Job Title: Lead Architect

Location: London, UK (3 days a week in office)

SC Cleared/Eligibility: Required

Job Type: Full-Time

Experience: 11+ Years (Relevant exp 10+ years)

Job Overview:

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Lead Architect to play a pivotal role in the design, development, and maintenance of our cutting-edge Azure Databricks data platform for handling economic data. This role will be instrumental in establishing a robust and scalable data and analytics platform that supports critical business functions, including Monetary Analysis, Forecasting, and Modelling.

The successful candidate will possess a deep understanding of data management and engineering principles, cloud computing technologies (specifically Azure and Databricks), and a strong foundation in economic data analysis. You will be responsible for leading the technical vision and roadmap for the platform, ensuring its openness, reusability, and compatibility across various modelling runtimes such as Python, R, and MATLAB, all seamlessly supported by the Databricks environment.

Responsibilities:

• Platform Architecture & Design:
• Define and document the overall architecture of the Azure and Databricks platform, encompassing data ingestion, transformation, storage, processing, and consumption.
• Design and implement robust, configurable and scalable data pipelines for ingesting, cleaning, transforming, and loading economic data from diverse sources (e.g., APIs, databases, financial data providers).
• Develop and maintain specifications and documentation for data transformations, ensuring consistency and ease of use across different modelling runtimes.
• Integrate various data sources and tools into the Databricks platform.
• Modelling Runtime Support:
• Ensure seamless integration and support for Python, R, and MATLAB modelling runtimes within the Databricks environment.
• Develop and maintain libraries, frameworks, and tools to facilitate model development, deployment, and monitoring across different runtimes.
• Optimise data processing and model execution performance within the Databricks environment.
• Data Governance & Quality:
• Establish and enforce data quality standards and best practices throughout the data lifecycle.
• Implement data lineage tracking and provenance to ensure data traceability and auditability.
• Develop and maintain data security and access control mechanisms to protect sensitive data.
• Team Leadership & Collaboration:
• Mentor and guide junior data engineers and analysts on best practices in data engineering and cloud computing.
• Collaborate closely with data scientists, economists, and business stakeholders.
• Stay abreast of the latest advancements in cloud computing, data engineering, and economic data analysis.
• Innovation & Continuous Improvement:
• Identify opportunities to improve platform performance, scalability, and efficiency.
• Research and evaluate emerging technologies and tools.
• Drive innovation in the use of data and technology to support business objectives.

Qualifications/Skills:

• 10+ years of proven experience as a Lead Architect or a similar senior technical role in a data-driven environment, with at least 5+ years specifically focused on Azure cloud solutions.
• Deep understanding of data engineering principles, including data warehousing, data modelling, data integration, and data quality.
• Extensive experience with Azure Databricks, including data pipelines, Delta Lake, and other relevant services (minimum 3 years hands-on experience).
• Strong proficiency in Python and experience with other programming languages (e.g., R, Scala, .NET).
• Experience with API development and integration, including RESTful APIs and API documentation standards.
• Familiarity with economic data analysis concepts and methodologies.
• Experience with Agile development methodologies and DevOps practices.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Active Azure Certifications: At least one of the following is required:
• Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Azure Data Engineer Associate