Senior Architect, Databricks

westmonroe4; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 184,000 - 213,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited flexible time off

Ten paid holidays

Annual bonus

401k with company match

Employee stock ownership plan

Parental leave

Job summary

West Monroe is seeking a Senior Architect in Chicago to lead data engineering and AI-enabled modernization across Healthcare, Financial Services, Insurance, and Utilities.

You will design data flows and pipelines, shape data structures, and guide governance and security for analytics platforms in modern cloud environments.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional experience and 3+ years of experience with Databricks.
• 8+ years of prior consulting experience.
• Strong Databricks architecture, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, workflow orchestration, security, governance, and cloud-native data engineering best practices.
• Experience architecting and deploying AI/ML or Generative AI solutions within enterprise environments.
• Hands-on experience with LLM ecosystems and frameworks such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, LangChain, Semantic Kernel, MLflow, or Databricks Mosaic AI.
• Knowledge of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases, embeddings, prompt engineering, and AI orchestration patterns.
• Familiarity with AI governance, model lifecycle management, responsible AI principles, and enterprise security considerations.
• Experience integrating AI capabilities into data platforms, analytics solutions, or customer-facing applications.
• Knowledge of standard methodologies, concepts, best practices, and procedures within a Big Data environment.
• A commitment to inclusion and diversity, and openness to new ideas and perspectives.

Responsibilities

• Design data flows and pipelines for analytics using Spark/Scala, Storm, Flume, Sqoop.
• Design data structures for ingestion and reporting tailored to each use case.
• Provide data management guidance: structuring, stewardship, semantics, data attributes, mapping schemes.
• Collaborate with data science and engineering to productionize AI workloads in cloud ecosystems.
• Establish best practices for AI data readiness, feature engineering, model monitoring and governance.
• Lead discussions on AI modernization including semantic layers, vector databases, AI agents, and retrieval systems.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies for fit with client objectives, security, and compliance.
• Guide consultants, share best practices, and perform code reviews.
• Coordinate with data source owners to ensure analytics platform integration.
• Address data integrity issues and ensure governance.
• Attend meetings with business and technical stakeholders; support travel as needed.
• Travel up to 30 to 50%; Hybrid role: 1 to 2 days a week in office.

Skills

Databricks architecture

LLM ecosystems

AI/ML deployment

Cloud data engineering

Governance & security

Data platform integration

Big Data concepts

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Delta Lake

Unity Catalog

Databricks Jobs

LangChain

Semantic Kernel

MLflow

OpenAI

Azure OpenAI

Job description

Are you ready to make an impact?

West Monroe is seeking a Senior Architect to join our thriving Technology and Experience Practice. This is an excellent opportunity to work with clients developing Big Data strategy and roadmaps with emphasis on Databricks, while gaining exposure to a variety of industries including Healthcare, Financial Services, Insurance, and Utilities.

Responsibilities:

• Design data flow and processing pipelines for analysis using modern toolsets such as Spark on Scala, Storm, Flume, Sqoop
• Design data structures for ingestion and reporting, specific to use case and technology
• Provide data management expertise to our clients in evaluating requirements and developing data architecture and performing platform selection and design. Data management includes appropriate structuring, stewardship of data, semantics/syntax of data attributes, coding structures, and mapping schemes
• Collaborate with data science and engineering teams to productionize machine learning and Generative AI workloads within modern cloud ecosystems
• Establish best practices for AI data readiness, feature engineering, model monitoring, observability, and governance
• Lead technical discussions around AI-enabled modernization strategies including semantic layers, vector databases, AI agents, and knowledge retrieval systems
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and recommend fit-for-purpose tooling aligned to client objectives, scalability, security, and compliance requirements
• Guide and coach consultants, share best practices, perform code reviews
• Coordinate activities with data source application owners to ensure integration with analytics platform and source systems
• Ensure that data integrity issues are addressed
• Liaise and attend meetings necessary to perform duties and aid business and technical development
• Travel requirements up to 30 to 50%
• Hybrid role: 1 to 2 days a week in office

Qualifications :

• 10+ years of professional experience and 3+ years of expeirence with Databricks
• 8+ years of prior consulting experience
• Very strong technical expertise in Databricks, including architecture, performance optimization, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, workflow orchestration, security, governance, and cloud-native data engineering best practices
• Experience architecting and deploying AI/ML or Generative AI solutions within enterprise environments
• Hands-on experience with LLM ecosystems and frameworks such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, LangChain, Semantic Kernel, MLflow, or Databricks Mosaic AI
• Knowledge of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases, embeddings, prompt engineering, and AI orchestration patterns
• Familiarity with AI governance, model lifecycle management, responsible AI principles, and enterprise security considerations
• Experience integrating AI capabilities into data platforms, analytics solutions, or customer-facing applications
• Knowledge of standard methodologies, concepts, best practices, and procedures within a Big Data environment
• A commitment to inclusion and diversity, and openness to new ideas and perspectives

Based on pay transparency guidelines, the salary range for this role can vary based on your proximity to one of our West Monroe offices (see table below). Information on our competitive total rewards package, including our bonus structure and benefits is here . Individual salaries are determined by evaluating a variety of factors including geography, experience, skills, education, and internal equity.

Employees (and their families) are covered by medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance. Employees are able to enroll in our company's 401k plan, purchase shares from our employee stock ownership program and be eligible to receive annual bonuses. Employees will also receive unlimited flexible time off and ten paid holidays throughout the calendar year. Eligibility for ten weeks of paid parental leave will also be available upon hire date.

• Seattle or Washington, D.C.: $199,100 - $223,400 USD
• Los Angeles: $205,400 - $234,100 USD
• New York City or San Francisco: $215,200 - $244,700 USD
• A location not listed above: $183,800 - $212,800 USD

Other consultancies talk at you.

At West Monroe, we work with you.

We're a global business and technology consulting firm passionate about creating measurable value for our clients, delivering real-world solutions.

The combination of business and technology is not new, but how we bring them together is unique. We're fluent in both. We know that technology alone is not the answer, but how we apply it is. We rely on data to constantly adapt and solve new challenges. Actions that work today with outcomes that generate value for years to come.

At West Monroe, we zero in on the heart of the opportunity, getting to results faster and preparing people for what's next.

You'll feel the difference in how we work. We show up personally. We're right there in the room with you, co-creating through the challenges. With West Monroe, collaboration isn't a