Principal Consultant - Data Architecture & Strategy

Fusion5; Auckland; On-site; NZD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Collaborative culture

Birthday leave

Volunteer days

Regular social events

Clear development pathways

Job summary

Fusion5 in New Zealand is seeking a Principal Consultant to lead data engagements across major organisations, shaping AI-ready data foundations and strategic roadmaps.

You'll guide discovery, design, and platform delivery using Azure, Databricks, Snowflake and Microsoft Fabric, mentoring teams and influencing client outcomes across the NZ market.

This senior role requires deep data architecture expertise, strong advisory instincts, and the ability to drive value from data investments at scale.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in data architecture or data consulting leading high-value engagements.
• Strong hands-on data modelling (logical/physical) and lakehouse/medallion architecture.
• Delivery experience on Azure and Fabric with SQL, Python and ETL/ELT skills.
• Experience running discovery and data strategy with senior stakeholders.
• Knowledge of data governance, MDM, metadata management and data quality.
• Practical AI usage in delivery and client solutions, with presales experience.
• Strong consulting skills: stakeholder engagement, facilitation and clear communication.
• Legal right to work in New Zealand; ability to engage clients nationwide.

Responsibilities

• Lead client engagements shaping target-state data platforms and roadmaps.
• Facilitate workshops and translate business goals into deliverable solutions.
• Design modern data architectures across operational and analytical use cases.
• Run discovery and data maturity assessments with actionable roadmaps.
• Contribute hands-on to platform build on Azure, Fabric, Databricks and Snowflake.
• Incorporate data governance, MDM, metadata management and data quality into designs.
• Champion AI adoption and practical AI on solid data foundations.
• Scope data migration streams and support presales, proposals and RFPs.
• Mentor consultants, raise team standards, and share reusable assets.

Skills

Data architecture

Data modelling

Azure

Databricks

Snowflake

Power BI

AI solutioning

Presales experience

Stakeholder engagement

Tools

Databricks

Snowflake

Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Purview

dbt

Power BI

Copilot

Job description

• Lead data engagements, providing architecture and strategy expertise across New Zealand's most ambitious organisations
• Shape AI-ready data foundations with real depth
• Bring your senior expertise to a practice that's growing fast & investing in the right people

At Fusion5, we're more than a solutions provider — we're a Transformation Partner. Across Australia and New Zealand, we help ambitious organisations go beyond by unlocking greater value, innovation and impact from their technology investments. Across business applications, AI, cloud, data, integration and managed services, we bring together connected solutions that solve real business problems and deliver lasting value. We're deeply committed to our customers' success, and we bring that same energy and care to supporting our people.

We're looking for a Principal Consultant to join our New Zealand Data & Analytics team in either Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. This is a senior role for someone who brings data architecture expertise, thrives in a consulting environment, and enjoys helping clients think strategically about their data — while staying close enough to the work to set the technical bar.

You'll lead discovery and design across complex, multi-stream engagements, run data strategy work with senior stakeholders, and contribute hands‑on to platform delivery. It's a role with real influence — on clients, on the team, and on the way we build and deliver as a practice.

What You'll Do

You'll be a senior architecture and data strategy lead on client engagements — shaping target‑state platforms and roadmaps, facilitating workshops, and translating business goals into solutions that are practical to deliver. You will:

• Lead the design of modern data architectures across operational and analytical use cases — including lakehouse/medallion, dimensional modelling, and integration design
• Run discovery and data maturity assessments, producing data strategies and roadmaps that clients can actually act on
• Stay hands‑on and contribute directly to platform build on Microsoft Fabric, Azure, Databricks and Snowflake alongside the delivery team
• Build data governance, master data management, metadata management, and data quality into every solution design
• Champion AI with clients and within the team — helping clients adopt practical AI on solid data foundations, and using AI to sharpen how we deliver
• Scope and lead data migration streams, including CRM and ERP migrations on wider transformation projects with our Business Applications teams
• Support presales and solution shaping — estimating, contributing to proposals and RFPs, and presenting trade‑offs to clients
• Mentor consultants and seniors, and contribute to the team's standards, knowledge base, and reusable assets

What You'll Bring

This role suits someone who combines deep technical expertise with strong advisory instincts — someone clients trust, and who raises the bar for the team around them. You're likely to bring:

• 8+ years in data architecture, senior data engineering or data consulting, including leading complex or high‑value engagements
• Strong hands‑on experience in logical and physical data modelling, dimensional modelling (Kimball), and lakehouse/medallion architecture
• Solid delivery experience on Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Fabric — ingestion, transformation, warehousing — with strong SQL, Python and ETL/ELT skills
• Experience running discovery and data strategy work with senior business and technical stakeholders
• Practical knowledge of data governance, master data management, metadata management and data quality — enough to design for them and advise clients confidently
• Confident, practical use of AI in day‑to‑day work, and a genuine interest in driving AI adoption in both delivery and client solutions
• Presales and solution‑shaping experience — scoping, estimating, and presenting to clients
• Strong consulting skills: senior stakeholder engagement, workshop facilitation, and clear written and verbal communication
• Experience mentoring others and helping teams build stronger standards and practices
• The legal right to work in New Zealand with the ability to engage with clients across the country

Hands‑on Databricks and/or Snowflake experience, Power BI and semantic modelling, Microsoft Purview, dbt, and AI solutioning on the Microsoft stack (Copilot, Azure OpenAI, Fabric Data Agents) are all strong advantages.

What's in it for you?

At Fusion5, you'll have real influence on how we build and deliver, the backing of an established trans‑Tasman organisation, and the opportunity to work alongside people who genuinely care about outcomes - not just output. We're proud to be a diverse, inclusive and forward‑thinking employer, and we're committed to creating a workplace where our people feel engaged, challenged, supported and successful. Alongside this, we offer a strong set of values and benefits that reflect how we work and what we stand for.

• Collaborative, supportive culture where people enjoy working together
• Competitive salary, flexible work arrangements and a genuine focus on work‑life balance
• Birthday leave, volunteer days, and regular social events
• Clear development pathways and opportunities to grow with the practice

If you're an experienced data professional who brings both strategic depth and hands‑on capability — and you want to do meaningful work with clients who are serious about their data — we'd love to hear from you.

Bring your personality to your application. We value the human connection and take the time to read all our CVs - despite how helpful AI can be.