Senior Data Architect (Azure Databricks / Data Lakehouse)

Senior Data Architect (Azure Databricks / Data Lakehouse)

Location: Seattle, WA (100% Onsite)

Duration: 12 Months Contract (Potential Extension)

Shift: 1st Shift (7:00 AM – 4:00 PM)

Bill Rate: Up to $88/hr

Overview

We are seeking an experienced Senior Data Architect to join a high-performing software engineering organization supporting advanced aviation training analytics solutions. This role will focus on designing, governing, and evolving enterprise-scale data architectures built on Azure Databricks and Microsoft Azure platforms.

The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Unified Data Modeling (UDM) , Data Lakehouse architecture , Azure Databricks , SQL , and enterprise data governance. The candidate will collaborate closely with globally distributed engineering teams, including offshore teams in India, to design scalable and high-quality data solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, document, and maintain Unified Data Model (UDM) artifacts, mappings, and standards.
• Define and manage data lakehouse process layers including raw, transformed, and curated data domains.
• Develop data transformation specifications, routing rules, validation logic, enrichment processes, and error-handling strategies.
• Author and maintain schema definitions, metadata standards, attribute dictionaries, and schema evolution processes.
• Translate business requirements into scalable data architecture and transformation designs.
• Partner with data engineering teams to implement optimized Azure Databricks solutions.
• Review and approve data pipeline architecture ensuring compliance with governance and security standards.
• Establish and maintain data quality frameworks, lineage tracking, metadata management, and monitoring solutions.
• Support CI/CD implementation for Databricks notebooks, jobs, and infrastructure deployments.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance to distributed engineering teams.
• Participate in architecture reviews, design reviews, agile ceremonies, and stakeholder discussions.
• Communicate architecture decisions, trade-offs, and recommendations to technical and business stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Mathematics, Data Science, or a related technical field.
• 9+ years of experience in Data Architecture, Data Modeling, or Data Engineering.
• Proven experience designing and implementing Unified Data Models (UDM).
• Strong expertise in SQL and enterprise data modeling.
• Extensive experience designing data architectures across multiple process layers (ingest, transform, curated).
• Deep understanding of:
• Data Governance
• Data Lineage
• Metadata Management
• Data Quality Frameworks
• Hands-on experience with Azure Databricks and Data Lakehouse architectures.
• Experience managing schema evolution and backward-compatible data changes.
• Experience defining data routing, ingestion, transformation, and processing rules.
• Experience working with globally distributed engineering teams.
• Strong communication, documentation, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Azure Data Factory, Delta Lake, and Unity Catalog.
• Experience with Azure data governance and cataloging tools such as Microsoft Purview or Alation.
• Knowledge of streaming architectures using Kafka, Event Hubs, or similar technologies.
• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, Terraform, GitOps, or Infrastructure-as-Code practices.
• Familiarity with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Prior experience supporting Aviation, Aerospace, Training Analytics, or Operational Data environments.

Technical Skills

Required

• Azure Databricks
• Unified Data Modeling (UDM)
• SQL
• Data Lakehouse Architecture
• Data Governance
• Data Lineage
• Data Modeling
• Schema Management

Preferred

• Azure Data Factory
• Delta Lake
• Unity Catalog
• Microsoft Purview
• Alation
• Kafka
• Event Hubs
• Terraform
• Azure DevOps
• GitOps
• Docker
• Kubernetes