Senior Data Architect

General Information

• Location: Discussable
• Start date: 1st of june
• Duration: 12 months, extension possible
• Hours per week: 40
• ZZP: Yes

Job Mission

As a Senior Data Architect, you will act as the technical authority and strategic leader driving enterprise-wide data architecture and platform evolution. You will define and implement a future-proof data strategy, enabling scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across a complex, globally distributed environment.

This role sits at the intersection of business strategy, platform engineering, and advanced data architecture. You will shape the data landscape by designing modern data platforms, establishing governance standards, and leading engineering teams towards delivering high-impact, data-driven capabilities. The environment is enterprise-scale, multi-region, and highly complex, requiring both strategic vision and hands-on architectural leadership. 

Roles and Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term enterprise data architecture vision aligned with business objectives
• Design and implement scalable data platforms based on modern lakehouse and medallion architectures
• Establish architectural standards for data ingestion, transformation, storage, access control, and governance
• Lead end-to-end architecture design across Microsoft Fabric and Azure-based data ecosystems
• Architect data mesh patterns, enabling domain-oriented data ownership while maintaining centralized governance
• Guide technology selection decisions for data platform components, tooling, and infrastructure
• Lead and mentor a team of data engineers and DevOps specialists, fostering technical excellence
• Oversee implementation of CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and platform engineering best practices
• Design and enforce data security models, including RBAC, encryption, and compliance frameworks
• Establish data quality frameworks, metadata management, and testing standards
• Collaborate with stakeholders across business and IT to translate requirements into scalable solutions
• Drive continuous improvement, innovation, and adoption of emerging data technologies

Education and Experience

Must Have

• 10+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or enterprise architecture
• 5+ years of experience leading technical teams in complex enterprise environments
• Proven experience designing enterprise-scale data platforms and architectures
• Strong hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP
• Extensive experience with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Fabric ecosystem
• Expertise in designing ETL/ELT pipelines and data orchestration strategies
• Strong experience with PySpark, SQL, and large-scale data processing
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, Git-based workflows, and infrastructure as code
• Deep understanding of data governance, security, and compliance frameworks
• Ability to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions

Nice to Have

• Microsoft certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect, Azure Data Engineer, or Fabric certifications
• Experience with data mesh implementations in large organizations
• Experience with multi-region or multi-cloud architectures
• Experience with self-service data platforms and data literacy initiatives
• Experience in highly regulated or mission-critical environments
• Familiarity with reporting tools such as Power BI or Tableau
• Experience with Kubernetes and cloud-native services
• Background in international or large-scale distributed organizations

Skills

• Strong leadership and coaching capabilities, with a focus on team development
• Excellent stakeholder management skills across technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to communicate complex architectural concepts in a clear and business-focused manner
• Strategic thinking, with the ability to align technology decisions with organizational goals
• Strong problem-solving skills, able to decompose complex challenges into actionable solutions
• High level of ownership and accountability in delivering results
• Collaborative mindset, able to work across cross-functional teams and domains
• Continuous learning attitude, staying up to date with evolving data and AI technologies
• Attention to detail in architecture design, data quality, and documentation
• Experience working in Agile and iterative delivery environments
• Ability to balance hands-on technical work with strategic leadership responsibilities

Tech Stack

• Microsoft Azure
• Microsoft Fabric
• Azure Synapse Analytics
• Azure Data Factory
• OneLake, Lakehouses, Data Warehouses
• Power BI
• PySpark
• SQL
• Delta Lake, Parquet
• Kubernetes, AKS
• Terraform, ARM templates
• Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines
• Microsoft Entra ID
• Microsoft Purview