Databricks Architect — Cloud Data & AI Leader (Client‑Facing)

Frame Data & AI; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Frame Data & AI seeks a hands-on Databricks Architect to translate business and technical requirements into secure, scalable platform designs while staying close to implementation. This role blends architecture, data engineering, technical leadership, and client-facing consulting.

3–5 years in data engineering or solution architecture with substantial Databricks hands-on experience is required. The ideal candidate will lead architecture decisions, guide delivery teams, and shape Frame’s

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of progressive experience in data engineering, cloud data platforms, or solution architecture, including at least 2 years of hands-on Databricks experience.
• Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate or Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional certification required at the time of hire.
• At least 1 year of hands-on experience with Databricks’ newer platform capabilities, including Lakeflow Declarative Pipelines, Lakeflow Connect, Unity Catalog, serverless compute and SQL warehouses, Mosaic AI (Model Serving, Vector Search, and Agent Framework), AI/BI Genie, Databricks Apps, and/or Lakebase.
• Strong hands-on proficiency with Python, SQL, Apache Spark, Delta Lake, and production data pipeline development.
• Demonstrated experience designing secure cloud architectures, including identity, networking, access controls, secrets, data governance, and environment strategy.
• Experience with CI/CD, infrastructure as code, automated testing, monitoring, and production support for Databricks solutions.
• Ability to create clear architecture diagrams and communicate technical decisions to both engineering teams and business stakeholders.
• Prior consulting or client-facing delivery experience, with the judgment to balance speed, quality, cost, and maintainability.

Responsibilities

• Design Databricks lakehouse architectures across Azure, AWS, and/or GCP, with Azure experience strongly preferred.
• Lead solution design for batch, streaming, data integration, analytics, AI, and operational use cases.
• Define platform patterns for workspaces, networking, identity, security, environment separation, deployment, observability, and cost management.
• Design governed data products and Medallion architectures using Delta Lake and Unity Catalog.
• Guide engineering teams through implementation, conduct design and code reviews, and resolve complex technical issues.
• Build or oversee production pipelines using SQL, Python, Spark, Lakeflow, Workflows, and cloud-native services.
• Develop estimates, delivery approaches, architecture diagrams, technical roadmaps, and implementation plans.
• Facilitate client workshops and explain architecture decisions, tradeoffs, risks, and recommendations to technical and executive stakeholders.
• Support pre-sales discovery, solution shaping, demonstrations, and proposal development.
• Contribute reusable patterns, accelerators, and standards to Frame’s Databricks practice.

Skills

Databricks

Python

SQL

Apache Spark

Delta Lake

Unity Catalog

CI/CD

Infrastructure as Code

Cloud Architecture

Client-facing

Tools

Lakeflow Declarative Pipelines

Lakeflow Connect

Unity Catalog

Databricks SQL Warehouses

Mosaic AI

AI/BI Genie

Databricks Apps

Job description

Frame Data & AI seeks a hands-on Databricks Architect to translate business and technical requirements into secure, scalable platform designs while staying close to implementation. This role blends architecture, data engineering, technical leadership, and client-facing consulting.

3–5 years in data engineering or solution architecture with substantial Databricks hands-on experience is required. The ideal candidate will lead architecture decisions, guide delivery teams, and shape Frame’s