The Data Architect - Manager will lead the design and implementation of scalable, high-performance data architectures tailored for the financial services and insurance industry. This role ensures that enterprise data models, integration frameworks, and governance standards align with business needs and industry best practices. The ideal candidate will drive data-driven decision-making, optimize cloud-based data ecosystems, and establish secure, compliant, and efficient data infrastructures.

Job Description

As a Data Architect - Manager, you will be responsible for designing and maintaining logical and physical data models, optimizing database performance, and ensuring seamless data integration across diverse systems. You will collaborate with engineering, governance, and business teams to uphold data security, compliance, and architecture best practices. This role requires strong leadership in modern cloud data solutions, including Azure Synapse, GCP BigQuery, and other cloud-native services.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect and implement scalable, high-performance enterprise data solutions.

• Develop logical and physical data models to support transactional and analytical workloads.

• Optimize cloud-based data storage, retrieval, and processing strategies.

• Ensure data integrity, governance, and security compliance across the organization.

• Collaborate with business and technology teams to define data strategies aligned with organizational objectives.

• Lead the development of ETL/ELT pipelines and data transformation workflows to enhance data quality.

• Evaluate and recommend best-fit data technologies, tools, and frameworks.

• Define metadata management and data lineage strategies to ensure traceability and consistency.

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to data engineers and analysts.

• Drive innovation in data management, analytics, and AI/ML integration.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Data Management,

• Information Systems, or a related field.

• 6+ years of experience in data architecture, data modeling, and cloud data solutions.

• Expertise in logical and physical data modeling, normalization, and schema design.

• Proven experience with enterprise data architecture, data warehousing, and governance frameworks.

• Proficiency in cloud data services (Azure Synapse, GCP BigQuery, AWS Redshift, Snowflake).

• Strong knowledge of SQL, data lakes, data mesh, and ETL/ELT pipeline optimization.

• Experience in implementing data security best practices, including data masking, encryption, and role-based access control.

Technical Skills

• Data Modelling – ERD, normalization, schema design.

• Cloud Databases – Azure Synapse, GCP BigQuery, Snowflake, AWS Redshift.

• ETL/ELT Optimization – Data pipeline design and performance tuning.

• Data Governance & Security – Compliance (GDPR, POPIA).

• Big Data & Analytics – Spark, Databricks, Apache Kafka.

• Strategic & Leadership Skills

• Enterprise Data Strategy Development – Aligning architecture with business needs.

• Cross-functional Collaboration – Working with engineering, business, and governance teams.

• Data-Driven Decision Making – Leveraging analytics for business insights.

• Stakeholder Engagement – Communicating technical concepts to non-technical audiences.

Problem-Solving & Innovation – Driving efficiency in data ecosystems.