Advisory Data Architect

The role

An Advisory Data Architect will own data design across advisory engagements. You will define how data is structured, governed, and served to support AI, analytics, and management reporting.

What you will do

• Define target-state data architectures for clients.
• Establish data modelling standards and curated domain layers.
• Map and integrate finance source systems into governed models.
• Design finance data foundations for applied AI/ML.
• Set patterns for secure, compliant finance data platforms.
• Provide architectural direction for cloud data platforms, infrastructure as code, CI/CD, and observability.
• Define data lineage and controls that support responsible production AI.
• Translate business and client problems into architectural decisions and roadmaps.
• Own technical trade-offs and communicate them to engineers and stakeholders.
• Mentor data engineers and contribute reusable patterns and architectures.

Required qualifications

• Significant experience designing and delivering data architectures for production systems.
• Deep expertise in data modelling, warehouse/lakehouse design, and data governance.
• Hands-on background in SQL and Python.
• Fluency with at least one major cloud provider (AWS or Azure).
• Fluency with modern data platforms (e.g. Snowflake, Databricks).
• System-level judgement on how data architecture shapes AI outcomes.
• Ability to set standards and lead engineers while remaining close to implementation.
• Strong stakeholder skills.

Nice to have

• Experience architecting the data layer behind AI or analytics products in production.
• Informed views on the trade-offs between fine-tuning, RAG, and long-context approaches.
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code, CI/CD, and observability for data platforms.
• Awareness of MCP and tool-orchestration concepts.
• Fluent use of AI-assisted development tools (e.g. Claude Code, Cursor).
• Security and compliance experience (e.g. ISO 27001 alignment, access control design).
• Consulting or advisory background.
• Evidence of self-directed building — side projects, internal tools, or startups.
• Exposure to finance data, PE/M&A, or portfolio-company environments.
• Relevant certifications (e.g. AWS/Azure architect-level credentials).

About the company

Unity Advisory is a modern advisory business built for today's CFO, with connected solutions across finance, deals and tax. Seasoned experts lead every engagement in an operating model powered by AI.