Database Architect

About Heirs Technologies

Heirs Technologies is the technology subsidiary of Heirs Holdings, Africa's leading investment holding company. We build world-class digital products and platforms that serve millions of Africans across the continent and diaspora.

About the Engagement

We are building a next-generation digital banking platform for one of Africa's largest financial institutions - a product built to serve 15 million users at launch, scaling to hundreds of millions across the continent and diaspora. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape the data architecture of infrastructure that will define how Africa transacts, saves, and grows.

The Role

The Database Architect is the strategic owner of the platform's data architecture - the person who decides how data is structured, stored, replicated, and governed across a dual-cloud financial platform at continental scale. Working under the Enterprise Architect and providing technical leadership to the Database Engineers, you will define the data models, technology standards, and architectural patterns that every engineering team builds on. Where the Database Engineers own the build and operation, you own the blueprint - and the blueprint must be right.

What You'll Do

Data Architecture & Strategy - Define and own the platform's end-to-end data architecture - setting the structural principles, technology choices, and governance standards that govern how data is stored, accessed, and managed across all platform services and both cloud environments. Ensure the data architecture is designed for continental scale from day one, with no fundamental rework required as the platform grows from 15 million to hundreds of millions of users.

Data Modelling & Standards - Establish and enforce enterprise-level data modelling standards across the platform - including canonical data models, naming conventions, domain ownership boundaries, and guidelines for when to use relational vs. distributed NoSQL paradigms. Review and approve data model proposals from product and engineering teams, ensuring every model is clean, consistent, and aligned with the platform's architectural direction.

Cross-Cloud Data Architecture - Own the architectural design of the platform's cross-cloud data strategy - defining how data is replicated, synchronised, and kept consistent between AWS and Azure in real time. Design the active-active (or active-passive) database architecture across PostgreSQL and Apache Cassandra deployments on both clouds, specifying the replication topology, conflict resolution strategies, consistency guarantees, and failover behaviour. This is one of the most technically demanding architectural challenges on the platform and requires deep, hands-on expertise in distributed data systems.

Technology Governance & Selection - Own the platform's approved database technology catalogue - including PostgreSQL, Apache Cassandra, Redis, and their respective managed cloud services across AWS and Azure. Evaluate new database technologies and tooling against the platform's requirements, and make principled, well-documented technology decisions that balance capability, operational complexity, vendor risk, and long-term maintainability.

Performance & Scalability Architecture - Design the platform's data layer for performance at scale - defining partitioning strategies, sharding approaches, indexing standards, caching architecture (Redis), and connection management patterns that will sustain platform performance as user load grows. Ensure that scalability is designed in from the start, not retrofitted under pressure.

Data Security Architecture - Define the platform's data security architecture - including encryption standards (AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit), data classification policies, field-level encryption requirements for sensitive financial data, access control models, and audit logging standards. Ensure the data security architecture meets PCI DSS, CBN, and applicable data protection regulatory requirements across all operating markets.

Event-Driven & Integration Data Patterns - Define the architectural patterns for how data flows across the platform's microservices and event-driven infrastructure - including event sourcing, CQRS, change data capture (CDC), and API contract standards for data access. Ensure that service-to-service data dependencies are explicitly governed and that no service directly accesses another service's database.

Data Residency & Compliance Architecture - Design the platform's data residency architecture - ensuring that customer, payment, and authentication data is stored and processed in compliance with applicable data localisation requirements across all operating markets. Assess cross-border data transfer risks and design controls that allow the platform to operate compliantly as it expands across Africa.

Reference Architectures & Technical Leadership - Produce clear, well-documented reference architectures and architectural decision records (ADRs) for all major data architecture patterns on the platform. Provide technical leadership and architectural guidance to the Database Engineers, reviewing their implementation approaches against architectural intent and ensuring the build remains true to the design.

Architecture Review & Governance - Participate actively in the platform's architecture review process - assessing proposed changes, new service designs, and data model proposals for architectural compliance, risk, and long-term impact. Work closely with the Enterprise Architect and Sr. Cloud Architect to ensure data architecture decisions are consistent with the platform's overall technical direction.

What We're Looking For

Must Have

8+ years of experience in data or database architecture, with a proven track record of designing data infrastructure for high-scale, production systems - ideally in financial services or similarly regulated environments.

Deep expertise in both relational and distributed NoSQL database paradigms - expert-level knowledge of PostgreSQL and Apache Cassandra, including their architectural trade-offs, scaling characteristics, and operational complexity at scale.

Demonstrated experience designing cross-cloud or multi-region database architectures - including replication topology, consistency models, failover design, and conflict resolution strategies.

Strong command of data modelling - including relational normalisation, NoSQL access-pattern-driven design, event sourcing, CQRS, and canonical enterprise data models.

Solid understanding of database security architecture - encryption at rest and in transit, field-level encryption, IAM-based access controls, data classification, and regulatory compliance requirements.

Experience with cloud-managed database services across AWS and Azure - including Amazon RDS/Aurora, Amazon Keyspaces, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and Azure Managed Instance for Apache Cassandra.

Ability to produce clear, well-structured architectural documentation - reference architectures, ADRs, data flow diagrams, and standards that engineering teams can build confidently from.

Nice to Have

Hands-on experience designing and implementing active-active database configurations across multiple cloud providers or data centres.

Experience with change data capture (CDC) tooling - Debezium, AWS DMS, or equivalent - for real-time data replication and event-driven integration patterns.

Familiarity with data mesh or data lakehouse architectural patterns and their applicability to a microservices-based financial platform.

Experience with data residency design across multiple African markets - including NDPR, CBN data localisation requirements, and cross-border transfer frameworks.

AWS and/or Microsoft Azure data or solutions architecture certification.

Experience with Redis architecture - clustering, eviction policies, persistence models, and high-availability configuration.

Compensation

Competitive and commensurate with experience. Details will be shared with shortlisted candidates.

What We Offer

Impactful work - you'll design the data architecture of a platform built to serve hundreds of millions of Africans.

World-class team - you'll work alongside architects, engineers, and security specialists from some of the best organisations on the continent and globally.

Modern ways of working - cloud-native, architecture-led, and built on a dual-cloud (AWS + Azure) foundation.

Lagos, Nigeria - based at our Lagos office, at the heart of Africa's most dynamic technology ecosystem.

How to Apply

To apply, please use the link provided in the job posting. Applications are managed through our recruitment platform and reviewed on a rolling basis.