Principal Data Architect - Databricks & AI

The opportunity We are investing in the next generation of our data and technology capabilities to create more connected, intelligent experiences for customers. Data is central to this ambition. This is an opportunity to define the architecture, standards and delivery patterns for a modern data platform that will enable trusted data use across products and support advanced analytics and AI. The Principal Data Architect will be the senior technical authority for data architecture within this strategic transformation. The role is architecture-led while remaining practically engaged through prototyping, proof-of-concepts, technical reviews and the resolution of complex engineering challenges. As the capability grows, the remit may expand to include leadership of a small team.

What you will do

• Define and own the target data architecture, standards, reference patterns and technical roadmap for a strategic enterprise data capability.
• Design a modern Databricks lakehouse foundation that enables secure, scalable use of data across a complex product landscape.
• Establish scalable medallion patterns across Bronze, Silver and Gold layers, including ingestion, transformation, storage, serving and consumption.
• Design canonical, dimensional and semantic data models that enable consistent exchange, interoperability and reuse across product domains.
• Architect secure data integration using batch, streaming, APIs, change data capture and event-driven patterns.
• Design privacy-preserving data capabilities, including data masking, anonymisation or equivalent controls for customer data used in AI and analytical workloads.
• Design AI-ready data capabilities, including governed model-data pipelines, vector search and retrieval-augmented generation patterns where relevant.
• Create prototypes and proof-of-concepts, review technical designs and code, guide performance optimisation, and help resolve complex technical issues.
• Build production-ready solutions with strong governance, lineage, quality, observability, security, reliability and cost control.
• Partner with product, engineering, AI, security, platform and business leaders to translate customer and product needs into architecture and delivery plans.
• Mentor data engineers and architects and promote reusable platform capabilities and engineering standards.

What you bring

• Significant experience as a Data Architect, Lead Data Architect, Principal Engineer or comparable senior technical leader.
• Advanced, hands-on Databricks experience in production environments, including lakehouse architecture, Delta Lake and relevant governance, workflow, SQL and optimisation capabilities.
• Proven ownership of modern data platforms or data products from architecture through production delivery and operation.
• Strong experience in data privacy and security, including data masking, anonymisation, tokenisation or comparable privacy-preserving patterns for sensitive or customer data.
• Strong data-modelling expertise across conceptual, logical, physical, dimensional and canonical models.
• Experience with batch and real-time integration, including APIs, CDC, streaming or event-driven pipelines.
• A strong data-engineering or software-development foundation using Python, SQL, Scala, Java and/or Spark.
• Deep experience with Azure data services. AWS experience is advantageous as the platform expands.
• Experience with governance, cataloguing, lineage, quality, metadata, access control and secure multi-tenant or customer-data environments.
• Credibility with hands-on engineers and senior stakeholders, with strong judgement across speed, scale, governance, cost and usability.
• Valuable additional experience Production AI/ML or generative-AI data architecture, including RAG, embeddings, vector search or model-data pipelines.
• Knowledge graphs, ontologies, RDF, linked data or advanced semantic technologies.
• Databricks or cloud architecture/data-engineering certification.
• Tools such as dbt, Kafka, Airflow, Terraform, Power BI, Tableau, Collibra or Microsoft Purview.
• Architecture across multiple products, domains or business units in B2B software, information services, consulting or regulated environments.

Why join

This is a rare opportunity to shape a strategically important data foundation from the beginning. You will have the mandate to make high-impact architectural decisions, work on complex technical challenges and influence how trusted data powers better customer experiences, advanced analytics and AI. The role offers meaningful visibility, broad collaboration and the chance to create capabilities that will scale across an evolving product landscape.

Our Interview Practices

To maintain a fair and genuine hiring process, we kindly ask that all candidates participate in interviews without the assistance of AI tools or external prompts. Our interview process is designed to assess your individual skills, experiences, and communication style. We value authenticity and want to ensure we’re getting to know you—not a digital assistant. To help maintain this integrity, we ask to remove virtual backgrounds and include in-person interviews in our hiring process. Please note that use of AI-generated responses or third-party support during interviews will be grounds for disqualification from the recruitment process. Applicants may be required to appear onsite at a Wolters Kluwer office as part of the recruitment process.

Join us, at Wolters Kluwer, and be part of a dynamic global technology company that makes a difference every day. We’re innovators with impact. We provide expert software and information solutions that the world’s leading professionals rely on, in the moments that matter most. You’ll make a real difference in the lives of millions of people.

Together with our customers, we help to advance sustainability, health, justice, prosperity, and commerce around the world.

You can thrive at Wolters Kluwer, where diversity is core to our collective strength and high performance. Be your unique self, share your creative ideas, do your best work, and take time to grow in our caring and inclusive culture where you can belong.

Wolters Kluwer reported 2025 annual revenues of €6.1 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs more than 21,000 people worldwide.

Our mission is to empower our professional customers with the AI-powered solutions they need to make critical decisions, achieve successful outcomes, and increase productivity. We deliver trusted, AI-powered expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge, proprietary content, and advanced technology to provide expert-validated insights, automate workflows, and drive better outcomes. Today, nearly 70% of our digital revenues come from AI-powered solutions, reflecting our strategic focus on embedding AI into professional workflows and delivering measurable productivity gains. We are committed to helping professionals navigate complexity, improve the way they work, and solve critical challenges through cloud-based, AI-powered platforms that integrate seamlessly into their workflows and ecosystems. Our solutions are designed to deliver impact when it matters most, especially in high-stakes environments where accuracy and trust are essential. With a nearly 190-year legacy, Wolters Kluwer continues to evolve its portfolio of digital solutions and services to meet the changing needs of professionals worldwide, enabling them to work faster, make smarter decisions, and deliver better outcomes.

For more information about our solutions and organization, visit www.wolterskluwer.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Wolters Kluwer has a dedicated team of experienced talent acquisition professionals who are ready to hear what makes you tick and share how Wolters Kluwer can help you achieve your goals and ambitions.Here Rasi Fawaz shares some tips on what recruiters are looking for on a resume.As a global organization, we recognize that solving a wide range of complex problems requires diverse perspectives and innovative thinking.We know that bringing our best to our customers, communities, and other key stakeholders requires a highly engaged and talented workforce – one that represents the diversity of those we serve and the communities where we live and work.We aim to provide a welcoming environment and equitable opportunities for all employees regardless of background, nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or religion.This principle is ingrained in our company values and articulated in our Code of Business Ethics.At Wolters Kluwer, you’ll feel valued for your contributions, and you’ll know that your health, safety, and well-being are important to us.Our well-being benefits provide tools, programs, and resources to help our diverse employees feel healthy, happy, safe, and prosperous.Our global Together we thrive well-being program reflects our commitment to supporting colleagues across physical, mental, social, and financial well-being.That commitment has been recognized externally through Ragan’s Top Places to Work for Employee Wellbeing