Principal Cloud Data Architect (Aether Solution Owner)

Who We Are

VOIS (Vodafone Intelligent Solutions) is a strategic arm of Vodafone Group Plc, creating value for customers by delivering intelligent solutions through Talent, Technology & Transformation. As the largest shared services organisation in the global telco industry with 30,000 FTE, our portfolio of next‑generation solutions and services are designed in partnership with customers across Vodafone Group, local markets and partner markets to simplify and drive growth. With our strategic partner Accenture, we work alongside our Vodafone customers, other Telco and tech companies to drive transformation, meet the challenges of our industry and ensure we stay relevant and resilient. We work with customers across 28 countries from 10 VOIS locations: Albania, Egypt, Hungary, India, Romania, Spain, Turkey, UK, Germany, Ireland and a network of teams in Czech Republic, Italy, Greece and Portugal.

About This Role

We are seeking a knowledgeable and forward‑thinking Principal Cloud Data Architect to lead the vision, evolution, and delivery of our enterprise Data Fabric platform on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). As the Solution Owner for the Aether platform, the individual will define architecture standards, influence platform direction, and guide multidisciplinary teams in building a unified, metadata‑driven data ecosystem. This role sits at the intersection of architecture, governance, platform innovation and hands‑on exploration. The individual will shape the semantic, integration and governance layers that enable data connectivity across on‑premises systems, cloud services, SaaS applications and multi‑cloud environments. The position requires close collaboration with Product and Service Managers, Platform Engineers, Data Engineers and senior stakeholders to develop platform roadmaps, deliver continuous improvements and enable the organisation to adopt advanced analytics and AI solutions at scale. The individual will contribute directly to Vodafone’s cloud transformation strategy by ensuring that data platforms are secure, governed, scalable, self‑service and designed for broad adoption across domains.

What You’ll Do

• Define the strategic vision and target architecture for the enterprise Data Fabric built on GCP
• Develop architectural blueprints covering data integration, metadata management, data governance and data quality
• Design a unified semantic layer to provide a consistent business view of data assets
• Select and evaluate GCP‑native and third‑party services required for the Data Fabric’s functional components
• Guide engineering teams in delivering robust cloud‑native data pipelines, including batch and streaming ingestion
• Architect storage solutions using Cloud Storage and BigQuery for enterprise‑scale analytics and reporting
• Implement Everything as Code (EaC) practices for automated provisioning and management of GCP infrastructure
• Lead the adoption of Dataplex for governance, metadata harvesting, lineage and automated data quality monitoring
• Mentor technical teams and promote best practices in data architecture and cloud engineering
• Collaborate with Product and Service Managers to define platform roadmaps and develop investment cases
• Engage with senior internal stakeholders to support AI, advanced analytics and the Agentic Mesh platform

Who You Are

• Expert‑level understanding of GCP services such as BigQuery, Google Cloud Storage, Cloud Pub/Sub and Dataplex
• Strong knowledge of Data Fabric principles, active metadata, semantic knowledge graphs, data virtualisation and modern data architectures including Data Mesh and Lakehouse
• Skilled in designing data models for data lakes and warehouses
• Hands‑on experience with Terraform, Ansible and open‑source data technologies such as Apache Spark, Apache Airflow or Apache Beam
• Strong communication skills, able to explain technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences
• Proven ability to influence architectural decisions across diverse stakeholders
• Analytical, collaborative and solution‑oriented approach to complex data challenges

Must‑have experience:

• 7+ years in data architecture, data engineering or related fields
• 3+ years building cloud‑native data platforms, ideally on GCP
• Proven experience architecting enterprise‑scale integration and governance solutions

What Skills You Will Learn

• Advanced cloud data architecture with a focus on metadata‑driven design and governance automation
• Deep expertise in GCP and Dataplex for metadata intelligence, lineage tracking and data quality
• Strategic architectural leadership and roadmap ownership for enterprise platforms
• Designing interoperable, multi‑domain data ecosystems for analytics and AI
• Enhanced collaboration and stakeholder management skills across a global organisation

What’s In It For You

• Opportunity to shape Vodafone’s global Data Fabric platform and influence enterprise‑wide data strategy
• Exposure to GCP’s most advanced data and governance capabilities, including Dataplex‑driven metadata intelligence
• Collaboration with senior leaders, data specialists, engineering teams and cross‑market stakeholders
• Continuous learning through hands‑on innovation in AI, agentic systems and self‑service data ecosystems
• An inclusive environment that supports personal development, skill advancement and long‑term career growth

Equal Opportunity Employer Commitment

Vodafone recognises and celebrates the value of diversity in building a workforce that reflects the customers and communities it serves. No form of discrimination is tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, discrimination based on race, colour, age, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, ethnicity, disability, religion or belief, political affiliation, trade union membership, nationality, citizenship, indigenous status, medical condition, HIV status, neurodiversity, social origin, cultural background, marital or civil partnership status, or socio‑economic background.