Data Design Lead

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 – Create 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.

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 in the Design and Implementation of Data Models within a Analytical environment, ideally within financial crime, risk, or regulatory domains.
• 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 organizations.
• 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.

Purpose of the role

To design, implement, and maintain conceptual, Logical and Physical data models that meet business data/process and technology requirements, by using designs and data strategies across a wide selection of platforms. 

Accountabilities

• Analysis and documentation of business requirements to translate them into data models aligned with organisational goals.
• Development and maintenance of data dictionaries and glossaries to define data elements and their usage.
• Analysis and monitoring of data usage patterns to identify opportunities for data optimisation and improvement, in partnership with the Data Base Administrator.
• Strategic architecture definition and product selection.
• Production of logical designs in relevant subject area (technical, data, operational), showing for example: processes, objects, data flows, inputs, stored data and outputs. Identifying common components.
• Implementation of architectures and Identification, ownership and resolution of design related issues.
• Definition and documentation of data architectures standards, principles and strategies.

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.