Cloud & Ai Solution Engineer – Data Platform

Findojobs South Africa; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 300,000 - 400,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology company is seeking a Cloud & AI Solution Engineer to work on cutting-edge projects involving Azure Databases and Analytics. This role requires strong technical pre-sales experience and the ability to lead hands-on engagements like hackathons. Candidates must possess expertise in Azure technologies and a proven ability to drive technical sales. This position offers dynamic career growth within a supportive work environment.

Benefits

Healthcare benefits

Educational resources

Generous time off

Qualifications

• 5+ years of technical pre-sales or consulting experience.
• Expertise in Azure Databases and Analytics.
• Proven ability to lead technical engagements delivering production-scale results.

Responsibilities

• Drive technical sales through demos and PoCs.
• Lead hands-on engagements to promote Microsoft’s cloud platforms.
• Build trusted relationships with platform leads to co-design solutions.

Skills

Technical pre-sales or consulting experience

Expertise in Azure Databases

Expertise in Azure Analytics

Proven ability with hackathons and PoCs

Proficiency in data warehouse migration

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, IT, or related field

Master's Degree in a relevant field

Tools

Azure Databricks

Microsoft Fabric

Azure Synapse Gen2

Job description

Overview

Are you insatiably curious, deeply passionate about databases and analytics, and ready to tackle complex challenges in a dynamic AI-driven environment? Join us as a Cloud & AI Solution Engineer in Data Platform at Microsoft, working on cutting-edge projects that leverage the latest technologies to make a meaningful impact. Collaborate with a team that values innovation, creativity, and continuous learning.

Databases & Analytics represent a growth opportunity for Microsoft Azure, its partners, and customers. This includes a rich portfolio of IaaS and PaaS services on the Azure platform, empowering customers to build, deploy, and manage cloud-native database and analytics applications.

As a Data Platform Solution Engineer (SE), you will help enterprises unlock the potential of Microsoft’s cloud database and analytics stack at every deployment stage. You will work closely with engineering leaders and platform teams to accelerate the Fabric Data Platform, including Azure Databases and Analytics, through hands-on activities such as Proof of Concepts, hackathons, and architecture workshops. This role offers opportunities for career growth, developing business acumen, honing technical skills, and mastering solution design and deployment. You will guide customers in designing secure, scalable solutions, influence technical decisions, and facilitate database and analytics migration workflows. Ultimately, you will assist customers in modernizing their data platforms and realizing the full value of Microsoft’s offerings, with flexible work options.

As a trusted technical advisor, you will guide customers through secure, scalable solution design, influence technical decisions, and accelerate database and analytics migration into their deployment workflows. Your goal is to help customers modernize their data platform and maximize Microsoft’s platform value.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and organization to achieve more. We foster a culture of growth mindset, innovation, collaboration, respect, integrity, and accountability, creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.

Qualifications

Required qualifications

• 5+ years of technical pre-sales or consulting experience, or a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, IT, or related field with 4+ years of relevant experience, or a Master's Degree with 3+ years of relevant experience, or equivalent experience.
• Expertise in Azure Databases (SQL DB, Cosmos DB, PostgreSQL), including migration, modernization, and AI application development.
• Expertise in Azure Analytics (Fabric, Azure Databricks, Purview) and competitors (BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake) in data warehousing, data lakes, big data, analytics, real-time intelligence, and reporting, with a focus on data security and governance.
• Proven ability to lead technical engagements like hackathons, PoCs, and MVPs that deliver production-scale results.

Preferred qualifications

• 6+ years in technical pre-sales, consulting, or technology delivery, or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years experience with cloud/hybrid/on-prem infrastructure, architecture, migrations, and technology management.
• Proficiency in data warehouse and big data migration, including on-prem appliances (Teradata, Netezza, Oracle), Hadoop (Cloudera, Hortonworks), and Azure Synapse Gen2.

Responsibilities

• Drive technical sales with decision-makers through demos and PoCs to influence solution design and enable production deployment.
• Lead hands-on engagements such as hackathons and architecture workshops to promote Microsoft’s cloud platforms.
• Build trusted relationships with platform leads, co-designing secure, scalable architectures and solutions.
• Resolve technical blockers and objections, collaborating with engineering teams to share insights and improve products.
• Maintain expertise in Microsoft Fabric (OneLake, Data Warehouse, real-time intelligence, BI, Copilot), Azure Databricks, Purview Data Governance, and Azure Databases (SQL DB, Cosmos DB, PostgreSQL).
• Grow expertise in on-premises EDW solutions (Teradata, Netezza, Exadata), Hadoop, and BI solutions.
• Represent Microsoft in cloud Database & Analytics communities and customer forums through thought leadership.

Benefits and perks may vary by employment type and country, including healthcare, educational resources, discounts, savings, maternity/paternity leave, generous time off, giving programs, and networking opportunities.