Senior Data Architect in Newcastle upon Tyne

The job can be based in either our Glasgow or Newcastle office.

The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) is a new arm’s-length body set up to administer compensation to people whose lives have been impacted by the infected blood scandal. IBCA will ensure payment is made in recognition of the wrongs experienced by those who have been infected by HIV, Hepatitis B or C, as well as those who love and care for them. We are committed to putting the infected and affected blood community at the centre of every decision we make and every step we take to build our organisation to deliver compensation payments.

We are looking for an experienced Senior Data Architect who can shape a data ecosystem, where data is well-structured, secure and easily accessible to act as a fundamental pillar to our compensation service. You will be confident at working in a complex and pressured data delivery environment across products where you’ll be supporting the strategic objective of IBCA to pay compensation to those impacted by the infected blood scandal seamlessly. You will collaborate across the architecture function in data and digital to ensure the creation of solution designs keep data in mind meaning that data is accurate, accessible, and interoperable across systems.

As a Senior Data Architect, you will work on multiple projects across the data delivery programme on problems that require broad architectural thinking. This post is within a data delivery setting, especially one focused on managing and handling highly sensitive data.

You will:

• Be responsible for leading the design of data models, data flow designs, and data dictionaries for systems and services, justifying and communicating design decisions.
• Work with technical architects to make sure that systems are designed in accordance with the appropriate data architecture.
• Regularly collaborate and find agreement with senior stakeholders, providing direction and challenge.
• Be proactive in working with Product Managers and Engineers to identify problems and translating these into data flows.
• Participate in architecture reviews, and technical workshops.

Responsibilities

• Data Model Design & Governance: You will define and oversee the overarching structural blueprints for the organisation’s data assets, ensuring that schemas remain scalable, standardised, and aligned with long-term business logic.
• Data Governance, Security & Quality: You will act as the custodian of data integrity by implementing robust access controls, rigorous quality frameworks, and clear lineage to ensure all information is secure, compliant, and trustworthy through the full data lifecycle.
• Integrating Data Systems and Flows: This involves designing and managing the seamless movement of data across systems, balancing real-time and batch processing to ensure a unified and efficient flow of information.
• Agile Delivery & Stakeholder Translation: You will serve as the vital link between technical teams and business leaders, translating complex requirements into iterative, high-value technical deliveries within an Agile framework ensuring teams deliver scalable solutions that meet stakeholder expectations.

Person specification

• Data model design (conceptual to physical) selecting appropriate data modelling patterns.
• Data Storage Design & Management – expertise across diverse storage technologies including SQL, NoSQL and Data Lakehouse.
• Data Architecture Design - Master Data Management (MDM), Metadata Management, Data Lineage and Data Governance.
• Creation of data flow diagrams using clear notation and leading the development of data orchestration.
• Experience of working within and across product teams within Agile environments throughout the full delivery lifecycle of inception to go-live.
• Translating business requirements into tangible, compliant, technical solutions with traceability to the user value that can be demonstrated to stakeholders.
• Experience using data modelling tools such as Erwin data modeller or equivalent.
• Experience architecting for AWS and Databricks solutions.
• Security Architecture Design – Data Security and Identity & Access Management.

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.