AWS Data Architect Principal

Recruiter: Daniel McCarthy

Internal Closing Date: 18/08/25

About us

BT Group was the world’s first telco and our heritage in the sector is unrivalled.  As home to several of the UK’s most recognised and cherished brands – BT, EE, Openreach and Plusnet, we have always played a critical role in creating the future, and we have reached an inflection point in the transformation of our business. 
 
Over the next two years, we will complete the UK’s largest and most successful digital infrastructure project – connecting more than 25 million premises to full fibre broadband.  Together with our heavy investment in 5G, we play a central role in revolutionising how people connect with each other. 
 
While we are through the most capital-intensive phase of our fibre investment, meaning we can reward our shareholders for their commitment and patience, we are absolutely focused on how we organise ourselves in the best way to serve our customers in the years to come.  This includes radical simplification of systems, structures, and processes on a huge scale. Together with our application of AI and technology, we are on a path to creating the UK’s best telco, reimagining the customer experience and relationship with one of this country’s biggest infrastructure companies.  
 
Change on the scale we will all experience in the coming years is unprecedented.  BT Group is committed to being the driving force behind improving connectivity for millions and there has never been a more exciting time to join a company and leadership team with the skills, experience, creativity, and passion to take this company into a new era.

Why this job matters
The Data Engineering Principal leads the AWS design, building and implementation of processes to capture, manage, store and utilise structured and unstructured data from internal and external sources, turning the most complex business needs into the data that supports the DD Ops and BT group’s data strategies. This role involves both hands-on development and providing technical leadership to teams, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, scalable, and efficient data infrastructure.

What you’ll be doing – your accountabilities

• Lead End-to-End Data Lifecycle: Own and manage the complete data lifecycle—from capturing learning interaction data to delivering consolidated insights—ensuring data is accurate, accessible, and actionable.
• Architect Scalable Data Solutions: Design and implement enterprise-grade data pipelines and architectures using AWS services (e.g. S3, Glue, Lambda, Redshift, EMR, Kinesis), optimised for analytics and scalability.
• Set Technical Direction: Define and guide technical decisions related to data conceptualisation, modelling, and visualisation within the organisation’s analytics ecosystem.
• Champion Data Governance and Access: Drive visibility into data usage and access, ensuring secure, compliant, and transparent data practices across the organisation.
• Communicate with Impact: Translate complex technical concepts into clear, non-technical language for business stakeholders and internal customers.
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert: Serve as a go-to expert in data architecture, resolving complex issues and fostering thought leadership and technical excellence.
• Drive Standards and Best Practices: Lead the implementation of architectural guidelines and frameworks, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives and consistency across solutions.
• Monitor and Optimise Services: Define and oversee service metrics, collaborating with stakeholders to meet performance standards and client expectations.
• Innovate and Evolve Architecture: Spearhead the conceptualisation and development of innovative data services and products, aligned with evolving business needs.
• Mentor and Develop Talent: Coach and support experienced professionals, building current and future capabilities within the data architecture team.
• Lead Continuous Improvement: Identify and implement process enhancements to improve the efficiency, quality, and agility of data architecture practices.
• Cloud Governance : Utilize tools such as IAM, resource tagging, cost management, etc. to enforce AWS governance policies and implement monitoring and alerting solutions to address issues proactively.

Experience you’d be expected to have

• A bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or any relevant field A master's degree is preferred but not mandatory.
• AWS Solutions Architect, Associate or Professional, is good to have and holds high weight.
• Strong knowledge of cloud concepts, architecture patterns, and best practices
• Proven experience in designing, implementing, and maintaining AWS solutions
• Hands-on experience with any cloud, preferably AWS, is preferred.
• Extensive background in software architecture and solution design, with deep expertise in microservices, distributed systems, and cloud-native architectures.
• Advanced proficiency in Python and Apache Spark, with a strong focus on ETL data processing and scalable data engineering workflows.
• In-depth technical knowledge of AWS data services, with hands-on experience implementing data pipelines using tools such as EMR, AWS Glue, AWS Lambda, Step Functions, API Gateway, and Athena.
• Proven experience in designing and delivering Lakehouse architectures, enabling unified analytics across structured and unstructured data.

Skills Required: 

• 3+ years of designing complex data pipelines deployed in AWS and deep knowledge all foundational AWS services and major data analytics services.
• Clear experience of system design, including distributed systems and the use of AWS to achieve reliable robust systems is in place 
• Proven skills in designing streaming and Lakehouse architectures – and the optimisation of capabilities for real time analytics.
• Have the breadth of depth of knowledge to own diverse system designs outside of the cloud data area and show the ability to learn and adapt quickly.

A FEW POINTS TO NOTE:

Although these roles are listed as full-time, if you’re a job share partnership, work reduced hours, or any other way of working flexibly, please still get in touch.

We will also offer reasonable adjustments for the selection process if required, so please do not hesitate to inform us.

DON'T MEET EVERY SINGLE REQUIREMENT?

Studies have shown that women and people who are disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse or from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification and criteria. We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone can be their best, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement on the Job Description, please apply anyway - you may just be the right candidate for this or other roles in our wider team.