Senior Forward Deployed Engineering - Architect
Leads customer-facing architecture and hands-on delivery of production data and AI solutions on the Databricks platform. The role requires extensive data or software engineering experience, cloud expertise, Apache Spark proficiency, and strong technical project delivery skills.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Lead impactful customer technical projects by delivering production-grade systems, reference architectures, custom applications, data ingestion, and ML/AI model integrations.
- Guide strategic customers through the end-to-end design, build, and deployment of big data and AI applications.
- Scope technical delivery work with engagement managers and customer input.
- Advise customers on architecture and design, and bootstrap or implement projects to support successful Databricks adoption.
- Own architecture and design decisions, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, and aligned with customer needs and Databricks best practices.
- Collaborate with Databricks technical teams, project managers, architects, and customer teams to deliver technical engagement components.
- Work with Engineering and Customer Support to provide product feedback and resolve implementation issues.
- Embed with customer teams and engage stakeholders ranging from technical individual contributors to executives.
- Contribute reusable accelerators, frameworks, and best practices that scale impact across accounts and influence the product roadmap.
- Travel to customers approximately 20% of the time.
Requirements
- Extensive experience in data engineering, data platforms and analytics, or software engineering.
- Ability to write code in Python, Scala, JavaScript, or TypeScript, using modern frameworks.
- Working knowledge of at least two major cloud ecosystems, with expertise in one: AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
- Deep experience with distributed computing using Apache Spark and knowledge of Spark runtime internals.
- Familiarity with CI/CD for production deployments.
- Working knowledge of MLOps, ML/AI models, and AI APIs.
- Experience designing and deploying performant, production-grade end-to-end data architectures and applications combining data pipelines, ML/AI models, and user-facing interfaces.
- Experience delivering technical projects, managing scope and timelines, measuring outcomes, and translating complex concepts into actionable solutions.
- Documentation and whiteboarding skills.
- Experience working with enterprise clients and managing conflicts across diverse stakeholder groups.
- Curiosity, adaptability, and eagerness to explore technologies that support Databricks-based solution deployment and integration.
Nice to have
- Databricks Certification.
Skills
Python, Scala, JavaScript, TypeScript, AWS, Azure, GCP, Spark, CI/CD, MLOps, Machine Learning, Ai Apis, Data Pipelines, Data Architecture, Databricks Certification
Similar jobs
Solutions Architecture jobs
Notion
London, United Kingdom
Leads and develops a Forward Deployed Engineering team delivering complex enterprise implementations across EMEA, combining people management, technical architecture, customer-facing delivery, and migration expertise. Requires 8+ years of hands-on technical experience and 2+ years leading engineers.
Anthropic
London, United Kingdom
Advises life sciences institutions on adopting and deploying Claude, translating scientific workflows into scalable AI solutions and informing product direction. Requires 8+ years of technical experience, life sciences or scientific computing expertise, and strong customer-facing communication skills.
OpenAI
London, United Kingdom
Leads end-to-end deployment of frontier AI systems for strategic customers, from discovery and system design through production rollout and adoption. Requires 6+ years of customer-facing engineering or deployment experience, production coding ability, LLM experience, and professional Spanish and English fluency.
Square
London, United Kingdom
Leads technical onboarding and activation for complex merchants, managing implementation projects and translating business requirements into scalable solutions. Requires 4+ years of customer-facing experience, including 3+ years in project management, implementation, or onboarding.
Ashby
United StatesLeads complex, end-to-end SaaS implementations for strategic and enterprise customers, coordinating stakeholders, guiding change management, and improving delivery processes. Requires extensive implementation experience, technical understanding of configurable SaaS products, strong communication, and customer-facing problem-solving skills.