At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the design and governance of data architecture for Scotland's Census 2031.
- Company: Join a dynamic public sector client focused on innovative data solutions.
- Benefits: Competitive day rate, hybrid working, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Work in a collaborative Agile environment with a focus on continuous improvement.
- Why this job: Make a significant impact on data strategy and governance in a vital national project.
- Qualifications: Proven experience in data architecture, leadership, and stakeholder engagement.
The predicted salary is between 61408 - 75000 £ per year.
Harvey Nash's Pub Sec client requires senior data architecture expertise to support the delivery of data capabilities underpinning digital products and services for Scotland's Census 2031. The supplier must provide a Lead Data Architect capable of setting and delivering the data vision across the programme, ensuring that data is structured, governed and utilised effectively to meet business and analytical needs.
You will set the vision for the organisation's use of data through effective data design, ensuring that data assets are scalable, secure and aligned to organisational objectives and priorities. At this level, the Lead Data Architect will translate business needs into a robust data architecture and ensure consistency across services and products.
The role requires leadership across multidisciplinary teams, working within Agile delivery environments and engaging effectively with stakeholders across government partners. You will be accountable for defining and delivering the programme's data strategy, ensuring alignment with wider enterprise and cross-government data standards.
You must demonstrate strong capability in designing data models and metadata systems, overseeing multiple data architectures, and ensuring integration across platforms and services. You will champion data architecture standards and best practices, fostering a culture of quality, consistency and reuse within the data architecture community.
Main Duties- Design, govern and oversee data models and metadata systems, ensuring alignment with business needs
- Provide strategic leadership on data architecture across the programme, supporting the overall architecture lead and data architect vision
- Ensure systems are designed in accordance with agreed data architecture principles and standards
- Champion data architecture practices, standards and ways of working across teams
- Manage data-related risks, resolve complex data issues, and drive continuous improvement
- Ensure effective integration of data across products, services and external partners
- Data Strategy & Architecture: Ability to define and deliver a scalable data architecture strategy aligned to programme objectives and external standards (e.g. ONS).
- Data Modelling & Standards: Strong expertise in developing and governing data models, ensuring consistency and interoperability across systems and other government partners.
- Data Integration & Flow: Experience designing end-to-end data flows, enabling seamless data collection, processing, and dissemination at scale.
- Leadership & Governance: Proven leadership in complex programmes, establishing data governance, quality standards, and effective stakeholder engagement.
- Advanced architectures: Data mesh, data fabric, real-time/event-driven systems
- Modern tools: Databricks, Snowflake, Kafka, dbt
- Cloud engineering maturity: CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, DataOps, containers
- AI/ML enablement: Supporting MLOps and advanced analytics platforms
- Analytics expertise: BI tools and semantic data layers
- Certifications & frameworks: TOGAF, DAMA, cloud certifications
This role has been deemed Inside IR35 by the client. Applicants must hold, or be happy to apply for, a valid Basic Disclosure Scotland.
Lead Data Architect in Edinburgh employer: Harvey Nash Group
Join a leading Financial Services firm in London that prioritises innovation and security, offering a dynamic work culture where your expertise in information security and IT risk management will be valued. With a strong commitment to employee development, you will have access to continuous learning opportunities and the chance to lead high-performing teams in a collaborative environment. Enjoy competitive benefits and the unique advantage of working in one of the world's financial capitals, where your contributions will make a significant impact.
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We think this is how you could land Lead Data Architect in Edinburgh
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We think you need these skills to ace Lead Data Architect in Edinburgh
Some tips for your application 🫡
Highlight Your Data Projects:When applying for a temporary data science role at Harvey Nash Group, make sure to showcase any relevant projects you've worked on. Whether it's a personal project, an academic undertaking, or contributions to an open-source initiative, detailing these experiences can really set you apart and demonstrate your practical skills.
Emphasise Your Analytical Skills:In your CV and cover letter, focus on the specific analytical skills that are key to data science. Mention any experience with statistical tools, programming languages like Python or R, and data visualisation software. Don't forget to include any certifications that may bolster your expertise!
Show Your Flexibility:Since this is a temporary role, it's important to convey your adaptability and willingness to learn. In your cover letter to Harvey Nash Group, emphasise how quickly you can get up to speed with new tools or projects. Highlight any previous experiences where you've had to adjust to new environments or challenges.
Craft a Unique Data-Driven Cover Letter:Instead of the usual generic cover letter, spice it up with some data! Maybe you’ve improved a process by 20% in a past role or cleaned a dataset with over a million entries. Use these stats to your advantage to grab Harvey Nash Group’s attention and show the tangible impact of your work.
How to prepare for a job interview at Harvey Nash Group
✨Showcase Your Analytical Skills
For a data science gig, it's crucial to demonstrate your analytical abilities. Be ready to discuss previous projects and the methodologies you used. Think about how you can quantify your impact—did your analysis improve efficiency or save costs? These are the stories that will stick with interviewers at Harvey Nash Group.
✨Brush Up on Technical Skills
You might face technical questions on tools relevant to data science, like Python, R, or SQL. Prepare to solve a problem live—perhaps they'll ask you to write a simple query or code snippet. It’s cool to talk about them, but we need to show we can do it in practice, especially in a temporary role where quick results matter.
✨Highlight Your Adaptability
Since this is a temporary position, emphasise your ability to learn quickly and adapt to new tools or workflows. Share examples of how you've thrived in fast-paced environments before, and how you can hit the ground running at Harvey Nash Group.
✨Prepare a Portfolio of Your Work
Bring your portfolio to the table—showcase projects where you've leveraged data science techniques to solve problems. Whether it’s a GitHub repository or a set of case studies, having tangible examples of your work will help you stand out and show what you bring to the team at Harvey Nash Group.
