Data Architect Lead

We are looking for an experienced Lead Data Architect who will be responsible for designing, implementing, and architecting our Group's data solution architecture while providing data domain experience aligned out into our business teams (e.g., Customer, Pensions & Savings, Operations, Finance, HR).

We have an opportunity to join us at Phoenix Group as a Lead Data Architect to join our Group Data Office (GDO) team, reporting to the Head of Data Architecture.
Job Type: Permanent
Location and flexible working: this role can be based in either our London, Wythall (Birmingham) or Edinburgh office, with flexible work from home arrangements. We recognise the benefits of flexible working and will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process.
Closing Date: 14/01/24
Salary and benefits: Base salary plus 16% bonus up to 32%, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more.
Recruiter: Tim Singh
Who are we?
We want to be the best place that any of our 6,800 colleagues have ever worked.
We're the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business. We offer our 12 million customers products across our market-leading brands, including Standard Life, SunLife and ReAssure, with c.£259 billion of assets under administration. We're a FTSE 100 organisation that is tackling key issues such as transitioning our portfolio to net zero by 2050, and we're not done yet.
The role:
We are looking for an experienced Lead Data Architect who will be responsible for designing, implementing, and architecting our Group's data solution architecture while providing data domain experience aligned out into our business teams (e.g., Customer, Pensions & Savings, Operations, Finance, HR).
The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker with a deep understanding of data modelling as well as data management principles and best practices. They will collaborate with cross-functional teams within the Group Data Office (GDO) and out into our technology and business teams to deliver our enterprise data model; support further development of our Cloud GDO Data Platform (on Azure); and ensure the availability, integrity and security of our data assets across the Group-supporting business objectives and designing data solutions.
The chosen candidate will provide Data Architecture thought leadership at Phoenix whilst leveraging and cultivating key strategic thought leadership from the wider data and technology industry, the financial services industry as well as with our strategic partners. They will support the development of the overall GDO and Technology strategies and provide direction in the definition and development of relevant architectural models, processes, standards, tools as well as our Data Architecture PSPs (principles, standards and patterns).
Key Responsibilities
* Collaborate with business and data stakeholders to understand data requirements and translate them into scalable and efficient data models and data solution architecture designs.
* Collaborate and work alongside our data governance team and business data stewards to ensure we have the relevant data governance policies, standards and procedures defined, as well as maturing our data management capabilities (e.g., data cataloguing, business data glossaries, data flow and lineage) to ensure data integrity and compliance as well as the enablement of our data assets. Provide guidance and data/technical leadership on data management and data-related projects and products, and applying our Data Design Principles early on in projects, products and programmes of work.
* Collaborate, be responsible for and lead iterative development of Phoenix Group's logical, physical and analytical Enterprise Data Model assets as well as our solution-focused data models.
* Play a significant role in the development of our future Single Customer View and Single Product & Pension Views across our businesses. Provide direction to ensure we have processes and capabilities in places to master these core data sets and solutions.
* Work closely with data engineers, data scientists and analysts in the GDO and Technology to optimise data pipelines and ensure data availability and quality on the GDO Data Platform (as well as other Tech platforms). Support our data scientists in the development of their data science models and capabilities.
* Stay up to date with industry trends and emerging technologies related to data management, Data Architecture, analytics and data science.
* Provide definition, management and governance of the implementation of, and adherence to, architectural procedures, standards, patterns, processes and tools. Support the roadmaps of the Tech and GDO portfolios, to build and provision data platform capabilities that will democratise data at Phoenix and ensure we support our colleagues to be more data driven in their roles.
* Work closely with strategic suppliers to enable the successful development and implementation of solutions and Data Architecture.
* Help in the establishment and ongoing development of an active Phoenix Data Architecture community, ensuring a cohesive and collaborative engagement with all relevant SMEs and across the Group.
* Support the governance processes at The Phoenix Group through support of the Data Platform Design Authority, Information Architecture Design Authority and the Data Modelling Forum.
Experience
* Proven experience as a Data Architect or in a similar role, designing and implementing complex Data Architectures.
* Strong understanding of database management systems, data modelling, and data integration techniques.
* Ability to support the evolution and maturity of our Data Architecture Principles, Standards and Patterns through presentation of your solutions at our governance forums.
* Strong proficiency in data modelling tools (Erwin preferred, or any others: e.g., Sparx EA, ER/Studio, PowerDesigner, or similar).
* Solid knowledge of data management, catalogue, governance, quality and security principles and capabilities. Experience with Collibra and Erwin beneficial.
We want to hire the whole version of you:
We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we've advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we'd love to hear from you. If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.
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