Principal Enterprise Data Architect

About the role

Are you looking to take a hands‑on role in a data and AI transformation within a multi‑national organisation? The Principal Enterprise Data Architect will provide strategic and technical leadership for the organisation’s enterprise data architecture, ensuring data platforms, models, and integration patterns enable scalable analytics, AI, and digital use cases. Acting as the senior architectural authority for data, this role shapes long‑term data architecture strategy while remaining closely engaged with delivery teams to ensure designs are practical, consistent, and fit for purpose.

Key responsibilities

• Act as the senior technical authority for data architecture, defining the long‑term enterprise data architecture strategy that supports analytics, AI, and digital initiatives.
• Define, maintain, and govern data architecture principles, standards, reference architectures, and design patterns across the organisation.
• Translate business strategy and Value Pool priorities into coherent data architecture roadmaps and target‑state designs.
• Work with the architectural community to collaboratively define and build out Business Capability Maps.
• Define high‑level architecture for Value Pool aligned use cases.
• Offer guidance to enterprise leaders, product managers and owners, and delivery teams through transformation and optimisation initiatives.
• Support the formulation of the business strategy, outcomes and capabilities and strategic technology alignment.
• Provide enterprise oversight of solutions and dovetail them into the Enterprise Architecture pillar.
• Offer a sounding board or an escalation point for any architectural decisions required.
• Set the context, define common elements and create patterns and standards to apply the details at a project level.
• Assist management and collaborators in evaluating the business’ mission and ensuring that the company uses its data platforms effectively.
• Generate graphic representations of the overall architecture.
• Provide architectural leadership and assurance across major programmes and initiatives, guiding complex design decisions and trade‑offs.
• Partner closely with data engineering, platform, security, and application teams to ensure architectures are practical, scalable, secure, and fit for purpose.
• Ensure consistent adoption of data modelling standards, integration patterns, and platform architectures across domains.
• Lead the architectural approach to enterprise data platforms, including cloud data foundations, analytics platforms, streaming, and integration capabilities.
• Influence senior business and technology stakeholders, clearly articulating architectural options, risks, and impacts.
• Balance innovation with architectural discipline, enabling new data technologies and patterns to be adopted safely and sustainably.
• Embed data governance, quality, security, privacy, and regulatory requirements into architecture by design.
• Mentor and coach data architects and senior engineers, raising architectural capability and consistency across teams.
• Contribute to technology evaluation and investment decisions, shaping tooling standards and platform evolution.
• Support delivery teams throughout the lifecycle, from early concept and solution design through to industrialisation.

Qualifications and skills

Essential

• Extensive experience in a senior data architecture role (Principal, Lead, or Enterprise Data Architect) within a large, complex organisation.
• Proven ability to define, govern, and evolve enterprise‑scale data architectures supporting analytics, AI, and digital use cases.
• Deep expertise in data architecture principles, including data modelling, integration patterns, metadata, and information lifecycle management.
• Strong hands‑on experience with cloud‑based data platforms (Azure preferred or equivalent), including data lakes, data warehousing, and analytics platforms.
• Demonstrated experience establishing and enforcing architecture standards, reference architectures, and design patterns across multiple teams or domains.
• Proven track record of providing architectural leadership and assurance across complex, high‑impact initiatives.
• Strong understanding of data governance, quality, security, privacy, and regulatory requirements, and how to embed these into architectural designs.
• Ability to translate business strategy and Value Pool priorities into coherent target‑state architectures and roadmaps.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the ability to articulate architectural trade‑offs, risks, and recommendations to senior leaders.
• Experience mentoring and coaching other architects and senior engineers, raising architectural maturity and consistency across the organisation.

Preferred

• Experience working within large‑scale data and AI transformation programmes.
• Strong familiarity with Azure‑native data technologies (e.g. Databricks, Synapse, Event Hubs, AKS, Airflow).
• Experience with streaming and real‑time data architectures and event‑driven integration patterns.
• Exposure to domain‑oriented or federated data architectures (e.g. data mesh‑influenced models).
• Experience contributing to or shaping enterprise technology and investment roadmaps.
• Background working closely with cloud platform, security, and DevOps teams on end‑to‑end solution design.
• Experience in regulated or highly governed industries.
• Postgraduate qualification or relevant cloud or architecture certifications.

Equal Opportunities

Haleon is committed to mobilising our purpose in a way that represents the diverse consumers and communities who rely on our brands every day. We guide our inclusive culture by valuing different backgrounds and views, supporting the needs of our consumers and unleashing the full potential of our people.