Senior Data & AI Solutions Architect (Forward Deployed)

Fdetimes; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 182,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Databricks is seeking a Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer to work with customers, architecting and productionizing data and AI solutions on the Databricks platform. You will own the architecture, lead design decisions, and implement end-to-end systems spanning data engineering, AI, and application development.

This hands-on, customer-facing role requires engineering excellence, adaptability, and strong customer empathy as you deliver with cross-functional teams and travel up to 20% to customer sites.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in data engineering, data platforms, analytics, or software engineering.
• Comfortable coding in Python, Scala, or JS/TS and modern frameworks.
• Deep experience with distributed computing and Spark runtime internals.
• Working knowledge of two or more Cloud ecosystems with expertise in at least one.
• Familiarity with MLOps, ML/AI models, and AI APIs.
• Experience delivering technical projects with measurable outcomes.
• Excellent documentation and white-boarding skills.
• Experience with enterprise clients and stakeholder management.
• Databricks Certification is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead production-delivery of customer projects by designing reference architectures and end-to-end data/AI solutions.
• Guide transformational big data initiatives, from end-to-end design to deployment, with input from customers and engagement managers.
• Bootstrap or implement customer projects to ensure understanding, evaluation, and adoption of Databricks technologies.
• Own architecture decisions to ensure security, scalability, and alignment with best practices.
• Collaborate with Databricks teams to deliver engagement components and provide feedback for product improvements.
• Embed with customer teams to understand challenges and deliver measurable impact.

Skills

6+ years data engineering

Python/Scala/JS-TS

Cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Apache Spark

CI/CD for production

MLOps/ML/AI models

Architecting scalable data solutions

Stakeholder communication

Travel 20%

Databricks Certification

Tools

Databricks Platform

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Databricks is seeking a Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer to work with customers, architecting and productionizing data and AI solutions on the Databricks platform. You will own the architecture, lead design decisions, and implement end-to-end systems spanning data engineering, AI, and application development.

This hands-on, customer-facing role requires engineering excellence, adaptability, and strong customer empathy as you deliver with cross-functional teams and travel up to 20% to customer sites.