Standardise eight job profiles.
A role-by-role requirement focused on consistency of definition.
Selected architecture case · Business transformation
Architecting a future-fit global Data Function.
How GC transformed a role-standardisation brief into a multidimensional role, capability and organisational architecture for a global industrial technology group.
Global capability systemData FunctionStructure × Standards × Capability
01Architecture
02Analytics
03Solutions
04Operations
05Change
06Service
SFIATechnicalBehaviouralHR
8Global role architectures
11Technical capability domains
34Behaviours calibrated
SFIA 4–6Responsibility levels integrated
The client challenge
One global function. Multiple definitions of what good looked like.
The initial requirement appeared straightforward: standardise a set of Data and Analytics roles for consistent global use.
The reality was more complex. A globally consistent role could not be defined through a title and conventional job description alone. Every role needed to work across organisational contexts while remaining aligned to a common Data strategy, international professional standards and the enterprise people system.
The turning pointGlobal consistency required standardising the capability system beneath the roles.
The strategic reframe
Architect a future-fit global capability system.
One connected architecture spanning organisation, profession, technology, behaviour and talent.
The multidimensional architecture
Five connected layers. One coherent role and capability system.
Each layer answered a different enterprise question. Together, they made every role comparable, developable and usable in practice.
Organisational architecture
Role mission, business impact, accountabilities, stakeholders, structural placement and reporting relationships.
Professional architecture
Role-specific SFIA skills and calibrated responsibility across autonomy, influence, complexity, knowledge and business capability.
Technical architecture
One shared technical taxonomy with foundational, intermediate and advanced proficiency differentiated by role.
Behavioural architecture
Enterprise behaviours translated into observable expectations and calibrated proficiency levels.
Talent and HR architecture
Experience, qualifications and role requirements structured to support recruitment, development, performance and job evaluation.
One role architecture
Purpose Structure Professional standard Technical proficiency Behaviour Talent system
The role portfolio
Eight roles spanning the complete Data operating system.
The portfolio connected insight and architecture to solution delivery, operational performance, controlled change and end-to-end service ownership.
Data and Analytics Expert
Lead Data Architect
Data Analyst
Data Solution Architect
Data Operations Manager
Data Solution Designer
Change Control Manager
Data Service Owner
Each role integrated
Mission · Business impact · Reporting logic · Stakeholders · Technical KPAs · Behaviour · SFIA · Experience and qualifications
The shared technical language
Create consistency without making every role the same.
GC established eleven common capability domains and defined what foundational, intermediate and advanced performance meant within each. Every role was then calibrated against the same framework.
FoundationalIntermediateAdvanced
Data security
Data infrastructure
Data acquisition
Data modelling, integration and products
Extract, transform and load
Data ownership and stewardship
Master data management
Data quality management
Data science
Business insights and analysis
Data visualisation
International and enterprise integration
Connect professional standards to the enterprise people system.
Technical expertise, professional authority and leadership behaviour were engineered as one integrated system—not three disconnected assessments.
SFIA-aligned by role and responsibility.
Each role received a specific skills map and a responsibility profile across autonomy, influence, complexity, knowledge and business skills.
04Enable
05Ensure & advise
06Initiate & influence
12Competency clusters
34Observable behaviours
5Proficiency levels
What must the person be capable of doing—and how must they operate to create value across the enterprise?
The delivery journey
Build the architecture through many expert perspectives.
Led from Western Europe, GC worked iteratively with executive Data and HR leadership, and specialist communities across multiple European markets.
Establish the role system
Clarify the priority role portfolio, structural relationships, stakeholders, business impact and accountabilities across global and business-area contexts.
Create the capability language
Develop the common technical domains, knowledge requirements, observable actions and proficiency logic that would sit beneath every role.
Integrate the standards
Translate SFIA skills and responsibility levels into the organisation’s own behavioural, professional and HR architecture.
Engineer each role
Build multidimensional profiles combining purpose, structure, technical proficiency, behaviour, qualifications and performance accountabilities.
Connect the portfolio
Consolidate the roles and matrices into one reusable global architecture for consistent talent and organisational decisions.
What changed
From isolated roles to an integrated global foundation.
The completed architecture established a reusable basis for consistent organisational and talent decisions across the global Data Function.
From
→Role titles
ToClearly articulated purpose and enterprise contribution
From
→Conventional job descriptions
ToMultidimensional role architectures
From
→Technical expertise alone
ToIntegrated technical, behavioural and business capability
From
→Inconsistent proficiency language
ToOne shared global capability taxonomy
From
→Internally defined expectations
ToInternationally benchmarked SFIA alignment
From
→Independent role specifications
ToA connected portfolio spanning the Data operating system
A reusable enterprise foundation
One architecture. Multiple decisions it could now support.
01Global role consistency02Organisation and workforce design03Recruitment and selection04Capability assessment05Performance expectations06Professional development07Career progression and mobility08Job sizing and evaluation
The GC difference
See the system behind the brief.
The result was not eight job descriptions. It was the workforce and capability architecture for a future-fit global Data Function.
GC combined organisational architecture with practical technical depth—working alongside leadership, HR and specialist communities to create a framework that was internationally benchmarked, enterprise-aligned and usable in practice.
When capability must scale globally
Build the workforce architecture that makes strategy executable.
GC helps leadership connect organisation, roles, professional standards and people systems around the capabilities the enterprise must build next.
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