Enterprise Data Architect

Job Title: Enterprise Data Architect Location: Remote (must be UK-based) Contract Length: 6 Months Start Date: ASAP IR35: Inside Interview Process: 2 Stages, MS Teams (including online technical test) Clearance: BPSS We are supporting a leading UK water utility client in hiring an Enterprise Data Architect to design and document target-state data architecture across asset, geospatial, telemetry and operational data, supporting a wider enterprise digital transformation and Digital Twin programme. This is a hands-on architecture role covering both strategic design and practical delivery, including establishing a Unified Namespace (UNS) architecture, defining data governance standards, and developing an existing data health framework covering data Availability, Quality and Usability (AQU). The successful candidate will work closely with data stewards and subject matter experts across the business to assess data quality, identify authoritative sources and address data gaps. This role suits an experienced Data or Enterprise Architect with strong data modelling and governance expertise, ideally with domain exposure to the water or wider utilities/critical national infrastructure sector, comfortable providing technical leadership and architecture assurance across complex, multi-stakeholder data initiatives. Key Responsibilities • Design and document target-state data architecture for asset, geospatial, telemetry and operational data, including logical and physical data models aligned to enterprise digital transformation objectives • Define and establish the Unified Namespace (UNS) architecture, including data structures, naming conventions, governance standards, mapping rules, configuration principles and source-system integration standards • Design data extraction, transformation and integration approaches for static, dynamic, historical and real-time data, and develop processes, tooling and automation to build, validate, deploy and maintain UNS configurations • Develop and maintain data architecture standards for asset, geospatial and telemetry data to support Digital Twin initiatives, including interoperability requirements, data cataloguing, metadata standards and governance artefacts • Develop and implement the organisation's data health framework (Availability, Quality, Usability), including metrics, assessment methodologies, monitoring controls, reporting requirements, dashboards and executive reporting • Assess data availability, quality and usability, identify authoritative data sources, ownership and gaps, and define governance, audit, compliance and remediation processes, working closely with data stewards and subject matter experts • Provide technical leadership, architecture assurance and stakeholder engagement across data modelling, integration, governance, UNS and Digital Twin initiatives to ensure successful delivery Essential Skills • Significant experience as a Data Architect or Enterprise Architect, with strong logical and physical data modelling capability • Experience designing data architecture involving geospatial data, ideally within an asset-intensive or infrastructure environment • Domain experience within the water sector or wider utilities/critical national infrastructure environments • Strong ETL experience, including designing extraction, transformation and integration approaches for static, dynamic, historical and real-time data • Experience with Unified Namespace (UNS) architecture and design, including source-system integration standards • Experience supporting Digital Twin initiatives and associated data interoperability requirements • Experience defining data governance standards, including naming conventions, metadata standards, data cataloguing and mapping rules • Experience assessing data quality, availability and usability, identifying authoritative data sources and remediating data gaps • Strong stakeholder engagement skills, comfortable working with data stewards, subject matter experts and technical teams across the business Desirable Skills • Experience developing data health frameworks, dashboards, scorecards and executive reporting capabilities