Data Architect

Key Requirements

• 12+ years' experience leading engagements from design to implementation of creative data solutions leveraging the latest in Spark based modern data platforms on public cloud  
• At least 5 full lifecycle data platform deployments on Azure using first party services for Data and Analytics.  
• Extensive experience with following technologies: Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Databricks,  
• Extensive experience of Azure foundation and cloud engineering concepts including network, security, cost estimation, common IaaS and PaaS services and monitoring. 
• Strong Spark, SQL, Data Modeling, Data lakehouse concepts.  
• Programming / scripting experience using python and scala. 
• 6+ years' experience architecting solutions for optimal extraction, transformation and loading of data from a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional sources such as structured, unstructured, and semi-structured using SQL, NoSQL and data pipelines for real-time, streaming, batch and on-demand workloads  
• 4+ years' experience with analytics/data management strategy formulation, architectural blueprinting and effort estimation of analytics  
• 5+ years working in cloud or multi-server complex environments.  Extensive experience with Azure is required.  
• Ability to simplify complex technical concepts into an easy-to-understand non-technical language to facilitate, communicate and interact with executives and business stakeholders
• Certifications in architecture, data engineering and development from Azure is preferred  
• Knowledge of software configuration management environments and tools such as JIRA, Git, Jenkins, TFS, Shell, PowerShell, Bitbucket. 

Data Specialization:

• Lead, define and implement end-to-end modern data platforms on public cloud using 1st party services in support of analytics and AI use cases  
• Collaborate with enterprise architects, data architects, ETL developers & engineers, data scientists, and information designers to lead identification and definition of required data structures, formats, pipelines, metadata, and workload orchestration capabilities  
• Address aspects such as data privacy & security, data ingestion & processing, data storage & compute, analytical & operational consumption, data modeling, data virtualization, self-service data preparation & analytics, AI enablement, and API integrations  
• Be the technical liaison between customers and engineering teams  
• Be a big data evangelist by educating a variety of customers on the value of cloud and data services 
• Ensure solutions are optimized for Azure’s ecosystem, utilizing services such as Azure Functions, Logic Apps, and Event Hubs. 
• Leverage Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools like Terraform or Azure Resource Manager (ARM) for cloud resource management. 
• Implement enterprise-grade security solutions using Azure Security Center, Azure Policy, and Azure Key Vault. 
• Enforce data governance policies, including encryption standards, role-based access control (RBAC), and regulatory compliance (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA). 
• Conduct risk assessments and remediate vulnerabilities across the Azure environment. 
• Lead capacity planning and disaster recovery strategies to ensure uptime and business continuity. 
• Partner with security teams to proactively remediate vulnerabilities and enforce role-based access control (RBAC). 
• Act as a trusted advisor to clients, providing technical guidance on architecture improvements, cost optimizations, and emerging Azure features. 
• Deliver detailed operational reports and improvement plans, ensuring continuous service enhancement. 

General Consultancy:

• Present recommendations to clients using both written deliverables and face-to-face discussions  
• Develop deep relationships with clients and act as the single point of contact for client executives on data engagements  
• Directly collaborate with the sales team to formulate and execute a sales strategy to facilitate the adoption of Azure data offerings.  
• Lead the professional services elements of relevant data proposals and RFP/RFI responses, including scope, effort, pricing models and SOW development.    
• Guide customers during big data and cloud adoption by:  
• Understanding drivers of technology change  
• Building business cases to undertake technology change  
• Lead discovery sessions with stakeholders, including interviews, document analysis, requirements workshops, surveys, client on-site visits, business process descriptions, use cases, scenarios, and data analysis for technology change  
• Identify gaps in customer maturity and capabilities in relation to their data strategy.  
• Identify areas of opportunity, and recommend future state improvements   
• Work with Engagement / Project Managers to plan the delivery of data projects, including budget, delivery resources, partner engagement, schedules and responsibilities.  
• Accountable for the successful outcome of data and related engagements from both a delivery (schedule, deliverables etc.) and commercial (revenue realization, budget etc.) perspective.  
• Lead the effort to find creative approaches to problem solving and identify, mitigate, or escalate delivery risks and issues.  

Certifications

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (preferred). 
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate (preferred). 

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with hybrid and multi-cloud environments. 
• Knowledge of DevOps principles and CI/CD tools such as Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions. 
• Familiarity with advanced analytics, AI, and machine learning use cases on Azure.