Databricks Solutions Architect

SMSI provides expert management consulting, program and project management, and technical consulting services to government and private sector clients. SMSI has grown and evolved by building an outstanding reputation for client-focused performance and for delivering results that enable clients to meet commitments and milestones.

SMSI is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

SMSI LLC is seeking a Databricks Solutions Architect to assist our client, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This position will be mostly remote, with occasional trips onsite in Los Alamos, NM as needed.

Los Alamos National Laboratory has selected SAP for their next‑generation Cloud ERP solution. In parallel, they will require a future state data strategy to take advantage of new tools and technology to help modernize their current on‑prem operational data store. This work plays a critical role in supporting key institutional initiatives such as enabling real‑time analytics, AI/ML capabilities, and enhanced operational efficiency.

This role will be critical in the transformation of their legacy data environment into a modern, cloud‑native architecture. In concert with institutional knowledge experts and ERP implementation planner and integrators, you will define the data strategy, standards, and blueprints for migrating and integrating high‑volume operational data into a new platform, ensuring data integrity, security, and accessibility across the enterprise.

• 5+ years of progressive experience in data architecture, data modernization, and cloud‑based data solutions.
• Advise on the Databricks reference architecture covering Lakeflow, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Mosaic AI, Databricks SQL, and Databricks Apps.
• Provide hands‑on guidance on Databricks full‑stack solution design.
• Advise on design of both data movement (e.g. batch, real‑time streaming) and zero‑copy patterns.
• Guide platform migrations from legacy SQL and document stores onto Databricks and related cloud data platforms.
• Recommend security, governance, and compliance‑as‑code:
  Unity Catalog ABAC, governed tags, row filters/column masks, key management, networking security and compliance security profiles.
• Advise on design of segregated/tiered data pool architectures aligned to the organization's data classification policy and applicable regulatory requirements, including cross‑tier data movement.
• Recommend Fin Ops and performance standards, workload and cost management.
• Mentor data engineers, analysts, and AI/ML teams; participate in architecture reviews and contribute to standards.
• Work with information & cyber security, and other teams as needed for compliance to policies and standards.
• Evaluate emerging Databricks capabilities and recommend adoption strategies, including endpoint integrations with third parties as they evolve.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Candidate must have the ability to work with many team members across multiple disciplines.
• The candidate must be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q clearance.
• The candidate must have an active Real 's license for badging and onboarding.

• 7+ years designing, building, and operating Databricks workloads with medallion layer architecture.
• Hands‑on experience with Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Spark Structured Streaming, Lakeflow (or DLT/Live Tables), Databricks SQL, MLflow, and Mosaic AI Model Serving.
• Strong experience in cloud architecture supporting the platform (VPC/VNet, Security, S3/ADLS, KMS, etc.).
• Proven experience migrating enterprise data workloads from legacy/on prem data warehouse/lake to Databricks.
• Production streaming and CDC experience.
• Depth in security and governance:
  Unity Catalog policies (ABAC), classification, encryption, access auditing, compliance‑to‑control translation.
• Hands‑on experience designing multi‑tier Databricks architectures driven by data classification requirements.
• Strong Python and SQL, Spark,…