Data Architect, The Financial Times
2+ days a week in office (City of London)
Global business publication
Job no longer available
Global business publication
1001+ employees
Job no longer available
2+ days a week in office (City of London)
1001+ employees
Company mission
The FT has an uncompromising mission: delivering independent, quality information, news and services to individuals and companies around the globe. It’s the cornerstone of our reputation and the heart of our ambitions for the future.
Role
Who you are
- A proven track record in translating business requirements into data requirements, defining data standards and principles, and creating a target state for a business to work towards
- Having a very pragmatic focus is essential, and must have had experience in enabling short benefits whilst at the same time, setting a vision and helping steer the business towards it
- Commercially minded - is able to derive and articulate the value to the business of moving towards the target state
- Exceptional people skills - you must be articulate, persuasive, and be able to portray the big picture to others
- You must have experience of successfully working across a breadth of stakeholders (e.g. Product & Technology, Commercial and Editorial) who possess varying levels of relevant understanding and technical expertise
- Must have a strong understanding of the system development life cycle and project management approaches, in order to formulate a realistic roadmap to transition to the target state
- Experience in designing data models that mirror the relevant business model, developing diagrams that represent key data entities and their relationships, and formulating a list of requirements with which to achieve the target state
What the job involves
- The role sits in the Data Governance & Architecture team, whose mission is to maximise the potential to create value from our data by engaging the business to make continuous improvements to the quality, reliability and useability of the data that we create within, and bring into, the FT, in order that it meets the FT’s current and future needs
- This team sits within a broader Data & Analytics function, also responsible for Data Science, BI, Data Strategy, Insight and Analytics
- This is a new role within a Data Governance & Architecture team that forms part of the FT’s Data and Analytics department
- The successful applicant will work across all teams with responsibility for producing and/or consuming data, including, but not limited to, Product & Technology, Commercial and Editorial
- Develop and maintain an understanding of the flow of data between teams, processes and systems, working closely with existing roles within Data Governance
- Review existing data models, schemas, taxonomies, standards etc and assess ways in which to enhance, simplify, and scale them, aligned to a set of principles/blueprint that the role-holder will be responsible for formulating, articulating the value of adoption, and getting buy-in for
- Form very strong partnerships with Technical Architecture and senior engineering roles within our Technology team, as well as with teams across Data & Analytics
- This role is more vital now than ever before, with an increasing diversification of not only our range of products, but also an ever increasing number of data consumers across the FT, as we move at pace towards the democratisation of our data
- To support this, we need sharp focus on finding a multitude of ways to further our ability to extract incremental value from data created/ingested in one product/process, to others
- It also provides the role-holder with a unique opportunity to evolve how the business develops its products and processes, such that we are able to generate this additional value at minimal cost
- This has the potential to be transformative for the FT, by allowing us to extract more value from our data than ever before
- Translate the needs of the FT into a set of requirements (by means of a data architecture blueprint) that results in data flowing to everywhere it needs to, in the most efficient way possible
- Constantly strive to strike a balance between tackling known areas of complexity (thus realising short(er) term benefit), versus defining (and helping move towards) an end state architecture
- Create a roadmap to evolve the data architecture of the current data ecosystem, towards the architectural blueprint, sourcing input from all relevant stakeholders
- Champion standardisation of data collection and usage across the FT, allowing consumers to have access to quality and relevant data in a timely manner
- Play a role, along with others in Data Governance, in allowing people across the FT to better understand what data we have, how it flows through the business, provide guidelines for how it is managed on an ongoing basis and evangelise the need for robust data governance
- Be a key influencer when it comes to where data (and decisions made using data) are mastered, aligned to our architectural principles (to be formulated by the role-holder)
- Help establish impact tracing capability, such that impacts on the data ecosystem as a result of system and/or process changes, are easily and systematically identified and mitigated
- Effectively document Data Architecture requirements and flows for multiple audiences and communicate them accurately and engagingly
- Build effective partnerships with data owners, engineering teams, technical architects, products teams, external suppliers and stakeholders
Salary benchmarks
Our take
Founded in 1888, the FT has grown into one of the world's biggest online and broadsheet economics and business news providers. It has a strong focus on financial journalism and economic analysis, and provides this essential analysis to companies and individuals across the world.
As well as economics and business, the FT also offers sections on opinion, life and arts, how to spend, and more. In 2022, six of its writers won awards in science, data and investment categories, illustrating the breadth and quality of the FT’s journalism.
The company adapts well to changes in the market to maintain its readership. For example, it recently launched a digital hub and weekly newsletter called Cryptofinance to shine a light on the digital asset industry and how innovations are rippling into mainstream finance.
The FT Group employs more than 2,300 people worldwide, including 700 journalists in 40 countries. It includes the FT, FT Specialist, and a number of services and joint ventures. FT's focus on providing impartial, high-quality content has gained it a record-paying readership of over a million, three-quarters of which are digital subscriptions.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Company benefits
- A range of training courses as well as confidential career coaching and mentoring
- Flexibility - working from home, job sharing, compressed weeks, and flexible working hours
- Enhanced parental leave, flexible leave allowance and paid volunteer leave
- Pension contribution
- Local health coverage plans
- Gym memberships and healthcare schemes, professional counselling sessions, 24-hour employee wellbeing helpline, weekly meditation classes
- Financial wellbeing products and services
Company values
- Ambition
- Curiosity
- Integrity
- Trust
- Inclusion
- Subscriber focus
Company HQ
City of London, London, UK
Articles
Leadership
Jon Slade
(CEO)Jon Slade became CEO in July 2025 after 20+ years at the FT. A key leader in its digital shift, he’s driven growth, social impact, and sustainability across the business.
Roula Khalaf
(Editor)Following a degree at Columbia University and four years at Forbes, Khalaf joined the FT in 1995 as Associate Editor and Middle East Editor. Since January 2020, she has served as Editor.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at The Financial Times
Rukasana Bhaijee (Head of Diversity & Inclusion)
- D&I annual report
- Reporting pay gaps
- Next generation board
- Employee networks, including Proud FT, FT Embrace, FT Women, FT Families, FT Sustainability, FT Mental Health and FT Access,
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