Databricks Solution Architect, Utilities

Guidehouse; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 162,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Paid Holidays

Discretionary Incentive Bonus

Tuition Reimbursement

Mobility Stipend

Parental Leave

Job summary

Guidehouse is seeking a Databricks Solution Architect to join our AI and Data team to support client projects in the utility industry involving Databricks solution design, platform administration, data governance, and secure Databricks solution implementation.

This role focuses on architecting and administering enterprise Databricks environments across workspaces, Unity Catalog, compute, security, automation, and operational standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university.
• 7+ years of relevant experience in data architecture, cloud data platforms, data engineering, platform engineering, or technical solution delivery.
• 3+ years Databricks hands-on experience designing, implementing, or administering Databricks environments (architecting), including workspaces, jobs, clusters, SQL warehouses, notebooks, repos, and platform configurations.
• Ability to quickly develop fluency in utility business processes, data models, source systems, regulatory requirements, and operational terminology, and translate that context into practical platform and solution architecture.
• Strong experience with SQL, Python, and Spark-based development for data engineering, automation, and platform operations.
• Strong experience with Unity Catalog, including access controls, catalogs, schemas, external locations, storage credentials, lineage, and governed data organization.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP, including identity, networking, storage, security, and deployment considerations for cloud-native data platforms.
• Experience developing architecture artifacts, technical designs, platform standards, implementation roadmaps, and operational documentation for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to lead technical discussions with clients, evaluate tradeoffs, communicate architecture decisions, and work effectively in consulting or project-based delivery environments.
• Familiarity with data governance, DevOps, CI/CD, infrastructure automation, monitoring, cost management, and secure software delivery practices.
• Travel: onsite in NY at least one day every other week.

Responsibilities

• Partner with utility business, IT, data, and regulatory stakeholders to design governed data architectures that integrate customer, account, premise, service-address, meter, property, and energy-usage data across systems.
• Lead the design and implementation of Databricks solution architectures that support data engineering, analytics, AI/ML, and governed data product delivery.
• Administer Databricks workspaces, account-level settings, workspace configurations, users, groups, service principals, permissions, secrets, jobs, and platform objects.
• Design and manage Unity Catalog structures, including metastores, catalogs, schemas, external locations, storage credentials, access controls, lineage, and metadata standards.
• Define compute, cluster policy, SQL warehouse, job orchestration, runtime, and workload management patterns balancing performance, cost, security, and delivery needs.
• Translate business, technical, security, and governance requirements into Databricks-native architecture patterns, implementation plans, technical architecture and design documentation, and platform standards.
• Partner with cloud, cybersecurity, identity management, networking, and DevOps teams to support secure platform integration across Azure, AWS, or GCP environments.
• Develop reusable architecture guidance, reference implementations, deployment patterns, and operational playbooks for Databricks platform teams and delivery teams.
• Troubleshoot platform issues related to permissions, compute-performance, job execution, storage access, networking, workspace configuration, and production operations.
• Advise clients on platform governance, cost management, auditability, release management, environment strategy, separation of duties, regulatory traceability, and data-quality controls.
• Support delivery teams through technical leadership, architecture reviews, code and configuration reviews, documentation, and stakeholder communication.

Skills

SQL

Python

Spark

Databricks

Unity Catalog

Cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP)

Data architecture

Governance

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Job Family

Data Science Consulting

Travel Required

Up to 25%

Clearance Required

None

Guidehouse is seeking a Databricks Solution Architect to join our AI and Data team to support client projects in the utility industry involving Databricks solution design, platform administration, data governance, and secure Databricks solution implementation. This role focuses on architecting and administering enterprise Databricks environments across workspaces, Unity Catalog, compute, security, automation, and operational standards. The architect will support data modernization initiatives for regulated utilities, including solutions that integrate customer, account, premise, property, meter, and energy-use data across utility and enterprise platforms. The role requires hands-on Databricks platform experience, strong cloud and data architecture fundamentals, and the ability to collaborate with client stakeholders, security teams, data engineers, and delivery teams to build scalable, governed, and production-ready solutions.

What You Will Do

• Partner with utility business, IT, data, and regulatory stakeholders to design governed data architectures that integrate customer, account, premise, service-address, meter, property, and energy-usage data across operational systems, enterprise data platforms, APIs, and external reporting platforms.
• Lead the design and implementation of Databricks solution architectures that support data engineering, analytics, AI/ML, and governed data product delivery.
• Administer Databricks workspaces, account-level settings, workspace configurations, users, groups, service principals, permissions, secrets, jobs, and platform objects.
• Design and manage Unity Catalog structures, including metastores, catalogs, schemas, external locations, storage credentials, access controls, lineage, and metadata standards.
• Define compute, cluster policy, SQL warehouse, job orchestration, runtime, and workload management patterns that balance performance, cost, security, and delivery needs.
• Translate business, technical, security, and governance requirements into Databricks-native architecture patterns, implementation plans, technical architecture and design documentation, and platform standards.
• Partner with cloud, cybersecurity, identity management, networking, and DevOps teams to support secure platform integration across Azure, AWS, or GCP environments.
• Develop reusable architecture guidance, reference implementations, deployment patterns, and operational playbooks for Databricks platform teams and delivery teams.
• Troubleshoot platform issues related to permissions, compute-performance, job execution, storage access, networking, workspace configuration, and production operations.
• Advise clients on platform governance, cost management, auditability, release management, environment strategy, separation of duties, regulatory traceability, and data-quality controls for enterprise Databricks adoption.
• Support delivery teams through technical leadership, architecture reviews, code and configuration reviews, documentation, and stakeholder communication.

What You Will Need

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university.
• 7+ years of relevant experience in data architecture, cloud data platforms, data engineering, platform engineering, or technical solution delivery.
• 3+ years Databricks hands-on experience designing, implementing, or administering Databricks environments (architecting), including workspaces, jobs, clusters, SQL warehouses, notebooks, repos, and platform configurations.
• Ability to quickly develop fluency in utility business processes, data models, source systems, regulatory requirements, and operational terminology, and translate that context into practical platform and solution architecture.
• Strong experience with SQL, Python, and Spark-based development for data engineering, automation, and platform operations.
• Strong experience with Unity Catalog, including access controls, catalogs, schemas, external locations, storage credentials, lineage, and governed data organization.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP, including identity, networking, storage, security, and deployment considerations for cloud-native data platforms.
• Experience developing architecture artifacts, technical designs, platform standards, implementation roadmaps, and operational documentation for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to lead technical discussions with clients, evaluate tradeoffs, communicate architecture decisions, and work effectively in consulting or project-based delivery environments.
• Familiarity with data governance, DevOps, CI/CD, infrastructure automation, monitoring, cost management, and secure software delivery practices.
• Travel: will need to be onsite in NY at least one day every other week.

What Would Be Nice To Have

• Active Databricks certification, such as Databricks Certified Data Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, GenAI Engineer, or related professional certification.
• Experience architecting and administering advanced AI/ML and application capabilities within Databricks (MLflow, AI Gateway, Genie One, Databricks Apps).
• Experience developing Databricks Apps or similar data-driven applications, including React-based front ends, API architecture, secure integration patterns with Delta Tables and Unity Catalog, and agentic workflow patterns that incorporate Databricks Agents or other AI-enabled services.
• Experience supporting electric or gas utilities, including working with customer information, account and premise, AMI, meter data management, billing, energy usage, building or property, or regulatory reporting data.
• Experience with Terraform, Databricks Asset Bundles, Git-based deployment patterns, automated testing, release management, or CI/CD pipelines for Databricks workloads.
• Experience integrating Databricks with enterprise identity providers, data catalogs, orchestration tools, observability platforms, BI tools, and cloud-native security services.
• Experience advising stakeholders on enterprise platform operating models, governance processes, cost controls, and production support practices.

The annual salary range for this position is $162,000.00-$270,000.00. Compensation decisions depend on a wide range of factors, including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, security clearances, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs.

What We Offer

Guidehouse offers a comprehensive, total rewards package that includes competitive compensation and a flexible benefits package that reflects our commitment to creating a diverse and supportive workplace.

Benefits Include

• Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
• Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays
• Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus
• Parental Leave and Adoption Assistance
• 401(k) Retirement Plan
• Basic Life & Supplemental Life
• Health Savings Account, Dental/Vision & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
• Student Loan PayDown
• Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development & Learning Opportunities
• Skills Development & Certifications
• Employee Referral Program
• Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
• Emergency Back-Up Childcare Program
• Mobility Stipend

About Guidehouse

Guidehouse is an Equal Opportunity Employer-Protected Veterans, Individuals with Disabilities or any other basis protected by law, ordinance, or regulation.

Guidehouse will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law or ordinance including the Fair Chance Ordinance of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

If you have visited our website for information about employment opportunities, or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Guidehouse Recruiting at 1-571-633-1711 or via email at [e-mail]. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodation.

All communication regarding recruitment for a Guidehouse position will be sent from Guidehouse email domains including @guidehouse.com or [e-mail]. Correspondence received by an applicant from any other domain should be considered unauthorized and will not be honored by Guidehouse.