Principal Databricks Architect - Lakehouse & AI Strategy

Nimble Gravity, LLC; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Nimble Gravity, LLC seeks a Principal Databricks Architect to lead lakehouse and platform modernization engagements, serving as the technical voice in our Databricks partnership. This role blends deep architectural design with executive-facing strategy, from Unity Catalog governance to shaping a scope of work and client workshops.

You will translate years of production Databricks experience into business outcomes, mentor engineers, and own engagement frameworks.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in data engineering or data architecture.
• 4+ years of deep, hands on Databricks experience.
• Proven delivery of production lakehouse implementations, including Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Workflows or Lakeflow, and Databricks SQL.
• Strong command of Spark (PySpark and SQL), data modeling (dimensional, data vault, or lakehouse patterns), and performance tuning.
• Experience designing for security and governance: access controls, lineage, PII handling, and compliance needs in regulated industries.
• Cloud platform depth, ideally Azure (ADLS, Entra ID, networking, DevOps), with working knowledge of AWS or GCP.
• Comfort in front of clients, from technical teams to C suite.
• Clear written and verbal communication. You can explain a tradeoff to an executive and then go deep with an engineer.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture for lakehouse implementations, platform migrations, and modernization programs on Databricks (Azure preferred).
• Design Delta Lake, medallion, and Unity Catalog patterns that balance performance, cost, governance, and speed to value.
• Own technical direction for migrations from legacy platforms into Databricks and Fabric/Power BI ecosystems.
• Define standards for ingestion, orchestration, CI/CD, testing, observability, and FinOps.
• Architect for AI readiness, including feature pipelines, Mosaic AI, model serving, and GenAI use cases built on governed data.
• Join discovery calls, run architecture workshops, and shape technical solutions for Databricks opportunities.
• Scope engagements and review SOWs for technical accuracy, risk, and commercial clarity.
• Build reusable accelerators, reference architectures, and playbooks so every pursuit and engagement starts ahead.
• Serve as Nimble Gravity's primary technical liaison to Databricks, including partner program activities, co-sell motions, and field engagement.
• Maintain certification currency and help the wider team grow their Databricks credentials.
• Represent Nimble Gravity through client briefings, webinars, and Databricks events where it makes sense.
• Maintain awareness of Databricks features and technical roadmap.
• Mentor engineers and run internal enablement sessions.
• Partner with engagement leads and project managers to keep delivery on scope, on time, and on budget.

Skills

Databricks

Architectural leadership

Spark PySpark/SQL

Unity Catalog governance

Cloud platforms (Azure/AWS/GCP)

Client-facing/communication

Mentoring engineers

SOWs/engagement scoping

Tools

Power BI

Microsoft Fabric

Terraform

Job description

Nimble Gravity, LLC seeks a Principal Databricks Architect to lead lakehouse and platform modernization engagements, serving as the technical voice in our Databricks partnership. This role blends deep architectural design with executive-facing strategy, from Unity Catalog governance to shaping a scope of work and client workshops.

You will translate years of production Databricks experience into business outcomes, mentor engineers, and own engagement frameworks.