Databricks Workspace Administrator

Indsafri; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 800,000; Full time

Job summary

Indsafri India Private Limited is seeking a Databricks Workspace Administrator in South Africa. The role entails the secure configuration and management of Databricks workspaces, ensuring platform stability and compliance with security standards. Candidates should possess strong experience in administering Databricks in cloud environments like Azure, AWS, or GCP, alongside scripting and automation skills. A relevant IT qualification and 3-5+ years in similar roles are required, with opportunities for continuous process improvement and collaboration across teams.

Qualifications

• 3-5+ years of experience in data platforms, cloud engineering, or platform administration roles.
• Experience supporting enterprise-scale analytics or data engineering environments.
• Exposure to DevOps, DataOps, or platform engineering practices.

Responsibilities

• Configure and administer Databricks workspaces across environments.
• Implement and maintain cluster policies for performance and cost.
• Provide technical support to data engineers and data scientists.
• Automate administrative tasks and improve operational efficiency.

Skills

Administering Databricks workspaces

Apache Spark

Scripting (PowerShell, Python, Bash, Terraform)

Cloud infrastructure concepts

Identity management and RBAC

Education

Relevant tertiary qualification in Information Technology or related field

Job description

The Databricks Workspace Administrator is responsible for the secure configuration, administration, and operational management of Databricks workspaces. The role ensures platform stability, governance, access control, cost management, and compliance with enterprise data, security, and cloud standards while enabling analytics, data engineering, and data science teams to work efficiently.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Administration

• Configure, administer, and maintain Databricks workspaces across development, test, and production environments.
• Manage workspace settings, clusters, pools, jobs, libraries, and policies.
• Implement and maintain cluster policies to control usage, performance, and cost.

Security and Access Management

• Configure user, group, and role-based access control.
• Integrate Databricks with enterprise identity providers (e.g., Azure AD, SSO).
• Manage secrets, tokens, and credential passthrough securely.
• Ensure adherence to enterprise security, data privacy, and regulatory requirements.

Governance and Compliance

• Implement workspace governance aligned with organisational standards.
• Enforce data access controls, audit logging, and monitoring.
• Support compliance audits by providing evidence, logs, and configuration documentation.

Monitoring and Optimization

• Monitor workspace usage, cluster performance, and job execution.
• Troubleshoot platform, job, and cluster-related issues.
• Optimise performance, scalability, and resource utilisation.
• Track and manage cloud and Databricks costs through usage analysis and optimisation strategies.

Collaboration and Support

• Provide technical support to data engineers, data scientists, analysts, and platform teams.
• Work closely with cloud, security, and data architecture teams.
• Develop and maintain operational runbooks, standards, and best practices.
• Support onboarding of new teams and projects onto the Databricks platform.

Automation and Continuous Improvement

• Automate administrative tasks using APIs, Infrastructure as Code, and scripting.
• Continuously improve platform reliability, security posture, and operational efficiency.
• Stay up to date with Databricks feature releases and recommend enhancements.

Required Skills and Experience

Technical Skills

• Strong experience administering Databricks workspaces in a cloud environment (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
• Solid understanding of Apache Spark, cluster configuration, and job orchestration.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure concepts (networking, storage, security).
• Proficiency in scripting and automation (e.g., PowerShell, Python, Bash, Terraform).
• hands-on experience with identity management, RBAC, and secrets management.

Experience

• 3–5+ years of experience in data platforms, cloud engineering, or platform administration roles.
• Experience supporting enterprise-scale analytics or data engineering environments.
• Exposure to DevOps, DataOps, or platform engineering practices.

Qualifications

• Relevant tertiary qualification in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Databricks, cloud provider, or security certifications are advantageous.