Principal Data Solution Architect (SFIA Level 6+)

Salary: competitive depending upon experience + benefits

Where the job is based: (home-based, working with Kerv Digital office/customer site visits as required) UK HQ, Seven House, 18 High Street, Longbridge, B31 2UQ

Who we are: Dive into a world where technology meets innovation. At Kerv Digital, we're not just another tech company. We’re the problem solvers, the magicians who transform complex challenges into seamless digital experiences. Utilising a powerful blend of Power Platform, DevSecOps, Data, and Software Engineering, we create business solutions that truly resonate with our clients driving extreme value! With our roots planted in Birmingham and branches spreading across the globe from London to Bangalore, we're a proud member of the Kerv Group - a dynamic £112m revenue technology consultancy leader with a dedicated team of over 700 professionals, partnering with 800+ sector leaders. People come first always we are incredibly proud of our unparalleled work culture. Not just words on paper, we wear our "Great Place to Work" certifications from the UK and India like badges of honour. Dive into an ocean of opportunities in an atmosphere that celebrates collaboration. Sharpen your prowess with a global multi-discipline team and be guided by the industry's most forward-thinking architects.

Who we are looking for:

We are seeking a technical lead to join our Data practice, with a data consultancy / Azure background experienced in leading client projects. Primarily a technical role, it is essential that you are able to play well with others within fast paced environment.

You will be a self-starter, technically confident, able to land on a project and instantly add value. Keen to stay updated in the latest technologies, with a broad interest in all things Data. Having a quantitative mindset, and proven experience working in a data solutions architecture role in an Azure ecosystem. Azure Modern Data Platform experience is essential, with hands-on skills. You will understand networks, security and performance/cost characteristics of your solutions and be able to configure these including through Infrastructure-as-Code.

Leveraging your deep hands-on experience of all things Data, you will be leading on quoting, design, assurance and oversight of delivery of on-premises to Cloud data platform migrations and implementations. Comfortable being hands-on, you will be a master data manipulator with Python/SQL/ADF and a technical specialist capable of managing customer requirements for data-centric projects, designing integration solutions and hands-on implementation of data and management information-based technologies.

Required Experience:

• Requirements gathering (ETL, BI)
• Identifying through workshops
• Elaborate user stories and refining to an Engineer-friendly technical approach
• Documentation of designs with an industry-recognised form such as ER, UML, Archimate, Erwin, TOGAF
• Experience of managing priorities on multiple projects / workstreams
• Working in an agile landscape to making technical decisions/recommendations where there is uncertainty
• Stakeholder management and technical team interaction (internal, external and 3rd party)
• Large scale Data Lakehouse design
• Conceptual architecture
• Logical architecture
• Physical architecture
• ETL/ELT best practise approaches to monitoring and error-handling
• 10+ years’ experience of Consulting, ideally with Nonprofit, Government or Financial Services experience
• 7+ years’ experience of hands-on skills with ETL/ELT tools
• End-to-end migration of on-prem SQL-Server based solutions into Azure
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and Well Architected Framework
• Integration to D365, Dataverse solutions or other SaaS applications
• Creation of fault-tolerant data ingestion pipelines in Azure Data Factory / Synapse Pipelines / Fabric Pipelines / Mapping Data Flows / SSIS/ KingswaySoft using Linked Services, Integration, Datasets
• Extracting data from a variety of sources including SQL databases, document databases, graph databases, web APIs, etc
• Microsoft Fabric exposure
• Data Governance tools (e.g. Microsoft Purview)
• Master Data Management tools (e.g. CluedIn)
• Appreciation of information security standards such as ISO27001, PCI-DSS, Cyber Essentials
• Azure Infrastructure and Networking
• Azure DevOps, Git, ARM/Bicep, and building CI/CD pipelines

Desirable experience:

• Integration to D365 and working knowledge of Microsoft Common Data Model
• Databricks, Snowflake
• Azure Functions, Service Bus, Event Grid
• Understanding of Kimball data-modelling techniques
• Microsoft Azure data certifications
• Azure Synapse: Synapse-link, on-demand SQL engine, serverless SQL pool, Spark pool
• Writing unit tests, Git version control
• Awareness of reliability patterns in ETL pipelines
• Use of Python in Jupyter notebooks for data processing
• Azure storage technologies and cost/performance characteristics
• Power BI, DAX, data flows
• Techniques and tools for sanitising data prior to use
• Data Governance tools (e.g. Microsoft Purview)

We’re also looking for people that fit how we work:

• happiest working under their own direction, but fully supported when needed
• obvious attention to detail, we want you to obsess about the little things!
• an escalation handler, able to achieve win-win outcomes by utilising the skills across the team
• ability to work effectively with remote teams in India
• ability to work flexibly to deliver on-time to tight timescales

What we can do for you:

We’re a transparent, honest and fiercely equal employer that believes completely in providing the best possible work experience for our employees:

Real Flexibility – we’re a family first organisation, and if the work gets done, you can work when and wherever you want. A healthy approach for most of our unicorns (that’s this team) seems to be splitting three ways between home, customer sites and the office.

Awesome Environment – all of our employees will tell you that we foster an easy going environment, are experts at what we do and care deeply about what we work on – that’s in large part because we’re run by those that work day-to-day in the business, and the company was started specifically to find a way for people to take more enjoyment from their work.

Interesting Work – these days most of our customers are household names and many of our projects have an important impact on the world around us. The kind of things we do regularly include working with not-for-profits to transform how they leverage technology, working with public bodies to shape digital services and working with top tier private entities to bring genuinely new and meaningful products and services to market.

Great Benefits – all the usual suspects and then some. Some highlights include our choose-your-own tech approach to end-user devices, well stocked cupboards with tasty goodies (we’re a food first company too), excellent professional development support including frequent in-house training for tech and private healthcare. Full disclosure; some benefits can only be provided after probation.

Recognition & Growth – Certified as a Great Place to Work by independent assessors in both the UK and India and we’ve just entered the Sunday Times Tech Track 100, which charts the top 100 fastest growing tech. companies in the country; we know we achieved this directly through the people we choose to work with. Don’t take our word for it though, check out our impartial Glass Door reviews

More on equality:

We’re an Equal Opportunity Employer and determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race. We are committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements, individual qualifications and work experience. *Please note: By submitting an application you agree to Kerv Digital’s recruitment policy*