IT Data Infrastructure Architect - VP in Glasgow

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management, and wealth management services. Our success depends on the talent and passion of our people. We offer a superior foundation for building a professional career where you can learn, achieve, and grow. Technology is the key differentiator that enables us to manage global businesses and serve clients on a resilient, secure, and innovative platform.

The Architecture & Modernization (A+M) team drives the Firm’s multi‑year technology modernization roadmap, focusing on architecture frameworks, product delivery, and developer enablement. We aim to modernize technologies and practices to deliver scalable, secure, and future‑ready platforms.

We are seeking a Data Infrastructure Architect with 7+ years of experience in designing and governing enterprise‑scale data platforms within regulated environments. The role ensures data is accessible, trusted, secure, and optimized for analytics, machine learning, and AI‑driven solutions. Ideal candidates will either already have transitioned to or be ready to transition from a hands‑on delivery role to strategic influence, shaping data architecture standards and guiding technology decisions across the organization.

• Architecture & Design: Develop and execute data infrastructure architecture strategies, roadmaps, and blueprints for enterprise IT initiatives.
• Divisional Data Officer: Drive data architecture & governance, working in close collaboration with Firmwide Data Office and other Divisional Data Officers.
• Collaborate with SME teams building and scaling data platforms (data lakes, warehouses) across on‑prem, cloud, and hybrid environments.
• Implement semantic layers for consistent, governed data views, enabling self‑service analytics and explainable AI.
• Oversee data quality processes and enforce standards to minimize data duplication and ensure trusted data.
• Recommend and implement cloud‑native solutions for scalability, resilience, and business continuity.
• Drive modernization of infrastructure systems through cloud adoption, automation, and software‑defined technologies.

• Conduct architecture reviews ensuring alignment with regulatory, security, and enterprise standards.
• Maintain reference architectures, policies, and best practices for data infrastructure.
• Ensure robust data protection, encryption, and zero‑trust security principles.

• Promote architectural best practices, resolve design challenges, and influence technical decisions.
• Partner with enterprise architects, engineering teams, and SREs to align solutions with IT strategy.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to engineering and operations teams.

• Data Platforms: Experience in building & scaling data lakes, data warehouses, and associated data systems.
• Databases: SQL, PostgreSQL; MongoDB and cloud‑based platforms (e.g. Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift).
• Semantic Layer: Design and implementation for governed reusable data views.
• Data Governance Tools: Collibra, Alation, Talend or equivalent.
• Expertise in ETL tools and processes (e.g. Apache NiFi, Talend, Informatica).
• Security: Data Privacy, Data Protection & Encryption frameworks & governance.
• Enterprise Architecture Frameworks: TOGAF, Zachman; familiarity with ITIL processes.

• Cloud Platform Awareness: One or more of AWS, Azure and /or GCP.
• Automation & IaC: Terraform, Ansible, Puppet; CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions).
• Observability & Monitoring: Experience integrating observability and monitoring solutions (Splunk, Prometheus, Loki, Grafana).

• LLM Integration: Retrieval‑augmented generation, fine‑tuning, prompt engineering.
• Generative AI: Building and deploying generative AI solutions for data‑driven insights and automation.
• Agentic AI: Designing agent‑based architecture for autonomous workflows and decision‑making.

• 7+ years in IT data infrastructure within large, regulated enterprises.
• Proven experience in data architecture and modernization initiatives.
• Strong understanding of data security and compliance requirements in financial services.
• Excellent communication, problem‑solving, and stakeholder management skills.

• Ability to influence technical decisions in complex environments.
• Demonstrated leadership in cross‑functional teams.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking.
• Passion for emerging technologies and continuous improvement.

We are committed to maintaining the first‑class service and high standard of excellence that have defined Morgan Stanley for over 89 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what’s best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries.

At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work‑life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

If this role is deemed a Certified role and may require the role holder to hold mandatory regulatory qualifications or the minimum qualifications to meet internal company benchmarks.

Interested in flexible working opportunities? Morgan Stanley empowers employees to have greater freedom of choice through flexible working arrangements. Speak to our recruitment team to find out more.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunities employer. We work to provide a supportive and inclusive environment where all individuals can maximize their full potential. Our skilled and creative workforce is comprised of individuals drawn from a broad cross section of the global communities in which we operate and who reflect a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences. Our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion is evident through our constant focus on recruiting, developing, and advancing individuals based on their skills and talents.