Solution Architect

About the role

We are looking for a Solution Architect to lead the technical design of a large-scale GCP data platform for an enterprise telecommunications client. You will define a lakehouse and medallion architecture using BigQuery, Dataflow, and Pub/Sub, working as an independent technical voice alongside senior client architects. The role starts part-time and scales to full-time.

What you will do

• Design and own the target-state lakehouse/medallion architecture for a multi-petabyte GCP data platform (BigQuery, GCS, Dataflow, Pub/Sub) supporting thousands of pipelines and hundreds of thousands of tables.

• Translate the client's transformation goals into scalable, secure architecture decisions and delivery roadmaps, working directly with client architects and engineering leadership.

• Define architecture for ingestion, transformation, curation, dataset registration/cataloging, governance, and analytics-serving layers (BigQuery as serving layer, dbt/Looker for transformation and reporting).

• Advise on migration strategy for legacy ETL pipelines — including undocumented, proprietary legacy tooling — into modern GCP-native or open lakehouse patterns.

• Evaluate and help select ingestion/transformation tooling (e.g. Fivetran, dbt, Airflow/Composer, NiFi) as part of ongoing technology proofs of concept.

• Define data governance and cataloging strategy aligned with GCP's native catalog capabilities (e.g. Dataplex, BigQuery universal catalog), including metadata, lineage, and access-control design.

• Act as senior technical reviewer for the squad's engineers, ensuring architectural consistency, security compliance, and long-term maintainability.

• Present and validate architecture decisions to client executives, enterprise architecture teams, and security stakeholders.

• Operate within the client's controlled toolchain and security constraints, including client-approved AI-assisted development environments.

Must haves

• 10+ years of experience in data architecture, solution architecture, or enterprise systems architecture.

• Strong, hands-on experience architecting data platforms on Google Cloud Platform (BigQuery, Dataflow, Pub/Sub, GCS) at enterprise / multi-petabyte scale.

• Proven experience designing lakehouse or medallion architectures (bronze/silver/gold layering or equivalent).

• Experience defining enterprise data governance frameworks — data quality, lineage, metadata management, access controls, cataloging.

• Experience advising on or leading migration of legacy ETL/data platforms to modern cloud-native architectures.

• Strong understanding of data ingestion and transformation tooling such as Fivetran, dbt, Apache Airflow/Composer.

• Experience working directly with enterprise clients as a trusted technical advisor, able to challenge and be challenged by client architects rather than simply execute a defined scope.

• Comfortable operating inside a large, security-conscious enterprise with a client-controlled toolchain, including adapting to client-approved (rather than personally preferred) AI-assisted development tools.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills — able to explain complex architecture to technical, business, and executive audiences.

• Fluent English, comfortable in a client-facing role daily.

• Willingness to travel occasionally (a few days at a time) to the client's UK office.

Nice to haves

• Experience with BigLake / Iceberg-based lakehouse patterns.

• Experience with Google Dataplex or BigQuery's universal data catalog.

• Familiarity with legacy ETL platforms such as Ab Initio, Informatica, or similar proprietary tools, particularly reverse-engineering pipelines built on them.

• Experience with AI-assisted, spec-driven development tools such as Amazon Kiro or comparable environments.

• Telecommunications sector experience (not required, but relevant given the scale).

• Google Cloud certification (Professional Data Engineer / Professional Cloud Architect).

• Experience working within Scrum/SAFe delivery frameworks.

Perks

• Growth without limits: build your skills through mentorship, internal TechTalks, challenging projects, and a dedicated annual learning budget

• Competitive compensation: get recognition that reflects your skills and impact, with regular performance and compensation reviews

• Flexibility: work 100% remotely with flexible hours that support focus, autonomy, and a healthy work rhythm

• Meaningful, modern projects: build impactful products using modern technologies alongside global teams and leading brands

• Collaborative culture: join a supportive environment with zero micromanagement where ideas are welcomed and contributions are recognized

• Well-being & support: access local well-being programs and people-focused support tailored to your location