Specialist Solutions Architect - Cloud Infrastructure & Platform (Azure)

Location: United States

Department: Field Engineering - FE Direct Regulated

FEQ427R143

As an Infrastructure & Platform Specialist Solutions Architect (SSA) – Azure, you will serve as a trusted technical advisor, guiding enterprise customers through the architecture, administration, and security of their Databricks deployments on Microsoft Azure.

In this customer-facing position, you will partner closely with Solutions Architects to design and deploy mission-critical workloads, aligning customers technical roadmaps with the full capabilities of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. As a subject matter expert reporting to the Specialist Field Engineering Manager, you will continuously sharpen your skills through hands-on mentorship, internal training, and continuous learning in Azure cloud infrastructure, network security, and automated deployments. This role can be remote.

This role can be remote. 

The impact you will have:

• Technical Leadership: Guide strategic customers through the full lifecycle of Databricks on Azure platform administration from initial architectural design to production deployment.
• Production-Grade Architecture: Architect secure, scalable enterprise deployments that satisfy complex Azure networking (VNets, Private Endpoints), identity (Microsoft Entra ID), and security compliance standards.
• Domain Expertise: Serve as a subject matter expert in core areas such as Microsoft Azure infrastructure, infrastructure-as-code (IaC), cloud networking, and identity management.
• Pre-Sales Collaboration: Support Solutions Architects during complex technical sales cycles by building custom proof-of-concept (PoC) architectures and technical content on Azure.
• Community & Knowledge Sharing: Expand platform adoption by delivering tutorials, conducting hackathons, speaking at conferences, and contributing to the Databricks open-source community.
  

What we look for:

• 8+ years of hands-on experience in a technical role with deep expertise in Microsoft Azure, including cloud security, networking best practices, and enterprise data platform design.
• 5+ years of professional experience with distributed architectures and big data technologies (e.g., Apache Spark™, Hadoop, Kafka).
• 5+ years of experience in a customer-facing technical role (Pre-Sales, Post-Sales, or Consulting).
• Deep specialized expertise in at least one of the following core domains:
  • Security & Identity: Azure security controls, platform/network/data security, encryption, vulnerability management, compliance, and identity protocols (Microsoft Entra ID / SCIM, OAuth, SAML, Federation).
  • Networking & Deployments: Azure enterprise networking (VNet peering, ExpressRoute, Private Link), network routing, performance optimization, and large-scale deployment management.
  • Platform Administration: High availability, disaster recovery, cluster orchestration, observability (Azure Monitor, Log Analytics), and Azure cost management.
  • Infrastructure Automation (InfraOps): Hands-on automation using IaC tools (e.g., Terraform, Bicep, ARM) to build, maintain, and scale complex Azure environments.
• Hands-on experience with Python, Java, or Scala, alongside strong proficiency in SQL.
• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or equivalent practical work experience.
• [Nice to have] Databricks certifications and/or Microsoft Azure certifications (e.g., Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Data Engineer).
• Ability to hit role-specific training and technical delivery milestones within the first 6 months.
• Willingness to travel up to 30% as needed.