DATA ARCHITECTURE
TALENT SOLUTIONS
The builders don’t know what to build without the architects' designs. At Harnham we understand the important role highly skilled Data Architects play in delivering successful projects.
Data Architects map out and model the vast and complex data within a modern organisation, select the tools needed to process that data, and put the plan in place so the systems can be developed. Often a very strategic role, modern businesses could not function without data architects in the background. If you’re looking to make the next step in your data career, or are looking to hire the best Data Architecture talent around, Harnham have the network to help.
WHY
HARNHAM?
We provide comprehensive recruitment solutions for both permanent and contract positions, tailored to meet the unique demands of your data architecture projects and initiatives.
Our executive search service is specially designed to identify and recruit leaders in the field of data architecture, who can propel your strategic objectives and technological innovations forward. Leveraging our industry-specific expertise, we operate across various sectors, offering recruitment strategies finely attuned to the distinct challenges and opportunities within each, particularly in data architecture.
Contact us today to discover how our tailored talent solutions can strengthen your organization's data architecture capabilities.
OUR
SERVICES
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Permanent and Contract Recruitment: We provide both permanent and contract recruitment solutions, ensuring flexibility to meet the evolving needs of your data architecture projects.
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Executive Search: Our executive search service is tailored to identify and secure leaders in the data architecture field, who can drive your business strategies and technological advancements.
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Industry-Specific Expertise: We operate across various industries, offering specialized recruitment solutions that understand and cater to the unique challenges and opportunities within data architecture in your sector.
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Contact us today to learn how our bespoke talent solutions can enhance your organization's data architecture capabilities.
JOBS
LATEST
OPPORTUNITIES
Harnham are a specialist Data & AI recruitment business with teams that only focus on niche areas.
Kafka Data Governance Contractor
London
£500 - £650
+ Data Engineering
ContractLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Data Governance Contractor – Streaming Schema Governance
London | Outside IR35
This is an opportunity to play a key role in a major data transformation programme focused on establishing and embedding Kafka schema governance at scale. You will help shape governance frameworks, drive stakeholder alignment, and ensure robust controls are implemented across a complex streaming data environment. [Data
The Company
A leading financial services organisation currently building and scaling its enterprise event-streaming capability. As part of a major data transformation programme, the business is implementing Kafka schema governance from the ground up, creating the standards, controls and operating processes needed to support a large-scale Kafka estate of over 300 topics within a regulated environment.
The Role and Deliverables
- Establish and operate a Kafka schema governance framework covering schema quality, nullability, and lifecycle management.
- Facilitate agreement and ratification of schema governance rules, topic taxonomies, and operating standards.
- Define governance processes, including schema review gates, change control, exception management, and ownership models.
- Support onboarding and adoption of the governance framework through stakeholder engagement and guidance.
- Lead assessment and remediation activities across an existing Kafka estate, including schema compliance reviews and prioritisation of issues.
- Drive schema version governance, deprecation processes, and consumer migration activities through to completion.
Your Skills & Experience
- Strong experience delivering data governance or cloud governance programmes.
- Must-have experience with Kafka, including schema governance, schema registry, and data contract concepts.
- Experience working with Confluent Kafka, Avro, or comparable schema management technologies.
- Ability to translate governance, regulatory, or policy requirements into technical controls and operating frameworks.
- Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence governance, architecture, engineering, and business teams.
- Experience producing governance documentation, process design, and audit-ready evidence.
How to Apply
If you have strong Kafka and Data Governance experience and are interested in a high-impact contract opportunity, please apply with your latest CV.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior Data Architect
Los Angeles
$220000 - $260000
+ Data Engineering
PermanentLos Angeles, California
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior Data Architect
Los Angeles, CA
$220-260k base + bonus
We’re partnering with a large investment organization that is continuing to build out its enterprise data capabilities and is looking for a Senior Data Architect to help shape the next generation of its data platform.
This is a senior individual contributor role focused on enterprise data architecture, Databricks, data modeling, governance, and security. You’ll work closely with business and technical teams to design scalable data structures and standards that support analytics, operations, reporting, and AI use cases.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Design conceptual, logical, and physical data models across enterprise data platforms
- Build dimensional models using Kimball, 3NF, Data Vault, and related approaches
- Help define Databricks Lakehouse architecture, including medallion patterns and Delta Lake design
- Establish Unity Catalog standards for governance, lineage, access control, and data organization
- Partner with Data Engineering teams on pipelines, schema design, transformation logic, and performance
- Build data architecture standards, naming conventions, metadata frameworks, and data quality controls
- Work closely with business teams across Finance, Accounting, Investor Relations, and Investments to translate requirements into technical solutions
- Support security and privacy controls across sensitive enterprise data
- Help define how Databricks, Snowflake, MongoDB, and other platforms should be used across different workloads
- Support downstream ML, GenAI, and RAG use cases through well designed data foundations
What We’re Looking For
- Strong enterprise Data Architecture or Data Modeling experience
- Deep hands on experience with Databricks and Delta Lake
- Strong knowledge of dimensional modeling, Kimball, star schema, 3NF, and Data Vault
- Experience designing medallion architecture in Databricks
- Strong Unity Catalog experience across governance, lineage, and access controls
- Strong SQL skills and familiarity with enterprise data modeling tools
- Experience with Azure data platforms
- Strong understanding of data governance, security, privacy, metadata, and data quality
- Ability to work directly with senior business stakeholders and translate complex requirements into scalable architecture
- Comfortable operating independently in environments where standards and frameworks are still being built
Nice to Have
- Experience within financial services, private equity, asset management, or alternative investments
- Knowledge of investment data including funds, investors, NAV, capital calls, and distributions
- Experience building architecture standards from scratch
- Exposure to Snowflake, MongoDB, Kafka, CDC, and Azure Event Hubs
- Experience supporting AI, ML, or GenAI workloads
- Databricks, Azure, or TOGAF certifications

To Apply for this Job Click Here
AI and Data Engineering Lead
New York
$110 - $130
+ Data Engineering
ContractNew York
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Engineering Lead – AI & Emerging Technology
Contract Opportunity | 6-Month Engagement | 40 Hours/Week
Location: Hybrid (NYC Office)
Duration: 6 Months
Utilization: 40 Hours per Week
Rate: $110-$130/hr – W2
Overview
We are seeking an experienced Engineering Lead to drive the technical direction and delivery of an innovative AI-focused initiative. This is a hands-on leadership role requiring a strong combination of technical expertise, engineering judgment, and rapid prototyping capabilities.
The ideal candidate will have experience building and deploying AI-powered solutions, working closely with cross-functional stakeholders to transform emerging concepts into functional prototypes and interactive experiences. This role requires someone who enjoys experimenting with cutting-edge technologies while maintaining a practical approach to execution and delivery.
Responsibilities
- Lead the technical strategy and engineering execution for an AI and emerging technology initiative.
- Design and develop rapid prototypes utilizing technologies such as Microsoft Copilot Studio, Azure AI, Azure OpenAI, Power Platform, and comparable AI development ecosystems.
- Build, test, and optimize AI agents, prompt frameworks, and agent-driven workflows.
- Design and implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions that connect AI applications to enterprise data sources.
- Develop integrations between AI applications, APIs, workflows, and third-party systems.
- Create interactive prototypes, simulations, proof-of-concepts, and user experiences that demonstrate business value.
- Collaborate with product, design, strategy, and business stakeholders to evaluate technical feasibility and delivery approaches.
- Make sound architectural decisions balancing speed, scalability, maintainability, and innovation.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship while remaining actively involved in hands-on development.
- Rapidly iterate solutions based on testing, stakeholder feedback, and evolving requirements.
Required Qualifications
AI & Microsoft Technology Stack
- Experience with Microsoft Copilot Studio
- Azure AI Services
- Azure OpenAI
- Microsoft Power Platform
- Comparable enterprise AI development platforms and tooling
AI Engineering & Application Development
- Prompt engineering and prompt design
- AI agent architecture and development
- Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
- LLM-based application development
- Workflow automation
- API development and integration
- Connecting AI applications with enterprise systems and data sources
Product Development & Prototyping
- Developing proof-of-concepts and functional prototypes under tight timelines
- Converting ambiguous concepts into tangible technical solutions
- Building interactive applications, simulations, or digital experiences
- Thriving in fast-paced environments with evolving requirements and priorities
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with agent orchestration platforms and multi-agent architectures.
- Background in consulting, innovation labs, venture studios, product development organizations, or similar environments focused on rapid experimentation and iterative delivery.
- Experience evaluating emerging technologies and applying them to real-world business challenges.
Desired Attributes
We’re looking for someone who is:
- Hands-On: Actively engaged in architecture, development, and problem-solving.
- Innovative: Passionate about exploring emerging AI technologies and experimentation.
- Business-Oriented: Understands how technical solutions drive business outcomes.
- Pragmatic: Knows when to engineer for scale versus when to optimize for speed.
- Collaborative: Effective working across technical and non-technical teams.
- Adaptable: Comfortable operating in environments with evolving requirements.
- Technical Leader: Able to provide guidance, influence decisions, and build stakeholder confidence

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Engineering Director
London
£100000 - £135000
+ Data Engineering
PermanentLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Engineering Director (Head of Data Engineering)
UK (fully remote) | £100,000 – £135,000 | Annual Bonus
This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for an experienced Engineering Director to build and scale a data platform function supporting business-critical initiatives. You’ll lead engineering delivery, shape technical strategy, and establish the foundations for a modern, AI-enabled data ecosystem.
The Company
They are a global organisation investing heavily in the future of data, analytics, and AI. Following significant commitment to platform modernisation, they are consolidating legacy infrastructure into a centralised, governed, and scalable data environment. This role will play a key part in turning that vision into reality.
The Role
- Build, lead, and develop a high-performing engineering team
- Own engineering operations, delivery planning, and team performance
- Drive architectural decisions and technical best practices
- Establish standards across CI/CD, testing, documentation, and reliability
- Partner with senior leadership on hiring, team development, and strategy
- Manage delivery across platform builds, migrations, and transformation programmes
- Coordinate with technology, product, and business stakeholders
- Ensure operational excellence through monitoring, alerting, and incident management
Your Skills & Experience
- Strong experience leading engineering or platform teams
- Track record delivering large-scale data platform initiatives
- Experience managing multidisciplinary engineering functions
- Strong knowledge of cloud data platforms and modern data stacks
- Familiarity with Snowflake, orchestration tools, and transformation frameworks
- Experience implementing engineering standards and governance processes
- Ability to balance strategic leadership with technical oversight
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
What They Offer
- Fully remote working across the UK
- Opportunity to build and shape a strategic platform function
- Significant leadership scope and visibility
- Exposure to enterprise-wide data transformation initiatives
- Collaborative and innovation-focused environment
- Competitive salary and benefits package
How to Apply
Submit your CV to learn more about this Engineering Director opportunity.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Data Platform Architect
London
£90000 - £110000
+ Data Engineering
PermanentLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Data Platform Architect
London | 3 Days a week | £90,000 – £110,000
This is an opportunity for a Data Platform Architect to play a central role in shaping the future of an enterprise data platform. You’ll combine hands-on technical expertise with strategic architecture leadership, helping to deliver a scalable, secure, and AI-ready data environment.
The Company
They are a well-established organisation undergoing significant investment in data, analytics, and AI capabilities. Data is a critical strategic asset across the business, and they are continuing to evolve a modern cloud-based platform that supports a wide range of operational and commercial initiatives. This role sits at the centre of that transformation.
The Role
- Define and evolve the architecture of a modern cloud-based data platform
- Provide technical leadership across data platform and engineering teams
- Design scalable, secure, and reliable data solutions
- Support the implementation of architectural patterns and standards
- Champion DataOps practices including CI/CD, testing, monitoring, and automation
- Partner with governance, security, and engineering teams to ensure compliance and best practice
- Guide the implementation of ETL and ELT processes using modern tooling
- Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend future platform enhancements
- Support strategic planning and AI-enablement initiatives
Your Skills & Experience
- Strong experience in data platform architecture and cloud-based data environments
- Excellent understanding of modern data stack technologies
- Expertise with Google Cloud Platform, BigQuery, dbt, Airflow, or similar technologies
- Experience designing data integration patterns and scalable data solutions
- Knowledge of data governance, security, privacy, and compliance principles
- Strong understanding of DataOps, CI/CD, testing, and automation practices
- Experience supporting Data Engineering teams with technical leadership
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
What They Offer
- Competitive salary and benefits package
- Opportunity to influence enterprise-scale data strategy
- Exposure to AI and advanced analytics initiatives
- Collaborative and highly visible role within the data function
- Strong opportunities for professional growth and progression
- Flexible working arrangements
How to Apply
Apply today with your CV for a confidential discussion about this Data Platform Architect opportunity.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Chief Data Officer
London
£150000 - £180000
+ Data Engineering
PermanentLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Chief Data Officer
London| Hybrid | Up to £180,000 + Benefits
An opportunity to join a growing, regulated organisation embarking on a significant data transformation programme. This newly created Chief Data Officer role offers the chance to define strategy, build capability from the ground up, and shape how data supports business growth and decision-making.
The Company
They are an established organisation operating within a regulated sector, currently investing in technology, data, and digital transformation. With strong executive sponsorship and ambitious plans for the future, they are seeking a senior data leader to create a modern, scalable data capability.
The Role
You will take ownership of the data strategy, architecture, and delivery roadmap, helping the business unlock greater value from its data assets.
Responsibilities include:
- Defining and evolving the organisation’s data and AI strategy.
- Building a modern cloud-based data platform and engineering capability.
- Establishing data governance, analytics, and self-service insight capabilities.
- Identifying opportunities to apply predictive analytics and AI to business challenges.
- Leading and developing a high-performing data team.
- Partnering with senior stakeholders to drive data-led decision making.
- Evaluating technology options and recommending the most effective approach.
- Delivering measurable business outcomes through data initiatives.
Your Skills & Experience
- Strong experience building and scaling modern data capabilities.
- Expertise across data engineering, analytics, BI, and data architecture.
- Experience delivering cloud-based data platforms
- Strong commercial awareness and ability to connect technology decisions to business value.
- Knowledge of modern AI, automation, and emerging data technologies.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Experience within a regulated environment is advantageous.
What They Offer
- Up to £180,000 salary.
- Executive ownership
- Significant influence over strategy, technology, and team design.
- Direct exposure to senior leadership.
- Competitive benefits package and long-term career progression.
How to Apply
Apply today to discuss this Chief Data Officer opportunity in more detail.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Founding data engineer
€80000 - €100000
+ Data Engineering
PermanentNetherlands
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Founding Data Engineer
Amsterdam or London | from €80,000 + Benefits
This is an opportunity for a Data profile who wants ownership, influence, and the chance to build something from the ground up. Rather than joining a large data team and owning a small piece of the puzzle, you will define the company’s entire data landscape, from architecture and tooling to governance and reporting.
The Company
They are a growing investment organisation focused on backing innovative technology businesses. Data sits at the heart of their decision-making, but information is currently spread across multiple systems, spreadsheets, and reporting tools. They are looking for someone to build a modern, scalable data environment that will support the business for years to come.
The Role
- Build the company’s first data warehouse and centralised data platform
- Design the data architecture and recommend the technology stack
- Consolidate data from CRM systems, spreadsheets, reporting tools, and external platforms
- Develop automated data pipelines and API integrations
- Establish data governance, quality standards, and business definitions
- Partner closely with finance, operations, and investment teams
- Shape the long-term data and analytics strategy
Your Skills & Experience
- Strong commercial experience in Data Engineering, Analytics Engineering, or Data Consulting
- Experience building or transforming data environments from scratch
- Strong SQL and Python skills
- Experience with APIs, data warehousing, and modern cloud technologies
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
- Understanding of investment, private equity, financial services, or portfolio data
- Degree in Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related quantitative discipline is beneficial
- This role is particularly suited to someone coming from a consultancy or a smaller business environment. You will enjoy solving greenfield challenges, making technology decisions, and operating with a high degree of autonomy.
What They Offer
- End-to-end ownership of the data function
- Direct exposure to senior leadership
- The opportunity to build a modern data platform from day one
How to Apply
If you enjoy building rather than maintaining, and want to shape the future of a company’s data capability, apply today.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior Cloud Architect (GCP)
New York
$85 - $105
+ Data Engineering
ContractNew York
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior Cloud Architect (GCP)
Remote (U.S. EASTERN TIME) | Contract through February 2027 (Strong Extension Potential) |$85-$105/hr (dependent on experience) | 30-40 Hours/Week
We’re partnering with a globally recognized cloud and data consulting organization supporting a Fortune 500 gaming company on a highly visible cloud and AI/ML transformation initiative. This is an immediate need for a seasoned Google Cloud Architect to step into an active program and provide architectural leadership across cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and machine learning workloads. This opportunity comes as a back-fill on a mature project already well into delivery, making it ideal for someone who enjoys solving real-world production challenges rather than spending months on strategy and planning exercises.
What You’ll Be Doing
As the Senior Cloud Architect, you’ll serve as the primary cloud architecture SME across multiple teams while partnering closely with engineering leadership, ML engineers, and business stakeholders.
Key responsibilities include:
- Providing architectural oversight for enterprise-scale Google Cloud environments
- Reviewing and validating technical designs and implementation approaches
- Supporting Kubernetes-based platforms and cloud-native services
- Designing and maintaining Infrastructure-as-Code solutions using Terraform
- Troubleshooting complex production issues and guiding root-cause analysis
- Advising engineering teams on scalability, reliability, security, and cost optimization
- Partnering with ML teams to support distributed training and inference environments
- Mentoring engineers and serving as the senior technical escalation point across workstreams
Required Experience
We’re looking for a hands-on architect who has successfully delivered cloud solutions in large-scale production environments.
You should have:
- Extensive experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- Advanced expertise with Terraform and Infrastructure-as-Code
- Strong experience with Kubernetes in production environments
- Experience creating custom ML workflows
- Deep understanding of networking, IAM, security, governance, observability, and cloud operations
- Experience supporting enterprise-scale cloud applications and platforms
- Strong stakeholder engagement and consulting experience
- Ability to quickly establish credibility and technical leadership within existing programs
Bonus Points For
- AI/ML infrastructure experience
- Distributed training environments
- Reinforcement Learning (RL) platforms
- Gaming, entertainment, or large-scale digital product experience
- Multi-cloud exposure (AWS and/or Azure)
This role is perfect for a “battle-tested” Cloud Architect who enjoys jumping into active delivery environments, solving complex technical challenges, mentoring teams, and driving architectural decisions that have immediate business impact. If you’re someone who can quickly assess a situation, earn the trust of technical stakeholders, and deliver practical cloud solutions at enterprise scale, apply here!

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior Data Architect
Leeds
£87000 - £90000
+ Data Engineering
PermanentLeeds, West Yorkshire
To Apply for this Job Click Here
SENIOR DATA ARCHITECT
Remote (UK) | 1 day per month onsite | £87,000 to £90,000 + Benefits
This is an opportunity to take ownership of data architecture within a major Azure Data Lakehouse transformation. You’ll play a key role in defining enterprise-wide data models, setting architecture standards, and helping the organisation transition from traditional reporting to advanced analytics.
THE COMPANY
This leading professional services organisation is investing heavily in its data and analytics capabilities. Having already modernised its infrastructure and established a cloud-based Azure data platform, they are now focused on improving data visibility, strengthening governance, and unlocking greater value from their data. Data sits at the centre of their long-term strategy, making this a highly visible role with significant business impact.
THE ROLE
You will be responsible for shaping the data architecture and modelling strategy across a modern Azure Data Lakehouse environment.
Key responsibilities include:
- Designing and governing enterprise data models across Medallion Architecture layers.
- Building scalable dimensional models using Kimball methodologies and star schemas.
- Defining modelling standards, governance frameworks, and best practices.
- Designing and maintaining curated semantic layers for reporting and analytics.
- Collaborating with Data Engineers, Analytics teams, and senior stakeholders across the business.
- Producing architecture artefacts, data models, documentation, and design standards.
- Acting as the technical authority for data modelling and architecture decisions.
- Supporting the evolution towards predictive and prescriptive analytics capabilities.
YOUR SKILLS & EXPERIENCE
- Strong hands-on Data Architecture and Data Modelling experience.
- Expertise in dimensional modelling, facts and dimensions, and Kimball methodologies.
- Experience working with Medallion Architecture and Azure-based data platforms.
- Strong understanding of semantic layers and modern cloud data environments.
- Experience establishing governance, modelling standards, and architecture best practice.
- Ability to influence stakeholders and communicate technical concepts effectively.
- Experience within regulated or complex enterprise environments would be beneficial.
WHAT THEY OFFER
- £87,000 to £90,000 salary plus benefits.
- Remote-first working with minimal travel requirements.
- The opportunity to shape architecture standards across a growing data function.
- Significant autonomy and exposure to senior business stakeholders.
- Long-term career development within a large-scale data transformation programme.
HOW TO APPLY
If you’re a Senior Data Architect with strong Azure and data modelling expertise, apply today to learn more about this opportunity.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
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