Solution Architect

Role Description

We are seeking a Solution Architect to own the technical design of a federated, multi-institution data platform built on the medallion lakehouse pattern using Azure Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, and Power BI. As the design authority for the platform, you will define the architecture that lets multiple higher education institutions share governed transformation logic and a managed production layer while retaining direct control of their own catalogs and environments.

This is a senior individual-contributor role for a hands-on architect who is equally comfortable in a Unity Catalog security model, a Databricks workspace, and an architecture review with institutional stakeholders. You will set the patterns and standards the engineering team builds to — partnering closely with data engineers, BI developers, DevOps, and governance leads — rather than managing people directly.

Responsibilities

• Platform architecture & design
  • Own the end-to-end architecture of a federated, multi-institution medallion lakehouse (Bronze / Silver / Gold) on Azure Databricks and Microsoft Fabric.
  • Define the federated, multi-tenant design that separates a centrally governed shared layer from institution-administered catalogs and environments.
  • Establish reference architectures, design patterns, and technical standards that each institution’s engineering work follows.
  • Make and document key architecture and platform trade-off decisions, with clear rationale for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Design ingestion and integration from Workday (HCM, Finance, Student) and legacy SIS, LMS, CRM, and identity sources into the lakehouse.
• Governance & security architecture
  • Design the Unity Catalog security and access model across institutions, preserving institutional data autonomy within a shared governance framework.
  • Define and protect the two-catalog boundary — the institution-administered production catalog versus the centrally managed production catalog.
  • Partner with governance leads to translate governance, data-quality, and stewardship policy into enforceable platform controls.
• Delivery enablement
  • Provide hands-on design authority and technical guidance to data engineers, BI developers, DevOps, and data-quality and governance staff.
  • Review solution designs and key pull requests for architectural conformance.
  • Produce and maintain architecture documentation, decision records, and diagrams.
  • Support estimation, sequencing, and risk identification alongside the project and delivery leads.

Qualifications

• 7–10 years designing and delivering cloud data platforms, including hands-on architecture of production analytics environments.
• Deep, hands-on expertise with Azure Databricks and Unity Catalog — lakehouse design, medallion architecture, and catalog and security modeling.
• Strong command of modern data-engineering patterns: ELT/ETL, orchestration, and data modeling across Bronze / Silver / Gold layers.
• Proven ability to design multi-source integration (ERP / SIS / LMS / CRM / identity) into a governed analytics platform.
• Experience defining security, access, and governance models in a shared or multi-team environment.
• Comfort operating as a senior individual contributor — setting standards and guiding engineers without direct-report authority.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including architecture documentation and stakeholder-facing design reviews.
• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience architecting federated or multi-tenant data platforms that serve multiple institutions or business units — central to this role.
• Microsoft Fabric and Power BI experience, including semantic models and workspace design.
• Azure Solutions Architect Expert and/or Databricks certification.
• Infrastructure-as-code and CI/CD familiarity (Terraform, DevOps pipelines) as it relates to platform design.
• Exposure to data-quality tooling such as Great Expectations.
• Experience in higher education and/or with Workday as a source system.

Benefits

• Competitive pay and robust benefits for full-time employees.
• Professional development opportunities.
• Meaningful work that makes a difference in the lives of students and educators.
• Flexibility with both full-time and part-time consulting career opportunities.
• A supportive workplace culture led by a caring CEO.
• A virtual and onsite workplace to reduce environmental footprint.
• Annual support for charitable fundraising initiatives aligned with our vision.