Lead Data Architect (NAM Portugal)

Job ID:6193

About Nordea Asset Management

Nordea Asset Management (NAM) is a responsible Nordic asset manager with a global reach. With more than 900 employees across 18 countries and over EUR 350 billion in assets under management, we are at the forefront of sustainable investing and delivering returns with responsibility.

As part of the Nordea Group, the leading financial services group in the Nordics, we are investing heavily in our data and AI capabilities to build the next generation of asset management services.

About this opportunity

We are seeking an experienced and hands-on Lead Data Architect to design and help build the enterprise data foundation for Nordea Asset Management.

This is a rare opportunity to shape a strategic, multi-year transformation initiative from the ground up. We are building a modern data platform on Snowflake, following Data Mesh principles, with domain-owned data products, federated governance, and a growing portfolio of AI and agentic use cases.

This is not an architecture role where designs are created and handed over to others. We are looking for someone who enjoys defining architectural direction and then working side-by-side with engineers and business domains to make it real. You will combine strategic thinking with hands-on technical leadership, helping shape how data is modelled, governed and consumed across the organization.

You will report to the Head of Data & AI Acceleration and work in close partnership with the Chief Data Officer on architectural direction and standards, alongside the Data Platform Product Owner, domain data and tech teams.

The role is based in Oeiras (Quinta da Fonte).

During the initial onboarding period, a significant on-site presence is expected to help establish relationships and accelerate delivery. The long-term working model follows our hybrid way of working (3 days in the Office + 2 days from home).

What you’ll be doing:

• Own the target data architecture for NAM, including domain boundaries, canonical models, data product interfaces, and integration patterns.
• Design and hands-on build core data models and data products in Snowflake and dbt, setting the standards that domain teams follow.
• Drive architectural decisions to a conclusion, bringing clear alternatives and recommendations where choices cut across domains.
• Define and maintain reference architectures, design principles, and architecture decision records, ensuring they are consistently adopted.
• Work directly with business domains including Investments, Distribution, Risk, Operations and Finance to translate business processes into scalable and reusable data products.
• Design the ingestion and integration landscape, covering internal source systems, vendor feeds, batch and streaming integrations, and data contracts between producers and consumers.
• Embed governance into the platform through metadata standards, lineage, tagging, access models, and policy enforcement mechanisms.
• Ensure architectural decisions meet regulatory, security and non-functional requirements, including DORA, GDPR, resilience, traceability and auditability.
• Partner with Group Technology on cloud, security, and infrastructure standards, and represent NAM in relevant architecture and technology forums.
• Support the design of analytics, AI and agentic solutions built on top of the data foundation.
• Coach and mentor engineers, analysts, and data practitioners across the organisation, helping raise the overall level of data architecture maturity.

Who you are

To succeed in this role, we believe you:

• Are genuinely hands-on and enjoy solving technical challenges directly.
• Are highly proficient in SQL, data modelling, and modern data engineering practices.
• Have strong experience with Snowflake, dbt, or similar cloud-native data platforms.
• Possess deep expertise across conceptual, logical and physical data modelling.
• Understand when to apply dimensional modelling, Data Vault, and other modelling approaches based on business requirements.
• Have a strong understanding of Data Mesh principles, domain-driven design, and federated governance models.
• Can move comfortably between executive discussions and technical implementation details.
• Build credibility through expertise, collaboration and delivery rather than formal authority.
• Are pragmatic and outcome-focused, balancing architectural quality with delivery speed.
• Have a strong interest in financial services, investment management, and data-driven transformation.

You'll stand out if you have experience with any of the following:

• Snowflake, including governance capabilities, Snowpark, data sharing, and marketplace functionality.
• dbt, Airflow, Airbyte, Kafka, GoldenGate, or similar modern data tooling.
• Asset management data domains, including holdings, transactions, performance, attribution, reference data, ESG, and client data.
• Market data providers such as Bloomberg, FactSet, MSCI, Morningstar, or LSEG.
• Data governance, metadata management, data contracts, and policy-as-code approaches.
• Cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP.
• Infrastructure as Code, containerisation, and orchestration technologies.
• Building data platforms that support advanced analytics, machine learning and LLM-based applications.
• Delivering solutions in regulated financial environments.

Your experience and background: 

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or another quantitative discipline.
• 8+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or data modelling roles.
• Proven experience designing and implementing modern cloud-based data platforms.
• Demonstrated success in defining architectural standards across multiple teams and getting them adopted without relying on formal authority.
• Experience from asset management, banking, or financial services is a strong advantage.
• Fluent English communication skills.

Why join us?

You'll play a central role in one of NAM's most strategic transformation initiatives. The architecture decisions you make will shape how data, analytics, and AI capabilities evolve across the organization for years to come.

If you're passionate about building modern data foundations, solving complex problems, and turning architecture into reality, we'd love to hear from you.

If this sounds like you, get in touch!

Next steps

If this opportunity is the challenge you are seeking, please send us your cover letter and CV in English latest on 30/09/2026.

At Nordea, we recruit from the widest possible pool and hire the best person for the job. Because diversity makes us stronger. And once you are on board, you will find that we offer equal opportunities to everyone.

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