Principal Architect

Principal Data Architect | Shaping the Future of AI-Ready Data Platforms

About the Role

We are looking for a Principal Data Architect to spearhead the design and delivery of enterprise-scale, AI-ready data platforms. This is a high-impact leadership role for someone who has architected large cloud data ecosystems and is now ready to shape how enterprises govern data and unlock it for Generative AI and Agentic AI use cases. You will own the strategic vision, translate it into a technical roadmap, and lead the teams that bring it to life - while remaining hands-on enough to guide critical design decisions.

This role sits at the center of how a large enterprise rearchitects its data foundation for the AI era - not just building pipelines, but defining the governance and platform patterns that let GenAI and agentic systems run safely and reliably at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Define the enterprise data architecture strategy and multi-year modernization roadmap.
• Design and evolve scalable Data Lakehouse architectures on Azure and Databricks.
• Lead large-scale cloud data modernization and legacy-to-cloud migration initiatives.
• Stand up enterprise-grade data governance using Microsoft Purview — covering metadata management, data lineage, data quality, and security/access controls.
• Architect AI-ready data platforms that power RAG, GenAI, and Agentic AI applications.
• Define data models, integration patterns, and real-time/batch pipeline architectures.
• Ensure all platforms meet enterprise security, compliance, and regulatory requirements.
• Provide technical leadership — mentoring architects and engineers, and partnering directly with business and executive stakeholders to align data strategy with outcomes.

What You Bring

• 18 to 22 years in Data Architecture and Cloud Data Platforms, with several years in an architecture leadership capacity.
• Deep, hands-on expertise in Microsoft Azure: ADLS, ADF, Synapse, Azure SQL, Event Hub.
• Strong command of Databricks: Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Delta Live Tables, MLflow.
• Proven expertise in Microsoft Purview and enterprise data governance — data quality, metadata, and lineage frameworks.
• Experience building AI-ready platforms using Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, RAG pipelines, Vector Databases, and GenAI frameworks.
• Solid engineering foundation in Python, PySpark, SQL, Spark, and ETL/ELT design.
• Familiarity with DevOps, CI/CD, and Infrastructure as Code in enterprise, security-conscious environments.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Azure Solutions Architect, Azure Data Engineer, or Databricks certifications.
• Exposure to Microsoft Fabric, TOGAF, or Collibra.
• Background in consulting or leading enterprise digital transformation programs.