Data platform foundations · Small business (10 to 49 staff) · Retail and e-commerce
Data platform foundations for a small multichannel retailer
The data foundations a small multichannel retailer needs before AI can work: its key data brought into one governed cloud platform, cleaned, documented and refreshed automatically. Shop, marketplace, accounts and stock data are brought together.
Illustrative cost
£13,000 to £37,000 ex VAT
- Typical
- £22,000
- Duration
- About 11 weeks
- Effort
- 28 to 53 days
Illustrative estimate, not a quote. Real prices vary.
Worked out from UK freelance contractor day rates in job adverts, with no consultancy or agency margin added. Consultancies and agencies usually charge more.
Source: IT Jobs Watch. Rates read on ; costs computed on .
What is included
- Assessment of current sources, quality and ownership
- Target architecture on a mainstream cloud platform
- Pipelines for the priority sources
- Data quality checks, a catalogue and access controls
- Handover to the internal team
Deliverables
- Architecture document
- Working pipelines
- Data quality checks and catalogue
- Runbook and handover
Assumptions
- Up to four priority data sources
- The client chooses and pays for the cloud platform
- An internal owner for the platform after handover
Not included
- Migrating every legacy system
- Reporting and dashboards beyond a test report
- Cloud running costs
Project plan
Phases run one after another, about 11 weeks in all.
| Phase | Weeks | Main tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment | 2 | Inventory sources; Quality and ownership review |
| Design | 2 | Target architecture; Security and access design |
| Build pipelines | 4 | Ingestion; Modelling; Scheduling |
| Data quality and governance | 2 | Quality checks; Catalogue; Access controls |
| Handover | 1 | Runbook; Knowledge transfer |
Who does the work
Person-days per role in each phase, low and high effort.
| Phase | Role | Days (low to high) |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment | Data engineer | 3 to 5 days |
| Assessment | Solutions architect | 2 to 3 days |
| Design | Solutions architect | 3 to 5 days |
| Design | Cloud engineer | 1 to 3 days |
| Build pipelines | Data engineer | 10 to 18 days |
| Build pipelines | Cloud engineer | 3 to 6 days |
| Data quality and governance | Data engineer | 2 to 4 days |
| Data quality and governance | AI governance consultant | 1 to 3 days |
| Handover | Data engineer | 1 to 2 days |
| Handover | Project manager | 2 to 4 days |
How the cost adds up
| Role | Low (days × 25th percentile) | Typical (days × median) | High (days × 90th percentile) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data engineer | 16 × £425 = £6,800 | 22.5 × £500 = £11,250 | 29 × £688 = £19,952 |
| Solutions architect | 5 × £550 = £2,750 | 6.5 × £625 = £4,063 | 8 × £788 = £6,304 |
| Cloud engineer | 4 × £428 = £1,712 | 6.5 × £513 = £3,335 | 9 × £675 = £6,075 |
| AI governance consultant | 1 × £563 = £563 | 2 × £625 = £1,250 | 3 × £743 = £2,229 |
| Project manager | 2 × £451 = £902 | 3 × £540 = £1,620 | 4 × £714 = £2,856 |
| Total, rounded | £13,000 | £22,000 | £37,000 |
How these estimates are worked out
Effort: for each phase we estimate how many days each role works, as a low and a high case. These are our estimates for a typical project of this kind, not measured data.
Rates: each role's daily rate comes from UK contract job adverts over the last six months, as published by IT Jobs Watch. These are freelance contractor rates as advertised, not what was paid, and not what a consultancy or agency charges.
Low end: the low-effort days at each role's 25th-percentile rate. We use the 25th percentile, not the 10th, because the lowest effort at the cheapest rates gives a floor few buyers would ever meet.
Typical: the mid-point between low and high effort, at each role's median rate.
High end: the high-effort days at each role's 90th-percentile rate.
Totals are rounded to the nearest £500 below £10,000 and the nearest £1,000 above, and exclude VAT. Phases run one after another.
Not included:
- Software licences, model and hosting fees
- Travel and expenses
- Your own staff's time
- A consultancy's or agency's margin, overheads and risk
Real prices vary with the supplier, the state of your data and systems, how much of the work your own team does, where the work happens and how much risk the supplier carries. Consultancies and agencies usually charge more than these contractor rates, and a fixed price usually costs more than time and materials because the supplier takes the risk.
Sources
Source: IT Jobs Watch: UK contract job adverts quoting a daily rate, 6 months to 15 November 2026. Each role's page was read on . Published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
| Role | IT Jobs Watch page | Rates quoted | 25th percentile | Median | 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data engineer | Data Engineer | 1,275 | £425 | £500 | £688 |
| Solutions architect | Solutions Architect | 1,238 | £550 | £625 | £788 |
| Cloud engineer | Cloud Engineer | 513 | £428 | £513 | £675 |
| AI governance consultantIT Jobs Watch has no "AI Governance" contract title with daily rates; mapped to the closest title, Data Governance Consultant. Small sample (14 rates): treat as indicative. | Data Governance Consultant | 14 | £563 | £625 | £743 |
| Project manager | Project Manager | 1,226 | £451 | £540 | £714 |