Data Architect

Affinity Water is launching an ambitious two-year programme to embed an Open Data-driven culture where advanced analytics and data science fuel confident, insight-led decision-making across the organisation. We're growing our Data & Architecture team and need a dynamic Data Architect to help lead the way.

As a Data Architect, you will lead the design, governance, and delivery of our enterprise data architecture. You'll shape how data flows through our organisation, ensuring it's structured, secure, and accessible to power our analytics and operational needs. You'll collaborate with architects, engineers, analysts, IT teams, and business stakeholders to create scalable data platforms and embed best practices in data modelling, governance, and lifecycle management.

• Design and implement enterprise-wide data architecture aligned with business goals and data strategy.

• Lead the architecture of scalable data pipelines and platforms, including Data Marts, Data Lakes, and Lakehouse architectures on AWS.

• Build and mature our data catalogue to improve data governance, management, and accessibility.

• Define data models, canonical data structures, and integration patterns to support reporting, analytics, and operational use cases.

• Establish and enforce architectural standards and data governance frameworks.

• Partner with engineering teams to build secure, high-performance data platforms.

• Provide architectural guidance on data validation, transformation, and cleansing to support data quality.

• Mentor and lead team members across Data, Analytics, and IT functions.

• Ensure compliance with data protection policies and regulatory requirements.

• Evaluate and recommend new data tools, frameworks, and technologies.

• Maintain comprehensive architecture documentation, including data flow diagrams and data models.

• Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field.

• 5+ years' experience in data architecture or data engineering.

• Strong expertise with AWS data services (S3, Glue, Redshift, RDS, Lake Formation).

• Deep understanding of data warehousing, dimensional modelling, and data integration patterns.

• Proficient in data modelling, SQL, and scripting.

• Experience designing and implementing data lakes and Lakehouse architectures.

• Familiarity with data governance, data quality, metadata management, and data protection standards (e.g., GDPR).

• Knowledge of IAM, encryption, and data security best practices.

• Experience with DevOps/CI-CD pipelines and infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation) is a plus.

• AWS certifications (Data Analytics Specialty or Solutions Architect) desirable.

• Exposure to data cataloguing tools and experience in regulated industries advantageous.

• Strong problem-solving, system thinking, and communication skills.

• Proven ability to translate business goals into scalable data solutions.

• Leadership experience in cross-functional teams.

• Passion for innovation, continuous improvement, and knowledge sharing.

• Salary circa £60,000 per annum dependant on experience
• Hybrid role, with the expectations of a minimum two days a week in the office in Hatfield
• Annual leave from 26 days rising with length of service, and the option to purchase up to 5 extra days.
• A 'Celebration Day' in addition to public holidays that people can use to celebrate a religious festival or other occasion that is important to them.
• A generous 'double match pension scheme' that doubles the contributions you make (company contribution capped at 12%)
• We offer a range of family benefits including enhanced Maternity, Adoption, Paternity, Shared Parental Leave, Fertility Support Leave and up to 5 full or 10 half days of paid Carers Leave.
• Menopause policy and Reasonable Adjustment policy to help everyone perform at their best.
• Access to our Wellbeing Centre with support for looking after your physical and mental health.
• Discounts at a Range of Retail Outlets and on Dental and Medical Insurance through our Tap4Perks scheme.
• Up to 4 Affinity days a year to volunteer in the community.
• Life Assurance.
• Disability Confident Employer

As a Disability Confident employer, we're committed to offering interviews to disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria and opt in on the application form. Ask the Talent Acquisition lead for the full job description to see all the criteria. If we have a very high volume of applicants and we're not able to offer interviews to all, we'll take a fair and proportionate number of disabled candidates through.

What is a disability?

A disability is a long-term physical or mental health condition that has a substantial impact on someone's day-to-day activities.

What if I need adjustments during the recruitment process?

Let the Talent Acquisition lead mentioned on the job advert know – they'll be able to help you.

Affinity Water recognises the benefits of greater diversity in our workforce to better reflect the communities we serve. We are committed to building a more inclusive culture where every member of our workforce can thrive.

You can find out what it's like to work at Affinity Water through our career site where our colleagues share their career development stories and you can get a feel for our company culture.