Data Architect

Let's Write Africa's Story Together!

Old Mutual is a firm believer in the African opportunity and our diverse talent reflects this.

Job Description

We are a dynamic team, seeking to drive digital engagement with customers by being at the forefront of digital development and innovation. Old Mutual’s longstanding history and unquestionable success in the financial industry, provide a solid foundation for our vision.

The Data Architect is responsible for designing, implementing, and optimizing the GRID’s data architecture to support advanced analytics, machine learning, and business intelligence needs across our digital platforms. This role ensures that data is structured, stored, and accessed in a way that maximizes efficiency, security, and scalability and is available in real-time. The Data Architect will lead the organization’s data management strategy, focusing on the design of data models, integration of diverse data sources, and creation of a unified data ecosystem that supports both operational and analytical needs.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Data Architecture Design & Development:

• Develop, implement, and optimize scalable data architecture solutions, including data lakes, warehouses, and data marts, with a focus on supporting advanced analytics, machine learning, and business intelligence.
• Design data models to support both transactional and analytical processes, ensuring data accuracy, consistency, and accessibility.
• Define and enforce best practices for data governance, data lineage, metadata management, and data quality across platforms.

Data Integration & ETL/ELT Processes:

• Develop and manage ETL/ELT processes, integrating data from various sources, including on-premises databases, third-party platforms, and cloud storage.
• Build and maintain robust data pipelines to enable seamless data flow and integration across the organization.
• Ensure data is processed in near real-time where possible, enhancing responsiveness for customer insights and analytics needs.

Data Management & Centralization:

• Establish and maintain a centralized data management system that consolidates data from multiple sources, providing a single source of truth.
• Create a data catalog and knowledge management system to allow easy data access and improve data discoverability across teams.

Data Security & Compliance:

• Design and implement data security frameworks, ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulations, including GDPR and CCPA.
• Collaborate with cybersecurity and compliance teams to safeguard sensitive data and ensure adherence to best practices for data privacy and protection.

Performance Optimization & Monitoring:

• Continuously monitor and optimize data architecture performance, including storage, retrieval, and query execution.
• Develop data metrics, analytics, and reporting systems to support business decision-making.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Support:

• Work closely with data science, analytics, and business intelligence teams to understand their data needs and translate them into architectural solutions.
• Act as a bridge between technical and non-technical teams, providing data architecture expertise and facilitating alignment with business goals.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, or a related field.
• A Master’s degree in Data Architecture, Data Engineering, or Database Management is highly preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or database management.
• Proven expertise in designing and implementing large-scale data solutions across multiple database and cloud platforms, such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
• Extensive experience with data modeling, ETL/ELT processes, data pipeline development, and data centralization for analytics.
• Proficiency in SQL, Python, and data management tools (e.g., Talend, Informatica, Apache Spark).
• Experience with cloud data warehouses (e.g., Redshift, Snowflake, BigQuery) and big data technologies (e.g., Hadoop, Spark).
• Working knowledge of data governance frameworks, data security standards, and data privacy regulations.

Responsible for overseeing the data engineering practices. Guides technical design and the development and maintenance of data pipelines and other digital applications or services.

Responsibilities

Organizational Capability Building

Evaluate the capabilities of staff within the department to identify gaps and prioritize development activities. Implement the organization's formal development frameworks within the area of responsibility. Coach and mentor others to support the development of the organization's talent pool.

Performance Management

Manage and report on performance within the department or area of responsibility; set appropriate performance objectives for direct reports and hold individuals accountable for achieving them; take appropriate corrective action where necessary to ensure the achievement of annual business objectives.

Leadership and Direction

Identify and communicate the actions needed to implement the function's strategy and business plan within the business area or department; explain the relationship to the broader organization's mission, vision, and values; motivate people to commit to these tenets and do extraordinary things to achieve local business goals.

Information Security

Define business impact of security incidents, and identify and drive recommendations for change to prevent similar incidents.

Analysis of "As Is" and "To Be"

Document the most complex "as is" and "to be" processes and describe the changes required to migrate to the "to be" capability to record accurately the change required.

Databases Installation

Ensure installation and testing of complex and interrelated databases and associated products to ensure they are suitable for use and meet customer requirements.

Technical Developments Recommendation

Lead the discussion and recommendation of more complex or innovative technical developments to improve the quality of the website/portal/application software and supporting infrastructure to better meet users’ needs.

Enterprise Infrastructure Modernization

Lead definition of architectural standards for all technology services and components (applications, data, integration, technology, security, business). Present business and IT leaders with signature-ready recommendations for adjusting policies and projects to achieve target business outcomes that capitalize on relevant digital disruptions.

Database Specifications

Approve complex database specifications, ensuring that all agreed standards and protocols are followed and data integrity is preserved. Suggest improvements for standards and protocols for database specifications.

Infrastructure and Network Development and Maintenance

Plan future and optimize current infrastructure and network resources, leading a large team in a global setting to deliver business-critical systems and networks.

Data Architecture

Translate data and analytics strategy and vision into data architecture, defining and implementing models, rules, and standards for design and governance.

Skills

Action Planning, Cloud Computing, Cloud Infrastructure Management, Computer Network Security, Current State Assessment, Database Queries, Data Classification, Data Compilation, Data Compression, Data Encoding, Data Modeling, IT Architecture, IT Network Security, Test Case Management, Wireless Network Management

Competencies

Balances Stakeholders

Business Insight

Courage

Cultivates Innovation

Drives Results

Ensures Accountability

Manages Complexity

Optimizes Work Processes

Education

NQF Level 8 - Honours or Postgraduate Diploma or equivalent (Required), NQF Level 9 – Masters

Closing Date

27 February 2025 , 23:59

The appointment will be made from the designated group in line with the Employment Equity Plan of Old Mutual South Africa and the specific business unit in question.

Old Mutual Limited is pro-vaccination and encourages its workforce to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

All prospective employees are required to disclose their vaccination status as part of the recruitment process.

Please refer to the Old Mutual’s Covid-19 vaccination policy for further detail. Kindly note that Old Mutual reserves the right to reinstate the requirement to vaccinate at any point if it is of the view that it is imperative to do so.

The Old Mutual Story!