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Client:
University of Birmingham
Location:
United Kingdom
Job Category:
Other
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EU work permit required:
Yes
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Job Reference:
a27411d6844c
Job Views:
7
Posted:
14.07.2025
Expiry Date:
28.08.2025
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Job Description:
Summary
The University of Birmingham’s digital and data landscape is undergoing major transformation. One of the underpinning elements of our Digital Strategy is to move our on-premise warehousing and reporting to the cloud, investing in new technologies and services. In this role you will play an integral part in supporting the implementation of the Institutional Data Strategy and data informed decision-making by improving the University’s data infrastructure, analytics capabilities, and institutional reporting. If you are looking to develop your experience of supporting impactful change and are passionate about demonstrating the value of data and analytics in driving institutional progress, this is the role for you.
We are seeking an innovative and hands on Data Architect to join our IT Services (ITS) team. This pivotal role is responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining modern data architectures that empower the University's digital transformation goals. The successful candidate will provide strategic leadership and technical expertise to ensure our data infrastructure is scalable, secure, and aligned with institutional objectives.
As a Data Architect, you will work closely with stakeholders across academic, research, and administrative units to deliver solutions that harness the power of data for insight, decision making, and innovation.
Main Duties
Data Architecture Design and Implementation
* Design and build modern, scalable data architectures using cloud based and on premises solutions.
* Develop and maintain data models, databases, and pipelines to support enterprise-wide data initiatives.
* Lead the enterprise expansion of Snowflake for cloud data warehousing and analytics.
* Leverage dbt (Data Build Tool) to enable efficient transformation and management of data pipelines.
* Support and develop data standards, policies, and best practices.
Hands on Development
* Work directly with data engineering and software development teams to build reusable ELT pipelines.
* Create with colleagues APIs and data integrations to enable seamless data access and flow between systems for warehousing and Analytics.
* Optimize the performance and scalability of data systems.
* Utilize Azure Data Factory and other Azure tools for data management and processing.
* Take IT Services ownership of the creation of conceptual and Logical models working with University business leads and SME’s.
Strategic Planning and Leadership
* Work with colleagues across the University to review and drive the University's data strategy, ensuring alignment with institutional goals.
* Collaborate with stakeholders to identify and prioritise data driven opportunities.
* Stay informed and communicate emerging technologies and trends in data architecture and analytics.
Data Governance and Security
* Implement robust data governance frameworks to ensure data quality, integrity, and compliance.
* Collaborate with cybersecurity teams to safeguard sensitive information and mitigate risks.
* Promote best practices for data privacy in line with GDPR and other relevant regulations.
Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement
* Partner with academics, research teams, and administrative staff to deliver impactful data solutions.
* Provide training and mentorship to cross functional team members on data architecture and tools.
* Act as a subject matter expert for data related projects and initiatives.
General Duties
* Actively manages equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.
* Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
* Any other duties commensurate with the grade.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
* Educated to degree level (or equivalent qualifications) in Computer Science/Information Systems/or another related field plus substantial work experience and/or management/supervisory role in a specialist area, plus a higher degree where appropriate.
* Authoritative and advanced technical expertise in a relevant technical, professional or functional specialism.
* Demonstrable professional development through a series of progressively more demanding and influential work roles.
* Proven experience as a Data Architect, Data Engineer, or similar role in a complex organization.
* Expertise in designing and implementing data architectures in cloud environments (., Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud).
* Hands on experience with Snowflake, dbt, and Azure Data Services (., Data Factory, Synapse, or similar).
* Experience with ETL/ELT tools, APIs, and integration platforms.
* Deep knowledge of data modelling, warehousing, and real time analytics.
* Familiarity with big data technologies principals (., Spark, Hadoop) and BI tools (., Power BI, Tableau).
* Strong programming skills (. SQL, Python, Java, or similar languages).
* Ability to exercise a substantial degree of independent professional responsibility and discretion, and apply an expert understanding of their specialist to the needs of the University.
* Evidence of literacy and numeracy.
* Strong problem-solving skills and a solution-oriented mindset.
* Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
* Ability to work collaboratively across diverse teams and functions.
* Passion for enabling data driven decision making and innovation.
* Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.
* Ability to monitor and evaluate the extent to which equality and diversity legislation, policies, procedures are applied.
* Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action.
* Experience in higher education or research environments.
* Knowledge of machine learning and AI driven analytics.
* Certifications in cloud platforms (., AWS Certified Data Analytics, Azure Data Engineer Associate.
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