Senior Data Architect

This is an exciting opportunity for a highly experienced Data Architect to play a pivotal role in shaping the enterprise data architecture that underpins FSCS's strategic ambitions, major transformation programmes and emerging AI capabilities.

Acting as the principal authority for data architecture, the role holder will shape enterprise-wide architectural decisions, influence investment priorities and ensure delivery teams align to agreed architectural principles and target capabilities.

This role will provide architectural leadership across key transformation programmes, including Advice Transformation and Deposits Transformation, ensuring programme-specific solutions meet immediate business needs whilst contributing to a coherent, scalable and future‑ready enterprise data architecture.

Working closely with business leaders, enterprise architects, product teams, technology teams and delivery partners, you will define the future direction of data, analytics, automation and AI capabilities across FSCS, ensuring all solutions are aligned to governance, security, privacy and regulatory requirements.

Key Responsibilities Include

• Leading the architectural direction of data across major transformation initiatives.
• Defining enterprise-wide data, analytics, automation and AI architecture capabilities.
• Shaping the future evolution of data platforms, information management and governance practices.
• Providing architecture assurance, governance and independent challenge of solution designs.
• Influencing senior stakeholders and supporting strategic decisions through architecture options and impact assessments.
• Establishing the foundations for secure, scalable and sustainable cloud‑based data and analytics capabilities.

About You

You'll bring significant experience operating in a senior Data Architect or Enterprise Architect role, with a proven track record of leading architecture across large‑scale transformation programmes and defining enterprise‑wide data strategies and target‑state architectures. You will be confident operating at an organisational level with experience influencing executive stakeholders, shaping strategic decisions and providing architecture governance and assurance within complex environments.

Successful candidates will also be able demonstrate behaviours aligned to FSCS's ways of working, taking accountability, showing courage, working stronger together, embracing continuous learning and remaining focused on delivering results.

Knowledge And Skills Requirements

• Strong expertise in enterprise and data architecture, including the development of data strategies, architecture roadmaps, target‑state architectures and governance approaches that support organisational transformation.
• Deep knowledge of data architecture, data modelling, information management, data governance, and modern analytics ecosystems spanning data warehouses, data lakes, lakehouses and cloud‑based platforms.
• Understanding of the architectural foundations required to support AI, machine learning, generative AI and intelligent automation, including responsible AI principles, governance and enabling technologies such as RAG, MLOps and DataOps.
• Experience designing cloud‑native and distributed data architectures, with knowledge of API‑led integration, event‑driven architectures and modern platform engineering practices.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders, translate complex business challenges into strategic architectural outcomes, and lead cross‑functional teams through coaching, collaboration and effective communication.

Why Join Us?

Join an organisation with a clear purpose - to support financial stability, giving customers confidence, continuity and compensation when financial services fail.

Here, you’ll take real accountability for decisions that make a difference, working with courage and honesty to challenge and improve outcomes. You’ll collaborate with talented colleagues to deliver the right solutions at the right time, continually learning as you go.

Together, we stay focused on what success looks like, being accessible, efficient and trusted, while delivering meaningful results that strengthen the UK financial system.

Our Offer

We have invested greatly in a flexible people offer that we’re proud of, that our employees love and that supports and promotes diversity, inclusion, and overall wellbeing.

Our hybrid policy supports a healthy work life balance allowing up to 60% work from home and 40% working from our brand new office space between Aldgate and Liverpool Street.

Key Benefits Include

• Employer pension contributions from 9% - 15% dependant on your contributions and length of service
• Life assurance, income and critical illness protection
• Private medical and dental insurance
• EAP and Virtual GP
• 26 days annual leave + bank holidays and the option to sell 5 or buy up to 9 additional days per annum to suit your lifestyle
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity and Adoption leave - 6 months full pay
• Additional discounts and options to earn rewards to spend at your choice of retailer

FSCS exists to protect customers of financial services firms that have failed. If the company you’ve been dealing with has failed and can’t pay claims against it, we can step in to pay compensation.

We aim to build and maintain the trust of everyone we work with through rigorously independent decisions, efficient operations, resilience in tackling financial failures and always putting our customers first.

We don't just protect consumers with claims against failed firms, we promote awareness and understanding of FSCS protection, learn lessons and work with our stakeholders to help prevent future costs and failures.

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