Specialist Solutions Architect - Data Engineering
A hands-on pre-sales solutions architect role at Databricks: guide strategic customers in designing, building, and optimizing production-grade batch and streaming data workloads (Apache Spark, Delta Lake, Kafka) on the Databricks platform, leading PoCs, performance tuning, and AI-assisted delivery. Office-based in Amsterdam, hybrid, with up to 30% travel; starts as a 12-month fixed-term contract.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Netherlands
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- 5+ years
- Category
- Data engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 5+ years in data or software engineering with hands-on distributed processing (Apache Spark, Delta Lake, SDP)
- Hands-on real-time streaming technologies (Spark Streaming, Kafka, CDC)
- Demonstrated daily reliance on AI coding tools and LLMs for pipeline development, troubleshooting, and asset generation
- Strong production coding skills in Python, SQL, and Scala or Java
- Solid grasp of data modeling and system design fundamentals
- 5+ years in pre-sales or post-sales technical consulting, managing customer engagements and multi-stakeholder discussions
- Practical experience with operational/transactional data layers (Postgres/OLTP), low-latency serving, reverse ETL, and HTAP
Nice to have
- Hands-on experience with major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Legacy data lake modernisation experience (e.g., Hadoop migration and cost optimisation)
- Background building specialised data applications (e.g., risk modelling, fraud detection, customer lifetime value)
- Track record of technical community engagement, public speaking, open-source contributions, or peer mentoring
- Ability to travel up to 30% for customer engagements and internal alignment
Full description
As a Specialist Solutions Architect (SSA) - Data Engineering, you are a hands-on technical authority who guides strategic customers in designing, building, and optimizing production-grade data workloads on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. Partnering closely with Account Teams and Solution Architects, you translate complex big data challenges into high-performance, scalable architectures using Apache Spark™ and modern streaming frameworks.
In this role, you will drive successful implementations, align technical roadmaps to accelerate platform adoption, and establish deep domain specialization; whether in real-time streaming, performance optimization, or operational data layers, while expanding your impact across Field Engineering.
The impact you will have:
- Drive Technical Wins & Scope: Lead end-to-end technical design, proof of concepts (PoCs), and workload sizing for strategic customer engagements, acting as a trusted advisor to front-line technical stakeholders to secure technical wins.
- Architect Production Data Systems: Design, build, and optimize scalable, high-performance batch and streaming pipelines, operational data layers (Lakebase), and end-to-end performance load testing on Databricks.
- Deploy Interactive Data Applications: Build and operationalize custom user-facing data applications using Databricks Apps, transforming data pipelines and AI models into interactive tools.
- AI-Native Engineering: Leverage AI coding assistants, LLMs, and agentic workflows (e.g., Genie Code, Cursor) as a force multiplier to rapidly prototype, debug, and deliver architectural assets with full ownership of outputs.
- Enablement & Domain Leadership: Mentor peers, contribute reusable architecture assets, and deliver technical workshops and community presentations to scale expertise across accounts and field teams.
What we look for:
- Deep Data Engineering Expertise: 5+ years in data or software engineering with hands-on proficiency in distributed processing (Apache Spark™ , Delta Lake, SDP) and real-time streaming technologies (Spark Streaming, Kafka, CDC).
- AI-First Builder Mindset: Demonstrated daily reliance on AI coding tools and LLMs to accelerate pipeline development, troubleshooting, and asset generation.
- Production Programming & Foundations: Strong production coding skills in Python, SQL, and Scala or Java, with a solid grasp of data modeling and system design fundamentals.
- Customer Advisory & Delivery: 5+ years in pre-sales or post-sales technical consulting, managing customer engagements and navigating multi-stakeholder technical discussions.