Solutions Architect

appnovation; Toronto; On-site; CAD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Appnovation is seeking a Principal Solutions Architect to define architecture for a governed, zero-copy data platform across Databricks, Snowflake, and cloud sources. The role demands senior hands-on leadership, setting design standards, and guiding data product consumption while aligning with enterprise engineering practices.

The ideal candidate has 10+ years in technology architecture, strong governance experience, and expertise in cross-cloud data platforms.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of technology experience in solution/enterprise/data architecture.
• Experience designing cross-cloud and multi-cloud data architectures.
• Expertise in data governance, including access control, data sensitivity, policy classification, and geolocation requirements.
• Experience defining data-contract standards and embedding governance metadata into workflows.
• Strong IAM knowledge (OAuth/OIDC, service accounts).
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and documentation skills.
• Experience in consulting or client-facing delivery across multiple initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end solution architecture for a governed, zero-copy data platform.
• Produce architecture artifacts, reference architectures, and diagrams.
• Define catalog and metadata integration patterns across cloud environments.
• Design agent- and MCP-based access patterns for data products.
• Establish future-state direction for data products and cross-source consumption.
• Ensure alignment with enterprise engineering practices while guiding agent-based data consumption.

Skills

Cross-cloud arch

Data governance

IAM/OAuth

Data mesh

Zero-copy data

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field

Tools

Databricks

Snowflake

AWS

Job description

About us

Appnovation is a global, full-service digital partner that combines Strategy, Experience & Design, Engineering and Managed Services. We build digital solutions that deliver real impact today and serve as foundations for future growth. Bold ambition. Practical action. Endless possibilities.

Technology is foundational to all of Appnovation's offerings, from consulting to digital innovation to digital product and service creation. The technology department is focused on delivering software solutions that enable rich consumer experiences, from mobile and web applications to advanced analytics and machine learning, to content and engagement management service enablement platforms.

Inherent throughout our tech capabilities is deep expertise in the Software Development Life Cycle, a drive for creativity, a passion for the craft, and collaboration with other disciplines - all foundational ingredients in successful digital experiences and client partnerships.

We are seeking a Principal Solutions Architect to define the architecture for a governed, zero-copy, cross-cloud data platform, establishing the design standards and integration priorities that guide the engineering team. Working across Databricks, Snowflake, and adjacent cloud data sources, this leader will translate an evolving product vision into concrete design specifications and a clear path toward agent-based data consumption, while ensuring alignment with the organization's existing enterprise engineering practices. The role is accountable for owning the end-to-end solution architecture of a governed, zero-copy data platform in which data remains in place within its source systems. This position requires a senior, hands-on technical leader who can operate at the intersection of platform strategy, modern data engineering, and architectural governance - creating clarity from complexity, making sound build-versus-integrate trade-offs, and setting the technical standards that help Appnovation's clients deliver faster, safer, and more reusable data capabilities.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Solution Architecture Ownership: Own the end-to-end solution architecture for a governed, zero-copy data platform in which data remains in place within its source systems, working across Databricks, Snowflake, and adjacent cloud data sources.
• Architecture Artifacts and Standards: Produce architecture artifacts - decision records, reference architectures, and solution diagrams - establish the design standards that guide the engineering team, and provide clear build-versus-integrate recommendations.
• Catalog and Metadata Integration: Define and prioritize catalog and metadata integration patterns across cloud and lakehouse environments.
• Agent-Based Access Design: Design agent- and MCP-based access patterns that expose governed data products to enterprise AI tools and agent platforms.
• Future-State Direction: Establish future-state direction for data products, cross-source data composition, and agentic consumption, translating an evolving product vision into concrete design specifications.
• Enterprise Alignment: Ensure alignment with the organization's existing enterprise engineering practices while guiding the engineering team toward a clear path for agent-based data consumption.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, with 10+ years of technology experience, including significant experience in solution, enterprise, or data architecture.
• Senior solutions or enterprise architect with demonstrated experience designing cross-cloud and multi-cloud data architectures.
• Proven application of zero-copy, data-mesh, and data-product principles, including domain-driven design.
• Deep expertise in data governance, including attribute- and role-based access control, data sensitivity and policy classification, and geolocation-based access requirements.
• Experience defining data-contract standards (e.g., the Linux Foundation / Open Data Contract Standard) and embedding governance metadata into platform workflows.
• Strong background in identity and access management for both users and machine/agent identities (OAuth/OIDC, service accounts).
• Excellent communication, stakeholder-management, and documentation skills, with the ability to explain complex technical trade-offs to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Prior experience in a consulting or client-facing delivery environment, working across multiple concurrent initiatives and priorities.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Familiarity with semantic layers, ontologies, knowledge graphs, and retrieval-augmented generation or vector search for data discovery.
• Awareness of cross-cloud cost management and FinOps practices.
• Experience operating in a regulated life-sciences or comparable compliance-driven environment (GxP, GDPR/HIPAA, PII/PHI handling).

TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE

• Data platforms: Databricks, Snowflake; AWS-native data a plus.
• Governance and catalog: