Lead Data Architect – Financial Services

1. Role Overview

The Lead Data Architect defines and governs the data architecture vision, standards, and implementation patterns for mission-critical Financial Services platforms.

This role requires deep technical and regulatory expertise to design secure, scalable, and MAS-compliant data platforms that enable analytics, AI, and regulatory compliance.

2. Key Responsibilities

Define and maintain enterprise data architecture blueprints for Core Banking, Payments, Risk, and Compliance domains.

Architect data lakes, data warehouses, and data mesh / data fabric architectures on cloud-native platforms (Azure / AWS /

GCP).

Design real-time data streaming architectures using Kafka, Flink, Debezium, and KSQL.

Govern data models, metadata, lineage, and master data management (MDM).

Establish and enforce data governance frameworks (Apache Atlas, Collibra, Purview) integrated with data quality metrics.

Define data zoning (bronze, silver, gold) and security layer separation aligned with MAS TRM / PDPA / PCI-DSS.

Partner with platform and AI engineering teams to design AI-ready data architectures including feature stores and vector

databases.

Lead data migration programs (on-prem to cloud) ensuring lineage, compliance, and traceability.

Provide architecture oversight for regulatory and liquidity data programs (MAS 610/649/1003, Basel III/IV, BCBS 239).

Mentor data engineers, participate in architecture governance councils, and review designs for scalability and compliance.

3. Required Technical Skills

Category Tools / Technologies

Architecture Data Vault 2.0, Data Mesh, Data Fabric, Canonical Modeling

Cloud Platforms Azure (Synapse, Data Lake, Purview), AWS (Glue, Redshift, Lake Formation), GCP (BigQuery, Data Catalog)

Data Processing Spark, Databricks, Flink, Kafka Streams, Beam

Streaming & Integration Kafka, Confluent, KSQL, Debezium, API-based ingestion

Governance & Quality Collibra, Purview, Apache Atlas, Great Expectations, Monte Carlo

Security RBAC, Encryption, KMS, Tokenization, Audit Trails

Regulatory Focus MAS TRM, PDPA, Basel III/IV, IFRS 9/17, BCBS 239

4. Experience and Qualifications

Minimum 12+ years of experience in data architecture and engineering, with 5+ years in BFSI.

Proven experience leading enterprise-scale data modernization programs across multi-cloud environments.

Strong expertise in data modeling, governance, and lineage frameworks.

Hands-on experience in real-time event-driven architectures and AI/ML enablement.

Excellent understanding of regulatory frameworks (MAS TRM, PDPA, BCBS 239).

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related discipline.

Certifications preferred: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, AWS Data Analytics Specialty, TOGAF Certified Architect.

5. Key Attributes

Strong stakeholder management and communication skills (business + technical).

Deep understanding of financial systems, data flows, and compliance requirements.

Ability to balance architecture vision with hands-on technical leadership.

Proven ability to mentor and build engineering teams aligned to organizational goals.