At Playground Data, we build modern data platforms for analytics, AI and machine learning. We're a close and friendly team. We like digging into a data model together, we don't mind redrawing the diagram a third time if that's what it takes, and we still swap migration stories over lunch years later.

We're now hiring a Data Architect who wants to take ownership of architecture decisions and work close to our clients, from design to running solution.

What you'll actually do

You'll work closely with our clients on high-impact initiatives where data is critical to the business. Many of our engagements involve major platform transformations, often moving from legacy on-prem environments to modern cloud platforms. This role suits architects who enjoy setting direction, making decisions that hold up over time, and staying close enough to the work to know what actually gets built.

In practice, you'll:

• Design target architectures for modern cloud data platforms and own the path from current state to target state.

• Lead migrations from on-prem environments to the cloud, from assessment and platform choices through to a running solution.

• Define data models, integration patterns and platform structures that scale with the business and stay maintainable.

• Establish data governance in practice: ownership, access, security, data quality and lifecycle, so platforms stay trustworthy as they grow.

• Guide clients through difficult technology decisions and translate business needs into architecture people can act on.

• Contribute internally by shaping our technical approaches and reference architectures, being part of presales, and shaping the technical narrative and scoping behind client proposals.

You'll never sit idle, there's always something meaningful to design, decide, or untangle.

Who are you?

You've spent years designing and building data platforms and know that architecture only counts when it survives contact with production. You've wrestled with at least one migration from on-prem to cloud, and lived to tell the tale, both technically and with the people involved.

You would probably describe yourself as someone who:

Has seen things in the cloud: You've designed and delivered modern cloud data platforms, ideally with Snowflake or Databricks in the mix.

Knows migrations from the inside: You've moved legacy environments to the cloud and know where the real risks and shortcuts are.

Takes governance seriously: You see data governance as a core part of the architecture, not a document nobody reads. When a shortcut gets proposed to hit a deadline, you're the one who pushes back and explains why it'll matter six months from now.

Stays calm when things are unclear: You don't panic when requirements are fuzzy and the system diagram needs three whiteboards.

Is comfortable in a consultant role: You handle customer dialogue well, can carry presales conversations, and help clients make decisions they can stand behind.

As a person, you're humble, genuinely curious about technology, and motivated, while knowing that asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. Friendly, curious, and playful!

Language and other requirements

You need to be fluent in Swedish and able to use it confidently in a professional environment.

Why? Most of our collaborations and client projects are conducted in Swedish, and several of our clients have formal requirements for full professional fluency in the language.

You must also be based in the Stockholm area and have existing, independent and permanent right to work in Sweden (no visa sponsorship or relocation).

Let's Play!

Applying to us is a breeze!

• Upload your resumé or use your LinkedIn profile

• Answer the choice-questions (no "please-rewrite-your-resume" nonsense, promise)

• Feel free to include links to your portfolio, GitHub or similar if you have stuff you're proud of that you want to share with us

Welcome to Playground!

At Playground, you work on real, complex assignments for well-established and ambitious clients, not bench projects or short-lived experiments. Our teams are trusted with production systems, platforms, and data that actually matter. Here growth comes from ownership, curiosity, and doing the work properly. You're trusted to think, contribute, and keep getting better, one meaningful step at a time.

Playground brings together specialized domains under one umbrella, with a shared culture and way of working, and easy access to broad technical expertise when it helps move the work forward.