Principal Consultant - Data Architecture & Strategy

Fusion5; Wellington; On-site; NZD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Work-life balance

Birthday leave

Volunteer days

Career development

Job summary

Fusion5 in New Zealand seeks a Principal Consultant to join the Data & Analytics team. You will lead data architecture engagements, shape AI-ready foundations, and mentor the growing practice across NZ. Based in Auckland, Wellington, or Christchurch, you’ll set technical bar and guide clients strategically.

Expect hands-on delivery with platforms like Databricks, Snowflake, and Azure Fabric, while driving data governance and governance frameworks. A senior advisory mindset is essential.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in data architecture or related senior data roles.
• Experience leading complex engagements with senior stakeholders.
• Strong SQL, Python and ETL/ELT skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead discovery and design across complex, multi-stream engagements.
• Run data strategy work with senior stakeholders and contribute hands-on.
• Shape target-state platforms and roadmaps for clients.
• Mentor consultants and contribute to practice standards.
• Support presales, estimates and RFPs with trade-offs to clients.
• Drive AI adoption on solid data foundations.

Skills

years in data architecture

senior stakeholder engagement

SQL and Python

mentoring others

data strategy

AI adoption

Tools

Databricks

Snowflake

Microsoft Fabric

Power BI

dbt

Azure

Purview

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.