Data Architect

Data Architect (Databricks), Financial Services

Contract: 1 month (extension likely) | IR35: Outside | Location: Remote

The role

Our financial services client is building out its Databricks Lakehouse platform and needs a hands-on Data Architect to define the target architecture and set the standards the delivery team builds to.

Responsibilities

• Design and own the end-to-end Databricks architecture, from ingestion through to consumption
• Define batch and streaming patterns using Delta Lake, Delta Live Tables and Workflows
• Lead data modelling and lakehouse design
• Implement governance through Unity Catalog, including access control, lineage and audit
• Set standards for data quality, performance and cost
• Review engineering designs and mentor the team
• Translate business and regulatory requirements into technical solutions

Essential

• Proven Data Architect experience designing production Databricks platforms
• Strong Delta Lake, Spark (PySpark/SQL) and Unity Catalog skills
• Financial services background, ideally with regulatory data (BCBS 239, GDPR, FCA/PRA)
• Data security expertise, including RBAC, masking and PII handling
• CI/CD and infrastructure as code (Terraform, Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions)
• Confident engaging senior stakeholders

Desirable

• Databricks certifications
• Legacy warehouse migration to Databricks
• Azure Data Factory, Kafka or Event Hubs, dbt, Purview or Collibra