Principal Solutions Architect (Financial Services)

SunnyData; Northern (KY); Remote; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote first

Growth opportunities

Mentorship from senior leaders

Competitive compensation

Job summary

SunnyData is seeking a Principal Solutions Architect (Financial Services) to lead data engineering initiatives on Databricks, while actively supporting presales activities with clients across the United States. You will design and deploy end-to-end data platforms, mentor engineers, and drive architectural decisions that balance performance, security, and scale.

The role emphasizes hands-on delivery and collaboration with sales, customers, and internal teams to ensure successful outcomes in

Qualifications

• 10+ years as hands-on Solutions Architect and/or Senior Data Engineer.
• Experience implementing data solutions on Databricks.
• Strong data modeling, ETL, and end-to-end analytics knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Serve as trusted advisor guiding data engineering and architecture strategy around Databricks.
• Design, build, and deploy data solutions for AI/ML and BI.
• Partner with sales to present technical solutions to clients (presales).
• Manage multiple customer accounts with clear progress reporting.
• Architect data solutions with governance, security, and data quality in mind.
• Evaluate data sources and suggest inclusion strategies for analytics.
• Lead and mentor project teams and educate end users on data products.

Skills

Databricks

Data engineering

Java/Python/Scala

Cloud platforms

SQL

Client facing

Leadership

Mentorship

Presentation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Databricks platform

Spark

Hadoop

Kafka

dbt

Job description

We create the foundations for the AI future

Data and AI projects are easy to get excited about. Making them hold up in production is the hard part...

That's what we focus on: solid data engineering underneath, so the pipelines feeding AI actually work.

OUR TOOLS

Databricks and the modern data stack

We build on Databricks because it's the most complete data and AI platform out there, and it's only getting more central as AI moves faster. One platform for data engineering and AI/ML, cloud-native, scalable, and flexible enough to fit how a real business runs.

Our partners in tech

Alongside Databricks, we work with a focused set of partners: Fivetran, Prophecy, Monte Carlo, and Sigma, that plug straight into the Lakehouse and help us move fast without piling on complexity.

THE TEAM

The values driving us

Find a way

We focus on solutions, meeting challenges with grit and creativity.

Move with purpose

We act with urgency, stay focused on impact, and adapt quickly.

Own the outcome

We own both wins and misses, and treat every outcome as ours to shape.

Earn Trust

We show up with sincerity and integrity, communicating with respect and keeping our promises.

Win as One

We achieve success by actively sharing knowledge, collaborating openly, and lifting each other up.

JOIN US

Principal Solutions Architect (Financial Services)

Location

United States

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Remote

Department

Delivery

SunnyData is a leading Databricks technology partner, helping customers build scalable architectures, robust data engineering pipelines, and advanced ML and AI applications. As a Principal Solutions Architect, you'll drive customer success on two fronts: hands on technical execution and presales support, splitting your time evenly between the two.

The Impact You Will Have

• Customer Engagement: Serve as a trusted advisor to customers, guiding their data engineering and architecture strategy with a focus on Databricks solutions.
• Technical Delivery: Design, build, and deploy comprehensive data solutions that capture, transform, and leverage data for AI, ML, and business intelligence initiatives, while driving innovation through thought leadership on data trends.
• Presales Support: Partner with sales teams to present technical solutions to prospective clients, demonstrating the value of SunnyData's offerings.
• Project Oversight: Manage multiple customer accounts, ensuring timely delivery and clear reporting on progress and outcomes.
• Solution Design: Architect data solutions that incorporate best practices in governance, security, and data quality.
• Data Analysis: Evaluate data sources for their value and recommend inclusion strategies that strengthen analytics.
• Cross Functional Collaboration & Mentorship: Guide internal teams, provide direction and mentorship to project teams, and educate end users on data products and analytic environments.
• Problem Resolution: Perform system analysis, diagnose data and system defects, and apply the right fix.
• Quality Assurance: Test data movement, transformation code, and data components for accuracy and reliability.

Required Experience

Experience: 10+ years as a hands on Solutions Architect and/or Senior Data Engineer, with recent experience implementing data solutions on Databricks.

Technical Proficiency: Expertise in data engineering technologies (Spark, Hadoop, Kafka), the Databricks platform, and data science/ML tooling (pandas, scikitlearn).

Architecture & Solution Design: Deep understanding of the end to end data analytics workflow (data modeling, ETL, data integration) using modern engineering techniques. Able to run complex architecture discovery, solution design sessions, and build implementation blueprints that engineering and analytics teams can execute.

Programming Skills: Proficiency in Java, Python, and/or Scala.

Cloud Platforms: AWS, Azure, and/or GCP.

SQL Expertise: Able to write, debug, and optimize SQL queries.

Client Facing Skills: Strong written and verbal communication, with experience in client facing roles.

Presentation Skills: Able to build and deliver detailed presentations to clients and stakeholders.

Documentation: Experience producing detailed solution documentation, including POCs, roadmaps, sequence diagrams, class hierarchies, and logical system views.

End to End Solutions: Able to take technical solutions into production, ensuring performance, security, scalability, and robust data integration.

Team Leadership: Experience managing, mentoring, and growing a team of engineers.

Preferred Experience

Distributed Storage: Familiarity with cloud and distributed data storage systems such as S3, ADLS, HDFS, GCS, Kudu, ElasticSearch/Solr, Cassandra, or other NoSQL storage systems.

Data Integration: Experience with data integration technologies like Spark, Kafka, StreamSets, Matillion, Fivetran, NiFi, AWS Data Migration Services, Azure Data Factory, and Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS).

Software Development Lifecycle: Comprehensive experience with the complete SDLC, including design, documentation, implementation, testing, and deployment.

Automated Pipelines: Expertise in automated data transformation and curation using tools like dbt, Spark, Spark Streaming, and automated pipelines.

Workflow Management: Experience with workflow management and orchestration tools like Airflow, AWS Managed Airflow, Luigi, and NiFi.

Domain Knowledge: Background working in the Financial Services industry, preferably in a banking environment.

Regulatory Compliance: Understanding of industry compliance requirements and standards, specifically in banking IT landscapes.

Certifications (at least 2 of the following): Associate Developer for Apache Spark, Data Engineer Associate, Professional Data Engineer, Machine Learning Associate, Professional ML Engineer.

Location: residing in Pacific Time or on the West Coast are strongly preferred.

Education

Degree: 4-year Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field.

Health Insurance : Employees and their eligible family members including spouses, domestic partners, and children are eligible for coverage from the first day of employment.

Paid Time Off :Start your career at SunnyData with a minimum of 20 days Paid Time Off annually, plus nine paid company Holidays.

An opportunity to grow your technical and people skills, lead teams on complex customer projects that are highly innovative and cutting edge. Great opportunity to grow in your career with the right level of focus, innovation and customer centricity with a high growth consulting company dedicated to Databricks.

Compensation Overview

The annual base salary range provided for this position is a nationwide market range and represents a broad range of salaries for this role across the country. The actual salary for this position will be determined by a number of factors, including the scope, complexity and location of the role; the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; and other conditions of employment. As part of our comprehensive compensation and benefits program, employees are also eligible for performance-based cash incentive awards.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

SunnyData is dedicated to building a workforce that reflects the world around us. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to unbiased hiring practices. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, gender identity, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

Why Join SunnyData

• Innovative Environment: Work with cutting-edge technologies and industry leaders in data engineering and AI.
• Customer Impact: Make a real difference in how businesses leverage data for strategic decision-making.
• Career Growth: Opportunities for professional development and career advancement.
• Collaborative Culture: Join a supportive team that values collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Your safety matters to us

• We want to make sure your job search with SunnyData is a safe one. Here's how to tell it's really us:
• Genuine SunnyData recruiters reach out only from @ sunnydata.ai addresses.
• If we ever loop in an outside recruiting partner, they'll say so upfront and identify SunnyData by name.
• We will never ask you for money, fees, or bank details before your first day.
• Get a message that feels off? Don't click anything on it. Go straight to sunnydata.ai/careers to check our current openings and confirm what's real.

Some of our benefits

Here's what you can count on as part of the team.

• Remote first. We meet our talent where they are. Work from anywhere, no relocation required.
• Room to grow. Mentorship from senior leaders, and real growth opportunities as we keep expanding.
• Real learning. Time and support to go deeper on the tools and problems you actually care about.
• Horizontal by design, so hierarchy doesn't get in the way of being heard.
• Specifics like healthcare, PTO, and other country-level details vary by location. We'll walk you through these additional benefits as you move through the process.