Senior Cloud Data Strategist

Cloud Data Architect Role

We are seeking a skilled Cloud Data Architect to lead the design and implementation of modern data platforms, analytics, and ML/AI solutions.

This role will involve owning lakehouse design and governance, representing this vision in front of clients, and working closely with delivery squads to model data, tune clusters, and enforce standards.

The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Delta Lake ACID, Unity Catalog, and Spark performance tuning, as well as experience architecting lakehouse or cloud DW solutions on two or more major clouds.

Additionally, they will have strong SQL and PySpark/Scala skills, working knowledge of dbt, Airflow, or similar orchestrators, and excellent communication skills for client workshops, documentation, and mentoring.

• Act as the primary technical liaison during key engagements.
• Lead discovery workshops and roadmap sessions to surface requirements, constraints, and success metrics.
• Partner with account and sales teams to shape estimates, reference architectures, and bill-of-materials for proposals and SOWs.

Lakehouse Architecture & Design

• Design logical and physical models, storage layers, and streaming/CDC patterns with Delta Lake and Unity Catalog.
• Architect multi-cloud Databricks solutions covering ETL/ELT, structured streaming, and governance zones.

Governance & Security

• Define catalog/permission models, retention policies, and lineage artifacts to meet HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR, and similar frameworks.
• Implement row-/column-level security, tokenization, and end-to-end audit logging.

Performance & Cost Optimization

• Tune cluster sizing, Photon/SQL Warehouse configs, Z-Ordering, and auto-compaction to hit SLA and cost targets.
• Instrument dashboards for query latency, job runtimes, and spend.

Implementation Leadership

• Lead design reviews, pair with engineers on PySpark/Scala, and sign off on pull-requests before production.
• Publish best-practice templates, Terraform workspace bootstraps, and CI/CD guidelines.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Platform Ops, Security, Analytics, and Product teams to translate requirements into production-ready data solutions.
• Host lunch-and-learns and brown-bag demos to level-up Databricks skill-sets across the organization.

Requirements

• 5–7 years building cloud data platforms; 3+ years hands-on with Databricks.
• Deep expertise in Delta Lake ACID, Unity Catalog, and Spark performance tuning.
• Proven experience architecting lakehouse or cloud DW solutions on two or more major clouds.
• Strong SQL + PySpark/Scala; working knowledge of dbt, Airflow, or similar orchestrators.
• Databricks Data Engineer Professional certification (or ability to earn in 90 days).
• Excellent communication skills for client workshops, documentation, and mentoring.
• Ability to engage with and communicate effectively with clients at all levels developing technical solutions that solve their challenges and/or advance their interests.
• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into understandable terms; adept at engaging and influencing senior management and non-technical stakeholders.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, particularly adept at conveying complex technical concepts effectively to non-technical audiences with ease.
• Self-directed and motivated with a results-driven approach, capable of achieving deliveries and outcomes independently with limited external direction.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience as a Databricks Champion within your organization.
• Experience migrating legacy Hadoop/Snowflake/Redshift to lakehouse.
• Familiarity with MLflow, Feature Store, and Databricks Model Serving.
• DataOps/CI-CD for notebooks and IaC (Terraform, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions).
• Domain depth in one of our focus verticals (FinTech, Sports Analytics, Manufacturing, etc.).
• Experience consulting in Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail/CPG, Manufacturing, Travel & Hospitality.
• Experience working with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle Netsuite, Microsoft Dynamics, JD Edwards, Oracle, Sage, Workday, etc.
• Engineering certifications in Databricks (beyond pro), Azure, AWS, GCP, Snowflake, and related tools.
• Experience serving as a consulting liaison between clients and our technical teams. Engage with senior-level stakeholders to understand their business challenges and articulate clear, compelling technical solutions aligned with their strategic goals.
• Self-starter, proven abilities leading complex client engagement deliveries, often with ambiguity and little direction.
• Masters, MBA, or other advanced degree a plus.

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