Databricks Solution Architect - London Based (Hybrid)

Who We Are

ThirdEye Consulting is a top-tier Salesforce, Data & AI consultancy! We specialise in delivering high-impact, complex transformation programmes for ambitious clients. We help forward-thinking organisations tackle serious technical debt, drive their AI agenda, and unlock what's often their most undervalued asset: clean, connected data. As registered partners across multi-cloud providers, we’re genuinely technology-agnostic. We choose what's right for the problem, not what's convenient. AI isn't a bolt-on here. It's woven into how we work, how we deliver, and where we're headed. We have a dedicated AI Innovation team with a real budget, genuine freedom to explore emerging tools, and the kind of open, curious culture that attracts sharp people and keeps them. You'll be working alongside some of the best technical minds in the industry and you'll have the space to grow alongside them. This is a rare combination: the security of a growing, commercially successful consultancy, with the innovation agenda and agility of a company genuinely at the frontier. Here, cutting-edge isn't an aspiration, it's the standard we hold ourselves to every day. You'll get hands-on with the latest technology, help shape the direction of client programmes, and be part of an AI journey, without the risk of being left behind by it. If you're technically curious, energised by complex problems, and ready to do your best work, this is the place.

The Role

This is our first dedicated Databricks hire, and the technical direction of the practice is yours to set. You'll own the technical solution on our Databricks engagements: designing it, and for the first year or so, getting hands on with implementation. We've gone live with Databricks internally and for our customers, designing and building solutions that migrate multiple terabytes of on-prem data to the cloud; govern internal and external access through Unity Catalog; run repeatably through the use of declarative ingestion pipelines; and serve our data to consumers such as Salesforce, using federated zero-copy sharing. Databricks at ThirdEye is growing. This role is how we scale it. Databricks is a more technical sell and a more technical build than most enterprise platforms. Depth matters. You'll go deep on Lakehouse architecture, own design decisions clients live with for years, and stay close enough to the keyboard to prove they work. You'll also be the technical voice on pursuits, working alongside our industry sellers and co-selling with the Databricks field team.

What you will do

• Solution ownership and delivery
• Own the end-to-end Databricks solution on client engagements, from discovery through to production and handover.
• Define the target architecture and document it properly: HLDs, LLDs, data models, system landscape, security and governance design.
• Make and defend the decisions that matter: workspace and catalog topology, cluster and compute strategy, ingestion patterns, medallion layering, the cost model.
• Run technical and functional workshops, and land on a design the client's own team can operate.
• Own delivery quality, including the best practices and patterns the team works to.
• Manage stakeholders from data engineers up to senior decision makers and C-level, and be upfront with them when a plan is wrong, needs to change, or isn't going to give them value.
• Hands-on build
• Build it. Pipelines, notebooks, Unity Catalog structures, jobs, and the migration mechanics.
• Work in Python, Spark and SQL day to day, version-controlled and deployed through CI/CD.
• Solve for problems that only appear at scale: cluster warm-up cost, large-table performance, cross-workspace sharing limits, cloud region capacity.
• Embrace the unknown. Don't just design for when ingestion connectors, public cloud data stores and out-of-the-box (OOTB) solutions can be used. Every client is different and requires a unique solution.
• As the practice grows, shift from building on Databricks, to designing the solution and directing the team that builds on it, while still getting into the weeds when it makes sense.
• Practice and reusable IP
• Turn what we learn on each engagement into assets we reuse: template notebooks, reference architectures, migration patterns, delivery playbooks.
• Sharpen our position on Databricks and where it sits against competing or complementary platforms.
• Take an active part in internal community and professional development sessions.
• Use AI tools to speed up solutioning and delivery without lowering the quality bar.
• Coaching and cross-skilling
• Enable and coach our existing data and integration team on Databricks.
• Coach and review the work of more junior engineers, including our Philippines-based dev and QA teams.
• Set the standard for what good looks like in ThirdEye's Databricks implementations.
• Pre‑sales
• Act as the technical voice on Databricks deals: discovery, solution design, scoping and effort.
• Build POCs and demos that make the business case real for the client.
• Bring your experience, credibility and delivery‑honed instincts to the fore when talking to prospects about what works, what doesn't, and how they can get the most from their investment in Databricks.

What you have done

• Databricks expertise
• Acted as lead architect on Databricks implementations covering the full lifecycle, discovery, design and build, through to production release and support.
• Deep hands‑on experience of the core platform: Unity Catalog, Delta Lake, workflows and jobs, declarative pipelines, SQL warehouses, cluster and compute configuration.
• Migrated data at scale off on‑prem or legacy platforms: SQL Server, file shares, Teradata or similar.
• Working knowledge of Mosaic AI, vector search, and how ML and GenAI workloads land on the platform.
• Strong on at least one major cloud, ideally Azure, and how Databricks deploys and integrates within it: networking, identity, storage, private connectivity.
• Hold or are on the path to Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional.
• Solution design
• Created solution design documentation that stands the test of time: HLDs, LLDs, data models, ERDs, system landscape and security architecture.
• Designed medallion or equivalent layered architectures, and can explain any trade‑offs you make.
• Designed the governance and access model in Unity Catalog: catalogs, schemas, grants, lineage, data classification.
• Modelled cost as part of the design, with a defensible view on compute strategy, storage and licensing.
• Reviewed and coached other engineers while keeping ownership of the overall solution.
• Delivery lifecycle
• Planned and run technical workshops that end in decisions.
• Managed and engaged stakeholders at all levels across a full delivery lifecycle.
• Comfortable with Git‑based development and CI/CD for Databricks assets.
• Guided functional testing with customer data teams and business users.
• Integration and the wider picture
• Integrated Databricks with operational systems, preferably including Salesforce Data 360 or an integration platform such as MuleSoft or Informatica.

Nice to have

• Experience at a Databricks SI partner, or at Databricks itself.
• Familiarity with competing platforms (Snowflake, Synapse, Fabric, dbt) and how they stack up against Databricks.
• Existing relationships at Databricks.
• Experience standing up a new capability or growing a new team.

What you'll be measured on

• Delivery quality on Databricks engagements: does it work, is it governed, can the client's team run it once we've gone.
• Reusable IP that makes the next engagement quicker than the last one.
• How many ThirdEye consultants can credibly work on Databricks a year from now.
• Technical contribution to Databricks pursuits, when asked to input to pre‑sales.

Who you are

• A hands‑on architect. You design well because you've built enough to know what works, and what doesn't.
• Equally at home in front of a code editor or an exec team.
• A critical thinker who approaches problems with their client's best interests in mind.
• Someone who earns trust quickly with clients and colleagues, because you can back up your points of view with genuine depth.
• Comfortable in ambiguity. You can walk into an undefined data engagement and work with our delivery leads to produce a plan.
• Curious and constantly learning. You follow the Databricks roadmap and try things out before clients ask for them.
• Generous with what you know. You'd rather have five people who can do this than be the only one who can.

The good stuff

• Private Medical Insurance.
• Life Assurance.
• Dental, Optical and Physio (among others) cashback schemes.
• Salary Sacrifice Pension.
• Perk Apps.
• 28 days Annual Leave.
• Hybrid working, with regular office days that fit around your life.
• £250 WFH allowance.
• Dog Friendly Office.
• Regular Team Events.

At ThirdEye, everyone is welcome. We believe the best solutions come from diverse perspectives and we actively welcome applicants from all backgrounds.