Senior Data Architect

This Senior Data Architect’s role acts as the strategic technical advisor between Sales, Clients, Industry Leaders, Delivery and Global Practices, with specific focus on Enterprise Data and AI.  This role offers the opportunity to shape the Data go-to-market strategy in a high-growth market, backed by a global delivery network and strong partner ecosystem.

As part of the role, you are responsible for helping our Sales team develop, influence and elevate executive conversations specifically around their Data and Application estate. In your role you are responsible for developing, supporting and closing opportunities in data strategy, analytics, cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, Microsoft Fabric), and related managed services, working closely with local clients, partners, and internal delivery teams.  Through your experience, you help elevate client conversation towards organizational transformation, long-term data governance strategy, AI adoption, information architecture, ontology-driven business models and industry-specific digital operating models.

You possess broad enterprise architecture capability, and are not beholden to a single technology domain – you have a broad understanding of Microsoft, Databricks, AWS, Snowflake and other technology capabilities, and you can combine this with strong consulting skills and commercial awareness to have a conversation with business stakeholders. You enjoy engaging with the C-suite to shape strategic roadmaps, challenge thinking and identify transformation opportunities, whilst you bring enough technical depth to build credibility with technical teams.  

In addition to opportunity shaping, you will help build industry-specific propositions across Financial Services, Manufacturing, Mining and Healthcare, translating global capabilities into locally relevant client outcomes.

Key Responsibilities:

• Act as a strategic advisor to Sales and Client Managers, leading executive-level discovery and value-led conversations.
• Facilitate Client discussions aimed at understanding business requirements related to their data and applications estate – including business strategy, operating models, data maturity, AI readiness, governance and overall technology direction.
• Help shape and inform client deals and develop client opportunities alongside our Sales team. 
• Able to define target-state architectures conceptually, capability roadmaps and investment priorities.
• Help inform and build commercial models to support client opportunities.
• Validate architecture, security, integration, data governance, AI governance and delivery approaches with client and internal specialists. 
• Review solution estimates, delivery assumptions, commercial models and execution risks. 
• Translate complex technical strategies into compelling executive narratives, proposals and statements of work.
• Localise global application offers and help develop industry-specific offerings, accelerators and thought leadership for the South African market.
• Mentor sales teams by raising technical capability and improving qualification discipline.

Recommended Knowledge & Experience:

• 10+ years in enterprise architecture, consulting, solution strategy or technical pre-sales
• 8+ years operating in an applications landscape (as opposed to purely an infrastructure environment) with specific focus on D&A technology solutions (MDM, Data Quality, Data Governance, Data Engineering and Data Cloud platforms)
• Strong understanding of enterprise applications, software engineering and modern digital platforms.
• Solid understanding of data platforms, analytics tools, and AI/ML solution offerings.
•  Demonstrated experience developing enterprise data strategies, AI adoption roadmaps and information governance models.
• Working knowledge of ontology-based information modelling, knowledge graphs, metadata management and semantic architectures.
• Strong understanding of Microsoft Data & AI, AWS Data & AI, Snowflake and other technology ecosystems.
• Ability to develop industry reference architectures for Financial Services, Manufacturing, Mining or Healthcare advisable.
• Strong commercial acumen, proposal development and executive presentation capability.  
• Ability to interrogate delivery models, estimates and commercial risk.

Preferred Profile:

The ideal candidate combines the curiosity of a technical engineer, the breadth of an Enterprise Architect and the commercial mindset of a strategic pre-sales leader. They genuinely enjoy the process of developing a client idea from initial thought through to deliverable solution and engaging with clients to shape that journey. Depth in a single technology remains valuable, however, success in this role will come from the candidates ability to connect applications, data, AI, cloud, governance and operating models into coherent enterprise strategies.

You will love this role if you:

• You enjoy story-telling in a technology context, and you believe in taking people along on the journey.
• You genuinely like engaging and interacting with clients and facilitating conversations with diverse audiences.
• You prefer sitting around a table with senior executives instead of communicating through proposals and simply responding to RFPs.
• You are energised by understanding large complex problems, trail-blazing into the unknown and discovering new ways to solve challenges.
• You like keeping abreast of industry and technology trends, including enterprise strategy, all things AI and data-driven transformation.
• You enjoy building offerings, industry propositions and reusable frameworks. 
• You thrive in ambiguous environments where you can rely on your experience to advise and support clients
• You are equally credible with executives, architects and delivery teams.

This role may not be for you if:

• You prefer narrow product specialisation over enterprise consulting.
• You are uncomfortable engaging senior executives without detailed preparation.
• You are seeking primarily delivery management or hands-on engineering responsibilities.
• You prefer mature, highly structured environments with limited ambiguity.
• You lack the technical depth.

What success looks like after 12 months:

• NTT DATA is increasingly invited into early-stage executive strategy conversations.
• Sales teams consistently engage you to shape complex enterprise opportunities.
• We are having energised and active conversations in the market with many clients around enterprise AI and data strategy engagements.
• Industry-specific propositions for Financial Services, Manufacturing, Mining and Healthcare are established and generating qualified pipeline.
• Executive relationships have been developed with client technology and business leadership across key accounts.
• South Africa is recognised internally for localising global Data & AI capabilities into market-relevant offerings.