Senior Data Architect (UKSV) - Cabinet Office - G7

Location

Glasgow, York

About the job

Job summary

As a Senior Data Architect within UKSV, you will lead the design and implementation of data architectures underpinning the UK’s single provider of National Security Vetting (NSV). You will architect highly secure, privacy-centric data pipelines and risk-aggregation platforms that process sensitive background checks, financial histories, and cross-government intelligence. Your work will modernise the national security vetting infrastructure while safeguarding highly classified data assets. You’ll be responsible for defining the data strategy, architecture, data model and governance of the digital services in UKSV.

As a Senior Data Architect (DA), you’ll be responsible for the data architecture of the digital services within UKSV. You’ll communicate this to technical and non-technical audiences alike. As a Senior Data Architect, you will be responsible for the technical data design of systems and services.

Please note that all roles with UK Security Vetting are reserved posts and therefore open to UK nationals only. For full information on Eligibility, please refer to the attached Job Pack.

Job description

Your daily duties will include but not be limited to:

• Design architecture solutions and lead the work to design a data strategy in line with the long term objectives of the Cabinet Office and UKSV 
• Design a data strategy
• Influence the design of data infrastructure that supports complex data analytics services
• Help maintain the integrity of the UKSV critical databases
• Develop an expert understanding of UKSV, tailoring offerings accordingly
• Consult and advise on digital delivery programmes, liaising with stakeholders and communicating architectural concepts clearly and accurately
• Support the adoption of the enterprise assets repository, establish a process to ensure data quality of the repository 
• Support the business units with their digital roadmaps to improve conformance with architecture principles
• Form trusted relationships with external suppliers and technical stakeholders

Person specification

As a Senior Data Architect within UK Security Vetting, we are looking for people who have the following expertise and attributes:

• A data expert with an eye for data design and communication with data
• Curious and inquisitive with the ability to learn new technologies and spot trends
• A collaborative person who enjoys working with technical and non-technical people
• Someone who can use data and data models to innovate
• Hands on with data using SQL, XML and data analytics tools

Essential

• Experience of architecture design for example data infrastructure, data models, enterprise data management, reusable technology components and reference architectures
• Experience delivering modern data platforms (cloud/hybrid), data integration patterns, lakes/warehouses, and API-driven architectures 
• Experience in defining technical governance principles, strategies and standards
• Hands on experience with SQL, XML and data analytics tools
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to explain difficult concepts to anyone who needs to understand
• Demonstrated ability to implement data classification frameworks, handling controls, and secure sharing mechanisms that scale across classification boundaries without compromising agility
• Strong working knowledge of Government Security frameworks e.g. - Secure by Design, NCSC Cloud Security Principles.

Desirable

• Technical architecture experience in public sector or similarly complex and regulated organisations
• Experience of legacy migration and re-platforming of digital services
• Interest in forming government best practices, standards and policies
• Experience in managing commercial suppliers to deliver digital services
• Knowledge of architecture or engineering framework, such as TOGAF, ITIL
• Proven experience designing and securing data architectures for both OFFICIAL and SECRET classified information, in line with the UK Government Security Classification Policy (GSCP)
• Working knowledge of different software delivery practices including agile delivery