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Role: Data and AI Tech Lead Role Type: Outside IR35 Contract Rate: Negotiable Location: London, UK – Hybrid (Hybrid 1 or 2 Days Onsite a week) Note: No of positions 1. Role Overview: We are seeking a Data & AI Technical Lead to drive the Discovery & Design phase of a large-scale M&A program for a Retail & CPG client. This role will lead the technical direction across a complex, multi-cloud data landscape spanning Azure, AWS, GCP, Databricks, and Snowflake. You will oversee and guide senior Data Architects, ensuring architectural alignment, technical quality, and business relevance. The role sits at the intersection of business strategy, data architecture, and platform engineering, acting as a key liaison between client stakeholders, IT teams, and the Chief Data Office. This is a high-impact leadership role requiring both hands-on architectural depth and stakeholder influence at senior levels. Key Responsibilities: 1. Technical Leadership & Architecture Governance: Provide strategic and hands-on technical leadership across multi-cloud data platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP). Guide and mentor senior Data Architects, ensuring consistency in design patterns, frameworks, and standards. Define interim-state, target-state, and transitional architectures for M&A integration (data platforms, analytics, AI/ML enablement). Establish best practices across Databricks, Snowflake, and cloud-native data services. 2. M&A Discovery & Design Lead data discovery across merging entities: systems, pipelines, governance, and data models Define integration strategy (consolidation vs federation vs hybrid) Identify synergies, redundancies, and risks in data ecosystems Produce high-quality architecture blueprints, roadmaps, and design artifacts. 3. Stakeholder Management & Liaison: Business stakeholders Act as the primary technical interface between: IT / Engineering teams Chief Data Office (CDO) Client-side architects and leadership Translate business objectives into scalable technical solutions Facilitate architecture reviews, design workshops, and decision forums. 4. Data & AI Strategy Enablement Define foundations for advanced analytics, AI/ML, and data products post-M&A Align architecture with data governance, security, and compliance frameworks Enable scalable, future-proof data platforms supporting Retail & CPG use cases (eg, demand forecasting, customer 360, supply chain optimization). 5. Delivery Oversight: Review and validate design outputs from architects and engineering teams. Ensure architectural integrity during discovery and early delivery phases. Manage risks, dependencies, and technical trade-offs. Support estimation, planning, and prioritization activities. Required Skills & Experience: • 15+ years in Data & Analytics, with 5+ years in leadership roles. Strong hands-on experience across: Azure cloud, ADF, DevOps, Power BI, Fabric workspaces AWS cloud, S3, cross-cloud connectivity, API Gateways GCP (Big Query, GCS, Dataflow) Deep expertise in: Databricks (Lakehouse architecture, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Delta Sharing, PySpark, Spark SQL, etc.) Snowflake (data warehousing & data sharing, Iceberg) Strong understanding of: Data architecture patterns, industry benchmarking, Data integration patterns (ETL/ELT, streaming, CDC, APIs) Data governance & metadata management. Architecture & M&A Experience: Proven experience in M&A data integration, platform consolidation, or carve-outs Experience designing multi-cloud or hybrid data architectures Familiarity with enterprise architecture frameworks (TOGAF or equivalent) Leadership & Stakeholder Skills: Experience managing or leading senior architects or technical teams. Strong communication skills with the ability to influence C-level stakeholders. Ability to bridge business strategy and technical execution. Experience working in consulting or client-facing roles.