Senior Data Platform Architect - Databricks & Governance

SMX; Hanover (MD); On-site; USD 142,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Paid leave

Retirement plan

Job summary

SMX is seeking a Senior Data Architect to design and stand up a modern, governed enterprise data platform from the ground up. You will own the architecture turning fragmented source data into standardized data products, defining platform patterns, governance, and integration approaches for downstream consumers.

You will lead cross-functional teams across engineering and governance, shaping technical direction for data ingestion, mastering, security, and enterprise-scale exposure.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or related field; equivalent experience considered.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in data architecture, data engineering, or platform engineering.
• Security clearance required (Secret or higher).
• Deep, hands-on Databricks experience — platform architecture, Unity Catalog, medallion pipelines, and workspace/access design.
• Proven experience architecting and delivering a data platform from the ground up (zero-to-one).
• Strong expertise in data modeling, canonical/domain models, MDM, and golden-record design.
• Experience implementing data governance — access control, lineage, metadata management, classification, and data quality — governance-as-code is a plus.
• Strong proficiency in SQL and Python; cloud data architecture (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Experience designing APIs, data-product delivery patterns, and integrations across systems.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to align engineering teams and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end architecture of a Databricks-based enterprise data platform, including environment design and data flow across cloud systems.
• Lead zero-to-one platform builds and translate target state into phased architecture and delivery plans.
• Design data-product and domain-driven architecture with canonical models and MDM patterns.
• Establish governance-as-code practices for access controls, lineage, metadata, and data quality rules.
• Architect platform integrations and data exchange via APIs, storage delivery, and secure connectivity.
• Define data standardization and quality frameworks to bring raw data to trusted tiers.
• Partner with engineers, analysts, product managers, and stakeholders to translate requirements and communicate trade-offs.
• Guide implementation teams, review designs, and ensure alignment with target architecture and security/compliance.

Skills

Databricks

SQL

Python

Data architecture

MDM

Governance

Cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP)

APIs

Data modeling

Communication

Security clearance

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Equivalent experience

Tools

Unity Catalog

Spark

MuleSoft

Job description

SMX is seeking a Senior Data Architect to design and stand up a modern, governed enterprise data platform from the ground up. You will own the architecture turning fragmented source data into standardized data products, defining platform patterns, governance, and integration approaches for downstream consumers.

You will lead cross-functional teams across engineering and governance, shaping technical direction for data ingestion, mastering, security, and enterprise-scale exposure.