Senior Databricks Architect — Remote Lakehouse Leader

Cognizant; Honolulu (HI); On-site; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking an experienced Databricks Architect to lead enterprise data modernization efforts. You will design and implement a robust Databricks Lakehouse on AWS, building scalable ELT/ETL pipelines, governance, and security practices.

The role emphasizes data modeling, migration from legacy systems, and collaboration with analytics and engineering teams to define data strategies and ensure cost-efficient, high-performance solutions.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of Data Engineering/Data Architecture experience.
• 5+ years of hands-on Databricks Architecture experience.
• Strong expertise in: Databricks Lakehouse, Apache Spark/PySpark, Delta Lake, Databricks Workflows, Unity Catalog, Databricks SQL, Python, SQL.
• AWS Cloud experience (S3, IAM, networking, security, cloud architecture).
• Experience designing enterprise data models and data integration patterns.
• Strong knowledge of data governance, security, and compliance frameworks.
• Experience with large-scale cloud migration and modernization initiatives.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement enterprise-scale Databricks Lakehouse architecture.
• Lead data modernization and migration programs from legacy platforms to Databricks.
• Architect scalable ELT/ETL pipelines using Databricks, Spark, Delta Lake, and Python.
• Define data governance, security, lineage, and metadata management strategies using Unity Catalog.
• Design batch and real-time data processing solutions.
• Provide architecture guidance for cloud-native solutions on AWS.
• Collaborate with business, analytics, and engineering teams to define data strategies.
• Establish best practices for data quality, monitoring, performance tuning, and cost optimization.
• Create architecture standards, reference architectures, and technical documentation.
• Mentor data engineers and technical leads throughout the development lifecycle.
• Evaluate and recommend emerging technologies and AI/ML capabilities within the Databricks ecosystem.

Skills

Databricks Lakehouse

Apache Spark

Delta Lake

Unity Catalog

Databricks SQL

Python

SQL

AWS Cloud

Data Modeling

Data governance

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/CE or related

Tools

Terraform

Snowflake

Job description

Cognizant is seeking an experienced Databricks Architect to lead enterprise data modernization efforts. You will design and implement a robust Databricks Lakehouse on AWS, building scalable ELT/ETL pipelines, governance, and security practices.

The role emphasizes data modeling, migration from legacy systems, and collaboration with analytics and engineering teams to define data strategies and ensure cost-efficient, high-performance solutions.