Principal Data Architect

Harnham - Data and Analytics Recruitment
Usa, SL4 4BQ, United Kingdom
Last week
US$201,000 – US$240,000 pa

Salary

US$201,000 – US$240,000 pa

Job Type
Permanent
Work Pattern
Full-time
Work Location
Remote
Seniority
Lead
Education
Degree
Posted
1 Jun 2026 (Last week)

Benefits

Benefits

Principal Data Architect

Location: Remote

Salary: $210,000 - $240,000 + benefits

This is a rare opportunity to shape an AI native data platform from the ground up within a scaled, well funded fintech. You will have genuine greenfield ownership, designing the foundations that enable customer facing AI products, while working in an environment that values quality, autonomy and long term impact.

The Company
They are a well established B2B fintech providing mission critical lending and decisioning software to regulated financial institutions. Backed by private equity, the business is investing heavily in R and D and is undergoing a company wide AI transformation. Operating at significant scale on highly sensitive data, they combine the stability of a mature SaaS business with the ambition and pace of a startup style AI programme.

The Role

Own the full end-to-end design of a modern, AI-native data foundation built on lakehouse principles, enabling scalable and flexible data management. This involves unifying fragmented enterprise data models into cohesive, harmonised customer and product data assets. Additionally, design and implement robust enterprise data models, along with metadata and contextual layers, ensuring that data is both accessible and interpretable for AI systems and business users alike.

  • Define data layers, governance, lineage, sensitivity classification and access controls for regulated financial data.
  • Build customer 360 views and master data capabilities to support analytics, AI agents and LLM driven use cases.
  • Lead data ingestion and mapping strategies, including batch, streaming and CDC pipelines.
  • Work as a hands on individual contributor, influencing engineering, product and leadership teams without direct authority.
  • Enable AI workspaces and data products that support customer facing AI experiences.

Your Skills and Experience

  • Strong commercial experience as a Data Architect or Principal Data Engineer within FinTech or SaaS.
  • Deep expertise in data architecture, enterprise data modelling and AI ready data platforms.
  • Hands on experience with Databricks, PySpark and Azure based lakehouse architectures.
  • Proven background in data governance, metadata management and regulatory compliance.
  • Experience designing dimensional models and modern data layers for analytical and operational use.
  • Exposure to Informatica or similar enterprise ingestion and integration tooling.
  • Confidence working with complex, sensitive financial data in regulated environments.
  • Must have eligibility to work in the U

What They Offer

  • Greenfield ownership of a strategic AI native data platform.
  • Direct access to senior leadership and influence over long term data and AI strategy.
  • The chance to build data products that directly power next generation AI capabilities.

How to Apply
If you are excited by the challenge of building an AI first data foundation within a scaled fintech, apply now by emailing resumes if interested or pass on if you know someone who'd be a great fit.

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