Contract Data Architect

Contract Data Architect (Insurance & Pensions) URGENT REQUIREMENT Interviews taking place immediately with a view to commencing Monday 27th July. Location: Fully Remote (occasional travel to London) Contract Length: 6 Months Initial Contract Day Rate: £600-£650 per day Engagement: Outside IR35 Start Date: Monday 27th July OverviewWe are seeking an experienced Data Architect to join a high-profile data modernisation programme within the insurance and pensions sector. This consultant will play a critical role in defining the target-state data architecture, supporting the migration of legacy data estates into a modern cloud-native platform, and shaping the architectural standards that underpin enterprise-wide data transformation. This is an ideal opportunity for a Data Architect with strong insurance or pensions experience, a deep understanding of modern data platforms, and the ability to engage effectively with both technical and business stakeholders. Key Responsibilities • Lead discovery, assessment and technical design activities for large-scale data modernisation programmes. • Define conceptual architectures, logical data models and detailed low-level designs (LLDs). • Design target-state Lakehouse and Medallion architectures, including Bronze, Silver and curated data product layers. • Develop migration strategies for transitioning legacy and mainframe-based datasets into modern cloud-native platforms. • Define data ingestion, profiling, mapping, validation, reconciliation and governance processes. • Produce canonical data models across policy, member, scheme, contribution, benefit, payment, adjustment and reporting domains. • Design scalable API and microservices-based integration patterns. • Establish data quality, reconciliation and control frameworks to support regulatory and operational reporting. • Produce architecture artefacts including: • Solution designs • Data models • Source-to-target mappings • API specifications • Security models • Migration plans • Runbooks • Work closely with engineering, platform, security and operations teams to ensure solutions are scalable, secure and production-ready. • Provide architectural leadership and engage with stakeholders at all levels across business and technology functions. Essential Experience • Extensive experience as a Data Architect within insurance or pensions. • Strong understanding of insurance and pension data domains. • Proven delivery of enterprise-scale data architecture and modernisation programmes. • Experience designing modern cloud-native data platforms. • Strong knowledge of Lakehouse and Medallion architecture patterns. • Experience migrating legacy, on-premise or mainframe data platforms into cloud environments. • Ability to create conceptual architecture, logical data models and detailed LLDs. • Strong understanding of enterprise data modelling and canonical data structures. • Experience designing API-led and microservices architectures. • Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills. • Strong understanding of data governance, data quality, reconciliation and regulatory reporting requirements. Highly Desirable • Experience with: • Bulk Purchase Annuities (BPA) • Pension Risk Transfer • Actuarial Reporting • Scheme Administration Data • Regulatory Reporting • Operational Analytics • Experience within highly regulated financial services environments. • Exposure to enterprise data engineering and cloud transformation initiatives. Key Skills • Data Architecture • Insurance & Pensions • Data Modernisation • Cloud Data Platforms • Lakehouse Architecture • Medallion Architecture • Data Modelling • Legacy/Mainframe Migration • Conceptual Architecture • Low-Level Design (LLD) • APIs & Microservices • Data Governance • Data Quality & Reconciliation • Stakeholder Management • Solution Design