Lead Architect (BioFAIR)
BioFAIR is building the future of UK life‑science data infrastructure — and we’re looking for a Lead Architect to shape it.
Applications are invited for a Lead Architect to join the BioFAIR Hub, hosted at the Earlham Institute, Norwich, UK.
Background:
BioFAIR is supporting the UK’s life-sciences federated digital research infrastructure to become an integrated, national BioCommons that places the data, tools and services needed to answer life-science questions directly at researchers’ fingertips. Funded by a £34M UKRI investment over five years, BioFAIR will deliver a step change in ‘Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable’ (FAIR) research data management, providing end-to-end FAIR data and analysis capabilities alongside support and training for UK researchers.
To achieve this mission, BioFAIR is undertaking an ambitious programme to defragment the UK’s existing data and service landscape. Guided by a “reuse, don’t rebuild” philosophy, this work requires a cohesive architecture capable of onboarding mature services while also providing a framework for developing new, state-of-the-art capabilities. The architecture must evolve over time to meet changing community and research-infrastructure needs.
BioFAIR is structured around a distributed “Hub and Spokes” model. The BioFAIR Hub is responsible for coordination of the overall programme, project governance, procurement, and core service delivery, ensuring that BioCommons services remain aligned and interoperable. The Spokes are the primary engines of service delivery, and are organised around three Commons – the Data, Methods, and People Commons – as well as two additional capabilities, the Knowledge Hub and the BioFAIR Portal. A coherent, well-defined architecture is essential to guiding technical work across these spokes, which will be made up of partners from across multiple institutions and service providers.
BioFAIR is now looking to recruit an experienced Lead Architect to shape our architectural foundation and to work with technology providers across the UK research ecosystem to turn our distributed BioCommons vision into operational reality. This role requires someone with deep architectural experience in research or data-intensive environments and a strong understanding of how to deliver sustainable, interoperable services at scale.
The role:
This senior role blends systems architecture and solutions architecture, guiding the design of a national, federated research ecosystem. You’ll create a clear technical vision, lead multi‑institution architectural decisions, and ensure interoperable, national-scale services across the UK’s life‑science community.
The ideal candidate:
The successful candidate will thrive in distributed teams and have a demonstrated ability to create architectural documentation, models, and integration patterns. You will have the ability to communicate technical ideas with clarity and have deep experience across cloud/HPC, workflows, metadata, and FAIR data. You will also excel at assembling best‑of‑breed components into coherent solutions
This is primarily a hybrid role as BioFAIR partners are distributed across the UK. As this is a key leadership role in the BioFAIR Hub, the post holder would be expected to spend some time at the Earlham Institute working with other members of the BioFAIR Hub team, and some time visiting partners around the UK. The exact working patterns are flexible and we welcome applications from the right candidate irrespective of location in the UK.
Additional information:
Salary on appointment will be within the range of £71,100 - £90,000 per annum depending on qualifications and experience. This is a full-time post for a contract up until 30 June 2029. Although full-time hours are available, applications from those interested in working part-time hours (or alternative working patterns) are also welcomed.
Interviews will be held on 03 - 04 March 2026 (TBC).
This role meets the criteria for a visa application, and we encourage all qualified candidates to apply. Please contact the Human Resources Team if you have any questions regarding your application or visa options
For further information and details of how to apply, please visit our website via the button below or contact the Human Resources team on 01603 450814 or nbi.recruitment@nbi.ac.uk quoting reference 1005015.
As a Disability Confident employer, we guarantee to offer an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for this vacancy.
The closing date for applications will be Friday 30 January 202