Part Time - Data Architect

Data Architect (Microsoft Azure / Microsoft Fabric / AWS/ Databricks)

The Data Architect (Azure Data Architect or Data Platform Architect) designs and leads the build‑out of scalable, AI‑ready data solutions using Microsoft Fabric, Azure, or AWS with the Databricks data ecosystem. This role connects business goals to data architecture, ensuring platforms are secure, performant, and optimized for analytics and AI use cases. You will define how data flows from raw ingestion (bronze) through transformation (silver) to curated, analytics‑ready models (gold) and collaborate with engineering and business peers to design data environments that enable analytics, automation, and AI‑driven insight.

• Architect Microsoft Fabric environments: design end‑to‑end data architectures, defining ingestion, transformation, and curation patterns that support analytics and AI workloads.
• Lead design and implement scalable data architectures on Databricks, including lakehouse solutions leveraging Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, and medallion architecture to support enterprise analytics and ML workloads.
• Lead design and manage data lake architectures – ensure efficient replication, synchronization, and data flow across Fabric work spaces and multi‑zone environments.
• Define business‑aligned data models – partner with stakeholders to understand reporting, analytics, and AI needs and design scalable, flexible data models.
• Define data governance, security, and access control strategies – use Unity Catalog and Microsoft Purview for centralized metadata management, fine‑grained permissions, RBAC, encryption (at rest/in transit), data masking, and lineage tracking across work spaces.
• AI readiness – define structures, metadata, and access patterns that make data discoverable and usable for AI workloads such as retrieval‑augmented generation, intelligent search, and summarization.
• Familiarity in implementing and managing Databricks Genie to enable self‑service, natural language querying of enterprise data.
• Framework alignment – ensure all data architectures align with Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and the Azure/AWS Well‑Architected Framework.
• Performance and cost optimization – guide architecture decisions related to Fabric SKUs, One Lake storage, and data refresh strategies for efficient scale and cost.
• Collaboration and mentorship – work closely with Data Engineers to translate architecture into delivery, promote data quality, and ensure design consistency.
• Documentation and enablement – produce reference architectures, blueprints, and reusable standards that accelerate future projects and maintain governance consistency.

• 7+ years of experience in data architecture, data engineering, or data platform design.
• At least 2 years working within the Microsoft Azure data ecosystem (Fabric, Synapse, ADF, Power BI).
• At least 2 years of hands‑on experience with Databricks (Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, lakehouse architecture).
• Strong grasp of data lakehouse design principles, including ELT/ETL patterns, medallion architecture (bronze/silver/gold), and schema evolution.
• Proficiency in SQL, with working knowledge of Python for automation, validation, and pipeline scripting.
• Hands‑on experience with data governance and metadata management tools, such as Microsoft Purview and/or Databricks Unity Catalog.
• Practical understanding of data security fundamentals – RBAC, encryption (at rest/in transit), data masking, and privacy best practices.
• Strong communication and cross‑functional collaboration skills, with the ability to translate business needs into technical architecture and work across engineering, analytics, and business teams.
• Strategic, iterative mindset – comfortable operating in AI‑ready, fast‑evolving, client‑facing environments.

• Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory, Synapse, Power BI, Azure SQL, Databricks, Data Lake Storage, Vector DB, Microsoft Purview, Python, SQL, Git, Terraform or Bicep, Azure Monitor.

• Experience applying architecture frameworks—Microsoft's Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and/or the Azure/AWS Well‑Architected Framework.
• Exposure to AI/semantic…