The Data & Information Architect is accountable for defining and embedding a shared Data & Analytics architecture across SmartSea. This role provides practical architectural guardrails, establishes clear ownership and decision rights for data domains, and enables analytics use cases to be delivered through standard, compliant patterns—without ad-hoc data handling or policy exceptions. You will work across product, platform, and domain teams to ensure data is modelled consistently, governed effectively, and usable for operational, analytical, and advanced analytics use cases.
In the first 12 months the role will have achieved these outcomes:
- Define and publish a target Data & Analytics architecture aligned with corporate data policies (governance, security, privacy, quality)
- Establish clear ownership and decision accountability for data domains, key datasets, and analytics platforms
- Enable delivery teams to adopt standard (“golden path”) patterns for data ingestion, analytics, and reporting
- Ensure analytics use cases can be delivered without bespoke pipelines, manual data handling, or policy exceptions
- Embed data architecture decisions into ADRs and architecture reviews as part of normal delivery workflows
Data & Analytics Architecture
- Define, document, and maintain the target Data & Analytics architecture, covering data domains, ingestion pipelines, analytics layers, and access patterns.
- Contribute to the definition of architectural guardrails that explain what teams must do—not just what they must avoid.
- Provide approved (“golden path”) patterns for data ingestion, analytics, and reporting aligned with security, privacy, and governance requirements.
Common Domain & Canonical Modelling
- Define and govern the SmartSea Common Domain Model, establishing shared semantic definitions for core maritime concepts such as vessel, seafarer, voyage, cargo, port call, certificate, and contract.
- Design and evolve a technology-neutral Canonical Data Model (CDM) to standardise data exchange for targeted integrations.
- Ensure consistency between operational data models and analytical representations to support reporting and advanced analytics.
Ownership, Governance & Decision-Making
- Establish and document clear ownership and stewardship for data domains, datasets, and analytics platforms.
- Define decision rights and resolve cross-domain data design conflicts in collaboration with domain and platform leaders.
- Drive metadata management, glossary definitions, and lineage standards to improve discoverability, traceability, and regulatory compliance (e.g. IMO, EU MRV, ESG).
Analytics Enablement
- Ensure the data architecture enables scalable reporting, self-service analytics, and ML-ready data without ad-hoc handling.
- Work with analytics and data scientists to align data structures, pipelines, and access patterns with real analytical use cases.
- Balance operational and analytical needs across real-time events, reporting, and historical analysis.
Collaboration & Architecture Practice
- Embed data architecture decisions into Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) and architecture review forums.
- Act as a bridge between domain experts, product managers, platform teams, and delivery teams to ensure data architecture is understood, adopted, and applied.
- Contribute to the evolution of platform-wide architecture standards and review practices.
Standards & Industry Alignment
- Align SmartSea data models with relevant maritime and logistics standards (e.g. S-100, IMO/ISO/EDIFACT, BIMCO, DCSA) where appropriate, while supporting proprietary innovation.
- Evaluate emerging data and analytics practices and recommend improvements aligned with SmartSea’s strategy.
Essential
- 5+ years’ experience in data architecture, information architecture, or enterprise data modelling roles.
- Strong expertise in canonical data modelling and semantic modelling across complex, distributed systems.
- Experience defining data architectures that support both operational and analytical use cases.
- Familiarity with event-driven architectures, APIs, and cloud-native data platforms (e.g. data lakes, data hubs, event buses).
- Proven experience working with domain-driven design (DDD) teams in agile product organisations.
- Ability to influence decisions and drive adoption without formal authority.
Desirable
- Experience in maritime, logistics, transportation, or other asset-intensive industries.
- Knowledge of maritime data standards, ontologies, or participation in industry bodies (e.g. IMO, BIMCO, DCSA).
- Hands-on experience with data governance, cataloguing, or data mesh-inspired approaches.
- Experience designing data platforms or standards for SaaS ecosystems.
SmartSea is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values a diverse workforce with many different countries and cultures represented across the organisation. We offer:
- Competitive salary and discretionary bonus
- Thirteen salaries
- Pension fund
- Medical insurance
- Opportunities for professional growth and architectural leadership
- Flexible working from home policy
- A collaborative, product-driven and innovation-focused culture
If you are passionate about service excellence and technology-driven support, we encourage you to apply for this exciting role!
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