Principal Architect - Snowflake

Principal Solutions Architect

We are expanding our Snowflake capability within the Data and AI practice, and we are looking for a Principal Solutions Architect to lead the technical side of it.

You will be in front of customers from the start, qualifying opportunities, running technical discovery with customer architects and data leaders, designing target platforms, and owning the technical win. Most of the work in front of us is focused on platform build-out and migration, helping enterprises consolidate onto Snowflake from SAP, Oracle, Teradata, and other established estates. This is where we need the strongest expertise.

This is a senior individual contributor role with significant influence over what we build and sell. It is ideal for someone who wants to shape a capability rather than operate within one that is already established.

Own the Technical Side of Snowflake Pursuits

• Lead qualification, discovery, target architecture design, effort and risk sizing, and development of technical content for proposals and Statements of Work (SOWs).
• Build and maintain technical relationships with customer architects and technical stakeholders.
• Provide accurate assessments of migration effort, complexity, and risk, helping customers understand the true scope of their transformation initiatives.

Provide Architectural Oversight Through Delivery

• Review architecture decisions throughout delivery.
• Ensure the delivered solution aligns with what was originally scoped and proposed.
• Identify and address risks or issues early in the project lifecycle.
• Remain engaged in delivery to maintain accountability for the technical solution and outcomes.

Shape Snowflake Service Offerings

• Define the technical content of Snowflake-focused service offerings.
• Establish service scope, success criteria, and measurable outcomes.
• Determine what evidence demonstrates successful delivery.
• Create repeatable frameworks and standards that delivery teams can execute consistently.

Partner with Snowflake

• Collaborate directly with Snowflake field teams and specialist architects on joint customer engagements.
• Build productive relationships with vendor teams while representing the organization's technical perspective.
• Effectively navigate technical challenges, feedback, and differing viewpoints from Snowflake architects and specialists

Behaviors and Competencies

• Willingness to Learn:
  Can apply new learning to daily work, encourage and facilitate learning in others, and actively make changes to work based on feedback.
• Self-Development:
  Can demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning and adaptability to new ideas and methods.
• Leadership:
  Can take ownership of complex team initiatives, collaborate with others in decision-making processes, and drive team performance.
• Strategic Thinking:
  Can analyze complex situations, anticipate future trends, and align and integrate strategies across departments or functions.
• Problem-Solving:
  Can proactively identify and take ownership of complex problem-solving initiatives, initiate preventative measures, collaborate with others to find solutions, and drive successful outcomes.
• Analytical Thinking:
  Can use advanced analytical techniques to solve complex problems, draw insights, and communicate the solutions effectively.
• Prioritization:
  Can take ownership of complex task management, collaborate with others to align priorities, and drive team efficiency.
• Customer-Centric Mindset:
  Can take ownership of customer-centric initiatives, ensuring products and services align with customer needs. Collaborates with cross-functional teams to integrate customer feedback into product development.
• Organization:
  Can oversee complex projects with multiple moving parts, ensure team alignment with organizational systems, and adapt to changing priorities.
• Communication:
  Can effectively communicate complex ideas and information to diverse audiences, facilitate effective communication between others, and mentor others in effective communication.
• Interpersonal
  
  Skills:
  
  Can communicate effectively, build relationships, resolve conflicts, influence others, and support others in developing their interpersonal skills in major situations.

Skill Level Requirements

Platform and Architecture

• Account and environment design
• Warehouse and compute architecture
• Open table format strategy
• Connectivity and data residency design
• Cost architecture decisions that impact long-term scalability and affordability

The ability to design platforms that remain operationally and financially sustainable at scale is critical.

Migration and Consolidation

• Migrating enterprises from SAP, Oracle, Teradata, SQL Server, appliance platforms, and increasingly other cloud data warehouses
• Assessments and migration planning
• Wave planning and execution
• Schema and workload conversion
• Reconciliation and parity validation
• Cutover planning and execution

Experience extracting data from tightly licensed ERP environments is highly valuable, including understanding:

• Inherited semantic layers
• Data extraction challenges
• Commercial licensing…