Principal Data Solution Architect (Databricks)

• Serve as the chief architect for data platform modernization designing enterprise data ecosystems including lakehouse architectures (e.g. Databricks Lakehouse) data mesh/fabric patterns domain-driven design and multi-cloud data strategies.
• Translate mission and business needs into actionable data architecture roadmaps reference architectures and solution blueprints.
• Architect and operationalize Databricks environments including workspace design Unity Catalog governance Delta Lake architecture cluster and job orchestration and secure multi-tenant data access patterns.
• Design and implement scalable ingestion transformation and data serving layers using batch streaming CDC API-based and event-driven patterns (e.g. Delta Live Tables Structured Streaming medallion architecture).
• Lead enterprise data modeling strategy including canonical data models semantic layers MDM architectures metadata systems and AI/ML-aligned feature modeling.
• Partner with Data Engineering Data Science AI/ML Engineering and LLMOps/MLOps teams to enable analytics ML RAG systems and advanced automation use cases.
• Define and enforce enterprise data standards including schema evolution data contracts quality frameworks lineage observability data zoning and Zero Trust access patterns.
• Drive platform engineering decisions including storage optimization (e.g. Delta Lake) cluster sizing workload isolation compute orchestration network design and cost-performance optimization within distributed environments such as Databricks.
• Guide selection and adoption of enterprise data platforms with deep expertise in Databricks and complementary technologies such as Snowflake Redshift Synapse and BigQuery.
• Oversee architectural governance including design reviews performance evaluations cloud readiness assessments and alignment with cybersecurity and compliance requirements.
• Serve as a senior advisor to client executives framing modernization strategies defining investment pathways and articulating value realization for enterprise data initiatives.
• Mentor Data Engineers Data Architects and cross-functional technical staff to strengthen architectural maturity across programs.
• Develop reusable frameworks architectural patterns playbooks and accelerators to improve consistency and reduce delivery timelines.
• Stay current with emerging trends in cloud-native data ecosystems distributed compute metadata automation AI-ready architectures and federal data regulations.
• Contribute to the growth of the AI & Data Exploitation Practice through thought leadership and technical innovation.

• Ability to hold a position of public trust.
• Bachelors Masters or Ph.D. in Computer Science Data Engineering Information Systems Cloud Architecture or a related technical field.
• 10 years of experience designing enterprise-scale data solutions including significant architectural leadership.
• Expert knowledge of modern data architectures including lakehouse data mesh data fabric MDM event-driven architectures and domain-driven design.
• Deep experience with cloud-native data ecosystems across AWS Azure or GCP including storage compute orchestration serverless containerization and security services.
• Mastery of distributed data processing frameworks (e.g. Apache Spark Databricks Flink Kafka) with strong proficiency in SQL and Python.
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing lakehouse architectures using Databricks including Delta Lake Unity Catalog and enterprise-scale governance patterns.
• Proven ability to design ingestion pipelines transformation logic metadata systems feature stores and data serving layers optimized for analytics and AI workloads.
• Strong understanding of enterprise data governance including cataloging lineage privacy tagging and Zero Trust access controls.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and translate complex concepts into actionable insights.
• Demonstrated success mentoring technical staff leading architecture reviews and guiding multi-team delivery across complex programs.
• Experience collaborating with Data Science AI/ML and MLOps teams to support scalable model development and operationalization.

• Preferred certifications (highly relevant):

  • AWS Data Analytics Specialty

  • AWS Solutions Architect Professional

  • Azure Solutions Architect Expert

  • Databricks Data Engineer Professional

  • Google Professional Data Engineer

  • Snowflake SnowPro Advanced Architect

  • TOGAF or cloud architecture frameworks

Steampunk relies on several factors to determine salary including but not limited to geographic location contractual requirements education knowledge skills competencies and experience. The projected compensation range for this position is $165000 to $210000. The estimate displayed represents a typical annual salary range for this position. Annual salary is just one aspect of Steampunks total compensation package for employees. Learn more about additional Steampunk benefits here.

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Steampunk is a Change Agent in the Federal contracting industry bringing new thinking to clients in the Homeland Federal Civilian Health and DoD sectors. Through our Human-Centered delivery methodology we are fundamentally changing the expectations our Federal clients have for true shared accountability in solving their toughest mission challenges. As an employee owned company we focus on investing in our employees to enable them to do the greatest work of their careers and rewarding them for outstanding contributions to our growth. If you want to learn more about our story visit .