Information Architect

Role: Information Architect

Location: Macclesfield, UK

Hybrid: 3 days a week from office

6 Months extendable contract

The (Enterprise Information Architecture) EIA practice is seeking an Information Architect, that aligns to the Operations line of business encompassing Global Supply Chain and Manufacturing.

The Operations Information Architecture team supports the following business capability areas: -

• Develop: Development and commercialisation of medicines emerging from R&D

• Plan: Supply chain planning and optimisation

• Source: Procurement of externally sourced materials and contract manufacturing

• Make: Manufacturing and quality release of medicines in a validated (GMP) environment

• Delivery: the delivery of medicines to patients

The role will focus on the definition and governance of enterprise information architectures, strategies, designs, models and consolidating thinking and artefacts across Operations, one or more projects/programmes, to drive out enterprise thinking and delivery across <Customer IT function. The role will also support the definition of enterprise Data Strategies which may include information and data, regulatory or technical governances in a Data Mesh architecture, data innovation, enterprise architectures, governance policies standards and procedures.

Required Skills and Experience:

Essential Desirable

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent number of years of experience in a Computer Science or Data Management related field.

• Experience in leading and delivering enterprise data platform architectural thinking, and its practical application.

• Experience in the use of conceptual and logical data modelling technologies.

• Experience in defining and working with information and data regulatory governances.

• The role holder will possess a blend of data/information architecture, analysis, and engineering skills.

• Experience in known industry IT architectural patterns and IT architecture ways of working/methodologies (e.g. FAIR data principles, Data Mesh).

• Understanding the appropriate data structure and technology based on business use case and completely familiar with data lifecycles.

• Experience in a data architect role with practical examples of designing and providing data engineering/architectural blueprints that have been implemented.

• Experience of Information and Data Governance frameworks and their application in a commercial organisation

• Understands Data Platforms concepts and cloud-based containerization strategies for hybrid cloud environments.

• Experience in Agile data definition scrums.

• Experience in the use of tooling, e.g. metadata cataloguing tools, data modelling tools, EA tools

• Understanding of, or familiarity with, Data Mesh approaches (as distinct from Data Fabric or Data Platform

• Experience working in matrix-based environment with multiple stakeholder groups identifying priorities.

• Experience of working in the Pharmaceutical industry.

Additional details:

Enterprise Information Architecture Accountabilities:

• Responsible for defining, leading, and delivering coherent strategic and tactical architectural thinking across information and data architectures, MRDM, data strategies, and information and data governances.

• Responsible for working within the Enterprise Data Architecture Framework and defining, extending, managing, and benchmarking projects against leading practices, models (logical, physical, semantic), standards, frameworks, and the overall Blueprint for a project.

• Support the Head/Lead of Information Architecture for Operations in developing strategy and best practice for Information Architecture. Contributes to leaders of the overall Enterprise Data Strategy in partnership the business functions, solution developments and functional project.

• Responsible for architecture and technology evangelization, architecture roadmap, and alignment.

• Responsible for developing and performing architecture, leading practice, and technology education.

• Responsible for Architectural Governance across architectural disciplines, including developing Architectural. Decisions and progressing work to appropriate governance and assurance forums, boards and councils.

Operations aligned Accountabilities:

• Deliver and manage Information Architecture (IA), conceptual and logical models, for operational, master and data products including data models, information flows, master/reference data and metadata designs to meet one or more Business Capability requirements.

• Work with business leaders to evolve IA designs to support business strategy.

• Own the IA designs of one or more Business capability level IA designs.

• Take on accountability for the IA for projects or programmes impacting Business capability areas within Operations.

• Assure IT change projects in that Business Capability are aligned to IA through either delivering IA blueprint artefacts or assessing designs from Data Modellers/Solution Architects assigned to the project.

• Partner with the Operations Data Office to ensure data governance processes are enabled in all IA designs and provide assurance evidence through standardised metrics: e.g., Master data consumption, data classification metadata application to support access processes.

• Responsible for selecting or defining the correct architecture and patterns to fulfil traditional reporting (management information, business intelligence) and analytics, data science, digital, and operational business use cases. This includes:

• Providing both strategic and tactical data architecture planning, design expertise and execution application on development projects, from technical designs and technology standards to Models and IA considerations.

• Providing both strategic and tactical coherent architectural thinking in support of data and other strategies, enterprise data and information architectures.

• Support the development of Data Integration architecture and overall Data Integration design of a project.

Gains approval for the various IA artifacts ensuring enforcement of standard enterprise data element names, abbreviations, characteristics, and domains during the lifecycle of a project