Specialist Solutions Architect
Posted 14 Oct 2026
Advertised as “Specialist Solutions Architect - Data Engineering”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Level
- FEQ128R2
- Expected experience
- 5+ yrs
- Management level
- People management
- Employment
- Hybrid
- Contract
- Contract
No salary listed for this role.
(FEQ128R2)
The Role
As a Specialist Solutions Architect (SSA) – Data Engineering, you are a hands-on technical authority who guides strategic customers in designing, building, and optimizing production-grade data workloads on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. Partnering closely with Account Teams and Solution Architects, you translate complex big data challenges into high-performance, scalable architectures using Apache Spark™ and modern streaming frameworks.
In this role, you will drive successful implementations, align technical roadmaps to accelerate platform adoption, and establish deep domain specialization; whether in real-time streaming, performance optimization, or operational data layers, while expanding your impact across Field Engineering.
The impact you will have:
- Drive Technical Wins & Scope: Lead end-to-end technical design, proof of concepts (PoCs), and workload sizing for strategic customer engagements, acting as a trusted advisor to front-line technical stakeholders to secure technical wins.
- Architect Production Data Systems: Design, build, and optimize scalable, high-performance batch and streaming pipelines, operational data layers (Lakebase), and end-to-end performance load testing on Databricks.
- Deploy Interactive Data Applications: Build and operationalize custom user-facing data applications using Databricks Apps, transforming data pipelines and AI models into interactive tools.
- AI-Native Engineering: Leverage AI coding assistants, LLMs, and agentic workflows (e.g., Genie Code, Cursor) as a force multiplier to rapidly prototype, debug, and deliver architectural assets with full ownership of outputs.
- Enablement & Domain Leadership: Mentor peers, contribute reusable architecture assets, and deliver technical workshops and community presentations to scale expertise across accounts and field teams.
What we look for:
- Deep Data Engineering Expertise: 5+ years in data or software engineering with hands-on proficiency in distributed processing (Apache Spark™, Delta Lake, SDP) and real-time streaming technologies (Spark Streaming, Kafka, CDC).
- AI-First Builder Mindset: Demonstrated daily reliance on AI coding tools and LLMs to accelerate pipeline development, troubleshooting, and asset generation.
- Production Programming & Foundations: Strong production coding skills in Python, SQL, and Scala or Java, with a solid grasp of data modeling and system design fundamentals.