Data Design Lead

This role can be based from any Barclays strategic office location in the UK.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the Data Product Design Methodology – Define authoritative methods for data product design that build best practice data design principles into all data products, whilst being pragmatic, practical, and supportive of rapid execution.  

• Design Governance & Compliance – Design and embed design checkpoints and data architecture governance requirements intro change processes for the execution of Group Control data product development, across business units; and ensure adherence to architecture principles through key governance forums. 

• Lead the Global Data Design Community – Build and mentor a global team of Data Design Leads and Engineers, setting standards and establishing clear career pathways. 

• Priority Use Case Delivery – Drive design for high-risk domains (Financial Crime, Fraud, Risk) in partnership with data platform and domain owners. Provide hands-on specialist input on the design of key priority use cases, to support success and help demonstrate best practices by leading by example. 

• Design Quality & Reuse – Codify reusable patterns, reference architecture, and design templates, to accelerate delivery and reduce duplication. 

• Catalogue & Metadata Excellence – Ensure data product onboarding meets policy requirements, including those for business definitions, lineage and quality SLAs for discoverability and trust. 

• Stakeholder Leadership – Represent design at senior forums and support investment decisions for design-critical outcomes. 

• Controls & Risk – Embed design-time controls for data quality, privacy and regulatory evidence, support auditability. Advocate the pragmatic implementation of modern, digital controls for transparency, observability, and automated compliance by design. 

• Compliance – Ensure design artefacts meet audit and regulatory evidence standards. 

• Ways of Working & Tooling – Standardize artefacts and integrate with Barclays’ enterprise tools and ways of working, driving consistency and cross-business unit collaboration, accelerated delivery, and enhanced quality. 

• Talent & Culture – Champion Barclays’ values and foster an inclusive, high-performance culture across locations. 

Skills & Experience

• Proven track record building and leading data product design teams at enterprise scale, and in large-scale data product delivery and stakeholder engagement. 

• Previous experience as a Data Design Lead, ideally within financial crime, risk, or regulatory domains. 
• Hands on experience of designing data products on enterprise data platform on cloud.

• A background in delivering data-driven solutions, with a deep understanding of data product development. 

• Deep expertise in data design, including modelling (conceptual/logical/physical), information architecture, metadata, and taxonomy management.  

• Strong knowledge of governance and how to embed design standards into change processes in large, global, complex financial services organization's. 

• Hands-on familiarity with modern data platforms and product curation. 

• Excellent communication and influencing skills at senior executive level. 

• Leadership in talent development and capability uplift across global teams. 

• Expertise in Financial Crime and Economic Crime would be preferred. 

Role Requirements

• Degree-level qualification in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Analytics or equivalent. 

• Strong experience in data architecture and design, including experience in leading enterprise data design functions. 

Purpose of the role

To support the organisation, achieve its strategic objectives by the identification of business requirements and solutions that address business problems and opportunities. 

Accountabilities

• Identification and analysis of business problems and client requirements that require change within the organisation.
• Development of business requirements that will address business problems and opportunities.
• Collaboration with stakeholders to ensure that proposed solutions meet their needs and expectations.
• Support the creation of business cases that justify investment in proposed solutions.
• Conduct feasibility studies to determine the viability of proposed solutions.
• Support the creation of reports on project progress to ensure proposed solutions are delivered on time and within budget.
• Creation of operational design and process design to ensure that proposed solutions are delivered within the agreed scope.
• Support to change management activities, including development of a traceability matrix to ensure proposed solutions are successfully implemented and embedded in the organisation.

Director Expectations

• To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide..
• They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives.
• Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function.
• Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately.
• Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.
• Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.
• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives.
• Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives.
• Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations.
• Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.
• Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions.
• Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.