At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead complex customer engagements and drive data and AI strategies.
- Company: Join Databricks, a leading Data and AI company with a global presence.
- Benefits: Comprehensive benefits, remote work options, and a commitment to diversity.
- Other info: Dynamic environment with opportunities for thought leadership and career growth.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in enterprise data architecture and mentor future leaders.
- Qualifications: 8+ years in solutions architecture and expert-level coding skills required.
The predicted salary is between 72000 - 88000 £ per year.
Location: Leeds/Manchester, United Kingdom - remote contract
Industry: Enterprise Retail or CPG (UKI Enterprise)
The Role
As a Sr. Solutions Architect, you are an expert-level technical leader responsible for the organisation's most complex customer engagements. You drive consumption strategy, own executive-level relationships, and serve as the definitive technical authority for your accounts. You have declared your archetype—a recognised technical specialisation that makes you a force multiplier across your team and region. You operate at the intersection of deep technical expertise, strategic account planning, and executive influence.
The Impact You Will Have
- Drive the technical and consumption strategy for the organisation's most complex customer engagements, directly influencing platform adoption and revenue growth.
- Own senior-level technical relationships — serving as a trusted advisor on enterprise data and AI strategy.
- Lead the most complex architecture engagements: multi-workload platforms, enterprise-wide migrations, real-time systems, and AI/ML at scale.
- Operate as an Expert on the Databricks Platform with a declared archetype — actively mentoring others and driving horizontal impact across your team.
- Develop and execute competitive strategies for your customers, positioning Databricks against incumbent and emerging platforms.
- Orchestrate cross-functional teams (DSAs, SSAs, Partners, Product) to deliver enterprise-grade solutions.
- Coach and develop junior SAs (L3–L5) on technical depth, customer engagement, and use case prioritisation.
- Contribute to Field Engineering thought leadership through customer-facing content, workshops, and community engagement.
What We Look For
- 8+ years in solutions architecture, principal engineering, technical pre-sales leadership, or a senior customer-facing technical role.
- Expert-level coding proficiency — Python, SQL, and ideally Spark/PySpark.
- Deep expertise in enterprise data architecture: distributed systems at scale, streaming/real-time, lakehouse design patterns, data governance frameworks, and cloud-native platforms.
- Expert-level Databricks Platform knowledge (or equivalent depth in competing platforms with demonstrated rapid learning ability).
- Declared technical specialisation with recognised depth — e.g., real-time architectures, ML/AI platforms, data governance, large-scale migrations, or industry-specific solutions.
- Proven track record of driving consumption growth and platform adoption in large accounts.
- Executive presence — ability to influence Directors, VPs, and C-level stakeholders on long-term data and AI strategy.
- Experience leading competitive displacements and complex enterprise evaluations.
- Strong strategic thinking — connecting technical architecture decisions to business outcomes and revenue impact.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a quantitative discipline (or equivalent experience); advanced degrees are valued.
Nice to Have:
- Databricks certifications.
- Prior experience at Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, Google, Microsoft, or a top-tier data/AI company.
- Published thought leadership (blogs, conference talks, open source contributions).
- Industry experience in Retail or Consumer Packaged Goods with executive-level domain credibility.
Interview Process: Recruiter Screen → Hiring Manager Screen → Design and Architecture Interview → Live Coding Assessment → Build, Demo, Pitch! Presentation → Reference Check.
About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog.
Benefits
At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees.
Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards.
Compliance
If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.
Senior Solutions Architect (Data & AI) in Manchester employer: WinsAbove
Webflow is an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture, particularly for the Senior Solutions Architect role based in London. Employees benefit from a strong emphasis on professional growth, with opportunities to influence product direction and engage in enterprise-scale projects, all while enjoying the flexibility of a hybrid work environment. The company values creativity and technical expertise, making it a rewarding place for those looking to make a meaningful impact in the tech industry.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Solutions Architect (Data & AI) in Manchester
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We think you need these skills to ace Senior Solutions Architect (Data & AI) in Manchester
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at WinsAbove.
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How to prepare for a job interview at WinsAbove
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If WinsAbove uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
