Principal Data Architect - GDS - G6

Location

Bristol, London, Manchester

About the job

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

1. joining up public sector services
2. harnessing the power of AI for the public good
3. strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
4. elevating leadership and investing in talent
5. funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
6. committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need

Public sector data has the potential to radically transform people’s lives through boosting economic growth, underpinning groundbreaking research, improving the delivery of public services and fuelling cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) development and applications across the economy. 

The National Data Library is a high profile, ambitious, manifesto commitment which intends to realise this potential through responsibly unlocking the highest-value public sector data for use by businesses, academia and the public sector.  

The Principal Data Architect will play a pivotal role in designing, implementing, and evolving the data architecture required to deliver the National Data Library. This includes leading the development of modular, reusable data products and federated data governance models that ensure foundational data assets are discoverable, accessible, interoperable, and trustworthy. The role supports public service transformation, economic growth, and AI innovation through modern, scalable data infrastructure.

Job description

As the Principal Data Architect for the National Data Library, you will be responsible for:

• leading the iterations of design and delivery of a scalable, federated data architecture for managing and linking foundational data across government departments and public bodies.
• defining and implement data product standards, including metadata, lineage, and interoperability protocols, using modern tooling and practices.
• establishing data observability frameworks to monitor data quality, freshness, and reliability.
• designing and supporting secure, privacy-preserving data access mechanisms, including APIs, dynamic access platforms, and zero-trust architectures.
• ensuring datasets are structured and enriched to support AI-native applications, including large language models, semantic search, and machine learning pipelines.
• collaborating with foundational data stewards, delivery teams, and solution architects to embed best practices and ensure alignment with strategic goals.
• contributing to the delivery of scalable, reusable data solutions through kickstarter projects, enabling rapid experimentation and cross-government reuse.
• acting as the lead subject matter expert on data architecture within the NDL programme, supporting system reform and capability building.

Person specification

We’re interested in people who have:

• proven experience in designing and implementing modern data architectures, including data product thinking and platform engineering approaches.
• strong understanding of data governance, privacy-enhancing technologies, and ethical data use.
• experience with real-time data integration, event-driven architectures, and secure data sharing platforms.
• strong capability in managing difficult stakeholders and competing priorities.
• familiarity with metadata-as-a-service, automated lineage tracking, and cataloguing tools.
• ability to translate strategic goals into technical solutions and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• knowledge of AI-readiness principles and experience preparing datasets for advanced analytics or machine learning to be used within an organisation 
• experience working in or with public sector or other organisations with complex data structures and setting data standards for an organisation