Data architect job description.
Hiring a data architect or progressing into data platform design? This data architect job description outlines responsibilities including structuring databases, optimising storage solutions, and maintaining secure data frameworks. It highlights strategic impact, technical skills needed, and competitive salaries for senior data professionals.
What does a data architect do?
A data architect designs and maintains the data infrastructure that enables storage, access, and analysis across the business. They define how data is collected, structured, integrated, and governed to ensure scalability, security, and performance.
Key responsibilities include modelling database structures, selecting technologies, setting governance policies, and working closely with engineers, analysts, and compliance teams. They play a critical role in supporting business intelligence, AI, and regulatory initiatives.
In smaller organisations, they may own the entire data stack. In larger companies, they collaborate with data engineers and governance leads to implement enterprise-grade solutions across warehouses, lakes, and cloud platforms like Snowflake or AWS.
Key responsibilities of a data architect.
Data architects design scalable data systems to support analytics and decision-making. Their responsibilities include:
-
Defining data architecture strategies, frameworks, and models
-
Designing and optimising databases, warehouses, and data lakes
-
Ensuring data structures meet business and compliance needs
-
Collaborating with data engineers and analysts on pipeline architecture
-
Overseeing metadata management, catalogues, and lineage tracking
-
Ensuring data integrity, scalability, and performance
-
Selecting appropriate storage and cloud platforms (e.g. Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift)
-
Supporting data governance and access control policies
-
Reviewing existing systems for improvement or migration
-
Documenting technical standards and architectural decisions
This role blends system design with strategic alignment and governance.
Skills and requirements for a data architect.
Data architects design systems supporting enterprise data use. Employers typically look for:
-
7–10 years of experience in data engineering or architecture roles
-
Deep understanding of data modelling, warehousing, and governance
-
Skilled in designing pipelines and ETL/ELT workflows
-
Experience with cloud platforms like Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift
-
Familiarity with security, lineage, and compliance frameworks
-
Ability to standardise structure across teams
-
Strong documentation and stakeholder alignment skills
-
Comfortable working with engineering and analytics teams
-
Knowledge of data mesh, lakehouse, or modern stack tools
Most data architects ensure scalable, governed data environments.
Average salary for a data architect.
In the UK, the average salary for a data architect typically ranges from £45,000 to £99,000, based on data infrastructure, governance, and strategic oversight.
-
Mid-level data architects typically earn between £45,000 and £70,000
-
Senior architects building enterprise data ecosystems may earn between £71,000 and £99,000
-
Cloud-native and real-time architecture experience drives premium salaries
Top-paying opportunities are found in cloud platforms, SaaS, and financial institutions.
Career progression for a data architect.
A data architect designs and governs how data is collected, stored, and accessed across an organisation. This is a highly strategic role requiring technical depth and stakeholder engagement. A typical journey includes:
BI developer / Data engineer
Builds pipelines, manages data warehouse solutions, and handles transformations.
Senior data engineer
Designs scalable infrastructure, optimises performance, and implements governance practices.
Data architect
Designs enterprise data models, ensures regulatory compliance, and creates secure and scalable data infrastructure.
Head of data architecture
Manages data environments, infrastructure budgets, and system interoperability.
Director of data / CTO
Leads the long-term vision for data platforms, governance, and strategic transformation.
salary guide
Our UK data salary guide.
Data architects design and manage large-scale data systems. Salary should reflect planning ability, platform architecture, and data governance expertise.
Use our UK data salary guide to explore current benchmarks, review 2024 trends, and prepare for long-term hiring through 2026.
FAQS
Data architect FAQs.
They design the structure that supports everything else — including data warehouse architecture, data lake implementation, pipeline orchestration, and compliance-aligned storage solutions. They often spearhead migrations from legacy SQL servers to scalable cloud platforms.
They align with both data consumers (analysts, product teams) and data enablers (engineering, IT). In regulated sectors, they also work closely with compliance and legal to ensure governance is baked into data flows — not retrofitted.
Ask about migrations and trade-offs. What platforms were considered, how were users affected, how was downtime managed? Architecture is about planning for edge cases and scale — not just choosing tools.
Not always. They must understand pipeline logic, ELT patterns, and data modelling deeply — but their value is in decisions and documentation. In more mature teams, engineers implement the architecture the architect defines.
Progression includes enterprise architect, head of data engineering, or chief data officer — particularly for architects who influence governance, cross-platform strategy, and commercial data priorities.
