Senior Data Architect

INTRODUCTION

At Burberry, we believe creativity opens spaces. Our purpose is to unlock the power of imagination to push boundaries and open new possibilities for our people, our customers and our communities. This is the core belief that has guided Burberry since it was founded in 1856 and is central to how we operate as a company today.  

We aim to provide an environment for creative minds from different backgrounds to thrive, bringing a wide range of skills and experiences to everything we do. As a purposeful, values-driven brand, we are committed to being a force for good in the world as well, creating the next generation of sustainable luxury for customers, driving industry change and championing our communities.

JOB PURPOSE

The Senior Data Architect provides senior data architecture leadership across Burberry's change portfolio, shaping how data is structured, connected, governed and consumed across data products, platforms, analytics, reporting, AI and operational processes. The role leads complex data architecture assignments that cross domains, systems and delivery teams, ensuring solutions move coherently towards Burberry's target data architecture.

The role translates business and product outcomes into end-to-end data architectures, leading the definition of domain and cross-domain models, authoritative sources, system-of-record boundaries, data contracts, information flows and semantic structures. It works closely with Data Products & Governance, Data Engineering & Platforms, Integration Architecture, Security, Solution Architecture and business stakeholders to resolve material data design decisions and prevent fragmented or duplicated data solutions.

This is a senior architecture role rather than a platform operations, engineering delivery or people-management role. The Senior Data Architect provides design authority, technical challenge and architectural assurance, while coaching Data Architects and delivery teams and escalating enterprise-wide strategic decisions to the relevant architecture leadership and governance forums.

ACCOUNTABILITY BOUNDARIES AND KEY INTERFACES

• Accountable for senior solution-level data architecture across complex programmes, products and cross-domain change, including the coherence of data structures and information flows between domains and systems.
• Accountable for the quality and consistency of conceptual, logical and physical models, data architecture decisions, authoritative-source definitions, data contracts and source-to-consumption data flows within assigned scope.
• Operates within enterprise data architecture principles, target states and guardrails; enterprise-wide strategy and formal architecture direction remain with the relevant Director and governance bodies.
• Does not own enterprise data governance policy, business data ownership or stewardship. These remain with Data Products & Governance; the Senior Data Architect ensures governance requirements are designed into solutions and provides senior architecture input where policy or ownership decisions affect solution design.
• Does not own day-to-day data platform operations or engineering delivery. These remain with Data Engineering & Platforms, delivery squads and strategic partners; the Senior Data Architect provides the architecture they implement and assures major technical decisions.

Acts as a senior escalation point for Data Architects and works across Enterprise Architecture, Data Products & Governance, Data Engineering & Platforms, Integration, Security, Solution Architecture, Product, programme teams and strategic partners.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead end-to-end data architecture for complex, cross-domain programmes and products, translating business outcomes and strategic roadmaps into coherent data designs that delivery teams can implement.
• Own data architecture for major change initiatives, shaping current-state, transition and target-state architectures across source systems, operational stores, Databricks and downstream analytical and consumption layers.
• Provide senior design authority on data architecture decisions, reviewing and challenging Data Architects, engineering teams, Solution Architects, system integrators and vendors where architectural quality, scalability, security or long-term fit are at risk.
• Lead the definition and alignment of domain and cross-domain data models, including conceptual, logical and physical models for core Burberry domains such as Product, Customer, Merchandise, Sales, Inventory, Supply Chain, Finance and People.
• Define authoritative sources, system-of-record boundaries, master/reference data relationships, ownership points and critical information flows so business concepts are represented consistently across products, platforms and channels.
• Shape data architecture for reusable data products and analytical capabilities on Burberry's modern data estate, including lakehouse, curated data layers, semantic structures and data assets supporting reporting, analytics and AI.
• Set and evolve data architecture patterns and modelling guidance, selecting approaches appropriate to business need, reuse, scale, performance and lifecycle requirements.
• Define and assure data contracts, schemas, lineage requirements, metadata structures and lifecycle controls, working with Data Engineering & Platforms and Integration Architecture on implementation patterns.
• Resolve complex cross-domain data dependencies and trade-offs, balancing business needs, delivery feasibility, data quality, security, resilience, cost and long-term simplification; escalate material exceptions through governance.
• Work with Data Products & Governance to embed data quality, catalogue, glossary, classification, privacy, retention and stewardship requirements into solution designs.
• Provide senior architecture input to migration, platform modernisation, consolidation and legacy retirement programmes, including source-to-target mapping, coexistence, reconciliation and transition sequencing.
• Engage early in demand shaping and investment assessment, identifying data dependencies, architecture complexity, non-functional requirements and delivery risks before commitments are made.
• Maintain reusable data architecture artefacts and identify cross-estate duplication, conflicting models and technical debt, shaping remediation roadmaps with architecture, engineering, governance and product leadership.
• Coach and mentor Data Architects and provide technical direction to data engineers, analytics engineers and partners, raising the consistency and quality of data architecture without creating unnecessary delivery dependency.
• Represent data architecture in governance and design authority forums, presenting options, recommendations, exceptions and decision impacts to senior technical and business stakeholders.

PERSONAL PROFILE

• Significant experience as a Data Architect, Senior Data Architect, Data Solution Architect or similarly senior data-focused architecture specialist within a complex enterprise technology environment.
• Strong practical expertise in conceptual, logical and physical data modelling, with a track record of shaping cross-domain models and resolving complex data design decisions.
• Deep understanding of modern data architecture across lakehouse, data warehouse, data products, analytics, reporting and operational data, including dimensional, 3NF, Data Vault and semantic patterns.
• Strong experience designing end-to-end data architectures on modern cloud data platforms; practical knowledge of Databricks or a comparable enterprise lakehouse platform is highly advantageous.
• Experience defining authoritative sources, system-of-record boundaries, data contracts, lineage and master/reference data approaches across multiple systems or domains.
• Strong understanding of metadata, data catalogue, data quality, privacy, security, retention and governance-by-design, with experience working alongside governance functions and tooling such as Alation.
• Experience designing data architectures that support analytics, semantic layers and reporting at enterprise scale; familiarity with Tableau, Looker or comparable technologies is beneficial.
• Experience leading architecture for data migration, platform modernisation, consolidation, application replacement or legacy retirement, including transition and reconciliation approaches.
• Proven ability to act as senior technical authority, constructively challenge architects, engineers, system integrators and vendors, and make pragmatic recommendations as requirements and technology evolve.
• Experience working across Product, Engineering, Enterprise Architecture, Integration, Security, Governance and business teams in product-led, Agile or squad-based environments.
• Experience coaching or mentoring other architects or senior technical specialists and raising the quality and consistency of architecture practice across teams.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, able to explain complex data architecture trade-offs clearly to senior technical and non-technical stakeholders and drive alignment.
• Experience with Retail, Fashion, Luxury or Consumer Goods data - particularly Product, Customer, Merchandise, Sales, Inventory and Supply Chain domains - is highly beneficial.