Data Architect

Who are we?

Howden is a collective – a group of talented and passionate people all around the world. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 18,000 employees spanning over 100 countries.

People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

Job Title: Data Architect

Location:London/Hybrid
Job Type:Full-time

Job Summary

Are you passionate about designingscalable, high-performance data architecturesonAzure and Databricks? Do you thrive on solving complex data challenges, integrating modern data platforms, and defining best practices for enterprise data management?

We are looking for aData Architectto lead the design and implementation ofcutting-edge data solutionsin a cloud-native environment. You will play a key role inshaping data strategy, designing high-level and low-level architectures, and ensuring the seamless integration of data management tools. If you enjoy working withbig data technologies, governance frameworks, and modern analytics platforms, this role is for you!

Key Responsibilities

Design and architectscalable, secure, and cost-effectiveAzure Databrickssolutions for business and analytical workloads.

Translate business requirements intohigh-level and low-level solution designs, ensuring alignment with best practices.

Define and implemententerprise data governance, security, and compliance strategies.

Lead theintegration of core data management capabilities, including:

Master Data Management (MDM)solutions for single-source-of-truth data

Data catalogue toolsfor metadata management and discovery

Data governance frameworksfor policy enforcement, compliance, and lineage tracking

Data quality solutionsto ensure data accuracy, consistency, and reliability

Provide architectural leadership onhub-and-spoke data architectures, optimising for performance, scalability, and security.

Collaborate withbusiness stakeholders, data engineers, and analytics teamsto ensure solutions are fit for purpose.

Implement and optimiseDatabricks Delta Lake, Medallion Architecture, and Lakehouse patternsfor structured and semi-structured data.

Ensure best practices inAzure networking, security, and federated data access.

Key Skills & Experience

5+ yearsof experience indata architecture, solution architecture, or cloud data engineeringroles.

Strong expertise inAzure data services, including:

Azure Databricks(Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, MLflow)

Azure Event HubandAzure Data Explorerfor real-time and streaming data pipelines

Azure Storage (ADLS Gen2, Blob Storage)for scalable data lakes

Azure Purviewor equivalent for data governance and lineage tracking

Experience withdata integration, MDM, governance, and data quality tools.

Hands-on experience withApache Spark, Python, SQL, and Scalafor data processing.

Strong understanding ofAzure networking, security, and IAM, includingAzure Private Link, VNETs, Managed Identities, and RBAC.

Deep knowledge ofenterprise-scale data architecture patterns, includingLakehouse, Medallion Architecture, and hub-and-spoke models.

Strong problem-solving skills and ability to designscalable, cost-optimised solutions.

Excellent communication skills to engage with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Certifications (Nice to Have)

Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert

Databricks Certified Data Engineer or Solution Architect

If you're excited aboutshaping the future of enterprise data architecture, we’d love to hear from you!

What do we offer in return?

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new

We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges

We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond

Reasonable adjustments

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.

If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.

*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.

Permanent