Lead Data Architect / Engineering Consultant

Our client is is seeking an experienced Lead Data Architect / Engineering Consultant to deliver the cloud-native data platform. This platform will serve as the backbone for ingesting, analysing, and visualising operational data – enabling real-time monitoring, alerting, and long-term trend analysis. You will work across disciplines (engineering, analytics, asset operations, trading) to design a scalable, secure, and high-performance platform that supports current needs and enables future growth.

The key responsibilities are the following:

Project Ownership:

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of the data & analytics platform, from discovery through production handover.
• Define the architectural vision, design decisions, and implementation roadmap; coordinate closely with internal stakeholders.
• Facilitate technical discovery sessions with the data, trading, and operations teams to capture cross-functional requirements.
• Ensure that documentation, codebases, and data models are structured to support maintainability and reuse beyond the project.

Architecture & Platform Design

• Design a modular, multi-tenant architecture to accommodate diverse asset telemetry and operational datasets.
• Select appropriate Azure-native technologies and apply scalable data patterns for ingestion, processing, storage, and access.
• Incorporate Medallion architecture principles with time-series and event data optimised for both real-time and historical analytics.
• Ensure interoperability with existing platforms (BI tools, trading models, performance dashboards).

Engineering & Implementation

• Build robust batch and streaming pipelines using Azure Data Factory, Databricks, and Spark Structured Streaming.
• Implement secure, scalable storage using Delta Lake formats, Azure Data Lake Gen2, and time-series solutions (e.g. Azure Data Explorer).
• Deliver data validation, schema evolution, metadata management, and lineage tracking to production quality.

Mentoring & Capability Building

• Actively mentor and upskill internal data engineers and analysts throughout the project.
• Establish coding standards, design patterns, and operational best practices tailored to the internal capabilities.
• Support the Analytics team in developing a roadmap for sustained platform ownership and ongoing enhancements.
• Where appropriate, help integrate platform components with broader trading and forecasting infrastructure.

Governance, Security & Handover

• Define and implement access control, encryption, and cost monitoring policies aligned with Azure best practices.
• Produce complete documentation for infrastructure, pipelines, operational procedures, and support processes.
• Provide transition and onboarding support to ensure the internal team can own and evolve the platform post-delivery.

Required Skills & Experience

• Extensive experience delivering enterprise-scale data platforms in cloud environments(preferably Azure).
• Deep expertise in lake house architectures, real-time/batch processing, and telemetry/IoT pipelines.
• Proven ability to lead complex delivery across technical and non-technical teams.
• Strong hands-on experience with:
• Azure Event Hubs, IoT Hub, Data Factory, Data Lake Gen2, Synapse, Databricks
• Spark, Structured Streaming, Delta Lake, Parquet
• SQL, Python
• Time-series DBs (Azure Data Explorer, InfluxDB, TimescaleDB)
• Familiarity with Medallion architecture, schema evolution, cost optimisation, and system observability.
• Track record of mentoring internal teams and embedding best practices in technical delivery.
• Experience in energy, grid operations, or industrial IoT highly desirable.

FTC: 6 to 12 months. There is flexibility to extend the scope of this engagement to review and upgrade the wider data infrastructure supporting Analytics and Trading functions.