Location : This is a remote role, offering the flexibility to work virtually from anywhere within the UK.
Contract Type : Permanent
The Opportunity
The Principal Data Architect is responsible for defining, shaping, and delivering the technical architecture and strategy for RS’s Enterprise Data Platform (EDP), built on Snowflake.
This role combines hands-on technical leadership, architecture governance, and line management of Data Architects. The Principal Data Architect plays a critical role in ensuring the EDP enables scalable, high-quality, outcome-focused, and performant analytics capabilities across the RS organisation, globally.
Working within the Group Data function in IS&T, this role supports the entire business, ensuring alignment to enterprise strategy, while enabling effective delivery of value through analytics.
What You'll Be Doing
- Define and evolve the target data architecture for the Enterprise Data Platform, establishing and enforcing principles, standards, design patterns, governance and tooling strategies across the modern data stack (Snowflake, dbt, Dagster, Airbyte, etc.).
- Shape and deliver the data platform roadmap in partnership with the Director of Data Platform, ensuring alignment with wider IS&T, enterprise architecture and Data operating model strategies.
- Provide technical leadership and architectural oversight for data modelling, pipeline design, orchestration and transformation, enabling engineering teams through best practices, performance optimisation and design authority.
- Ensure the platform meets requirements for scalability, performance, cost efficiency, data quality, security, compliance and governance, while monitoring and governing platform costs.
- Lead data architecture for major platform transformations and migrations, including sequencing, cutover strategy, risk mitigation and the adoption of AI-driven efficiencies and innovations.
- Build, lead and develop a high-performing team of Data Architects, fostering a culture of engineering excellence, accountability and continuous improvement.
- Act as a trusted advisor to business and technology stakeholders, communicating complex concepts clearly and leading the design of end-to-end data solutions that balance long-term integrity with pragmatic delivery needs.
What You'll Bring
Essential
- Proven experience in a senior, lead or principal data architecture role (3+ years)
- Strong expertise in Snowflake (or similar cloud data platforms)
- Hands-on experience with modern data tooling, including dbt, Dagster (or equivalent), and Airbyte (or similar)
- Deep knowledge of data modelling approaches.
- Strong understanding of ELT/ETL patterns, pipeline design, and distributed data systems
- Experience optimising performance and cost in cloud-based data platforms