Senior Data Architect at Vodafone Global Enterprise

Role Purpose/Business Unit:

• We are seeking a Senior Data Architect – a technical “unicorn” with broad expertise across Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, and Cloud Architecture – to join our Big Data & AI team. In this strategic role, you will design and oversee the implementation of scalable, secure, and future-ready solutions that drive Vodacom’s AI/ML initiatives across multiple markets.

Your responsibilities will include:

Holistic Architecture Design:

• Define end-to-end architectures for data ingestion, processing, governance, and analytics in a cloud or hybrid environment.
• Collaborate with product owners, data scientists, ML engineers, and DevOps teams to craft integrated solutions that meet both technical and business requirements.

Data Architecture & Governance:

• Design robust data models, data pipelines, and feature stores that ensure data quality, lineage, and security.
• Implement best practices for data lifecycle management, metadata cataloging, and regulatory compliance (GDPR, POPIA).
• Design solutions for data masking, encryption, and anonymisation to protect PII.

Cloud & Solution Architecture:

• Lead cloud adoption strategies (AWS, Azure, or multi-cloud) ensuring security, cost optimization, and performance.
• Architect microservices, APIs, and containerized deployments (Kubernetes, Docker) for AI-driven applications.
• Ensure high availability, scalability, and fault-tolerance for real-time ML workloads.
• design architecture for on-prem, cloud and hybrid data platforms.
• Develop a data strategy roadmap aligned with business objectives.
• Architect solutions for real-time analytics, reporting, and BI dashboards.
• Enable self-service analytics using tools like Power BI, Qlik, etc. 

Technical Leadership & Mentorship:

• Provide thought leadership on emerging technologies (serverless, event-driven architectures, MLOps frameworks).
• Mentor engineering teams in design reviews, architecture patterns, and best practices for building data-intensive solutions.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Roadmaps:

• Partner with business and IT stakeholders to create architecture blueprints and technology roadmaps that align with Vodacom’s Big Data & AI objectives.
• Communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, ensuring strategic alignment.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• 3-year Degree/National Diploma related to IT field of study (minimum)
• 8+ years in architect roles encompassing data, cloud, and solution architecture.
• Strong knowledge of AWS, Azure, or hybrid cloud – including container orchestration and DevOps pipelines.
• Proven track record in data modeling, ETL/ELT pipelines, and data governance for large-scale data platforms.
• Experience architecting or managing AI/ML workflows (e.g., MLOps, feature stores, model registry).
• Familiarity with microservices, REST APIs, GraphQL; proficient in Python, Java, or other modern languages.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and collaboration skills; comfortable presenting to executives and guiding engineering teams.

We make an impact by offering:

• Enticing incentive programs and competitive benefit packages
• Retirement funds, risk benefits, and medical aid benefits
• Cell phone and data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, and exclusive staff discounts offered in collaboration with partner companies