-on intervention is required.
• Coach team members, establish modelling and design standards, and communicate decisions through clear architecture documentation.

Essential Skills and Experience

• 10-12 years of relevant experience across data architecture, data modelling, database engineering or related roles.
• Strong background in Domain-Driven Design and its application to data and database architecture.
• Deep hands-on data modelling experience, including conceptual, logical and physical models.
• Strong experience designing solutions in NoSQL environments, ideally Apache Cassandra.
• Experience with distributed database technologies, ideally YugabyteDB and/or Google Cloud Spanner.
• Ability to make and defend design decisions by explaining options, constraints, risks and trade-offs.
• Experience working closely with Product Owners, business stakeholders and multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong technical leadership, communication, facilitation and documentation skills.

Desirable Skills

• Practical experience with CQRS design and separate command/query data models.
• Experience with event-driven architectures, microservices or high-scale distributed systems.
• Exposure to cloud-native data services and architecture on Google Cloud Platform or AWS.
• Understanding of resilience, consistency, partitioning, performance and operability considerations in distributed data platforms.
• Experience establishing data architecture guardrails, patterns and governance within Agile product teams.

Success Measures

• Design decisions are timely, well reasoned and aligned with product and business needs.
• Data models are clear, implementable and suitable for the selected NoSQL or distributed database technology.
• Engineering teams receive effective technical direction and can deliver against the agreed architecture.
• Product Owners and business stakeholders understand key design choices, trade-offs and implications.
• Architecture documentation and reusable patterns improve consistency across the wider team.