Databricks Platform Engineer

About Us

Founded in 1975, Salas O’Brien is an employee-owned engineering and professional services firm focused on achieving impact for our clients, our team, and the world. We know that tomorrow’s requirements are today’s opportunities, and we are here to design lasting solutions for pressing challenges. We work across a variety of industries providing integrated engineering and consulting services. Our specialized experience includes design for data centers, healthcare, science and technology, high-rise buildings, clean energy, education, and other building types as well as structural and building sciences, infrastructure asset management, advanced robotics, and more. Our technical expertise is paired with an exceptional team of business development, human resources, finance and accounting, information technology, and marketing professionals, all of whom play a key role in bringing our commitments to life every day.

About the Role

The Databricks Platform Engineer / Architect owns the Databricks platform from end to end. You will administer the platform, keep it current, and advise teams across the organization on how to design and build within it effectively. This is a hands-on technical role with meaningful architectural authority. It is not a coordinator position. You will be responsible for both the daily operation of the platform and the long-term decisions that shape its scalability, security, governance, and performance.

Responsibilities

• Administer the Databricks platform across multiple environments, including workspaces, Unity Catalog, cluster policies, budget policies, and the guardrails that enable teams to move quickly while maintaining consistency and control.
• Manage identity and access, including Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on, account-level SCIM group provisioning, service principals, and scalable access-control models.
• Partner with IT Infrastructure and Security to manage the platform’s networking and security posture, including customer-managed virtual private clouds, private connectivity, encryption, egress controls, audit logs, and system tables connected to enterprise monitoring tools.
• Manage infrastructure and workloads through code using Terraform, Databricks Asset Bundles, and CI/CD practices, with no manual production configuration whenever automation is practical.
• Establish and maintain cost-governance practices, including tagging standards, business-unit showback, budget controls, and recommendations for reducing unnecessary platform spending.
• Serve as a trusted architecture advisor to data scientists, data engineers, analysts, and business stakeholders before solutions are designed and deployed.
• Provide current, practical, and technically sound recommendations that balance organizational standards with business needs.
• Evaluate emerging platform capabilities and determine how they should be adopted within the organization.

Keeping the Platform Current

Databricks evolves rapidly. You will monitor platform releases and understand how capabilities such as serverless computing, Unity Catalog, Lakeflow, and other emerging features affect our environment. You will translate new capabilities into practical recommendations rather than adopting technology based on hype. Your leadership will help ensure that the organization uses modern, supportable patterns instead of relying on outdated approaches.

Qualifications and Experience

Who You Are

• Databricks is your primary technical discipline, not simply one platform among many.
• You have several years of hands-on experience administering and architecting Databricks environments in production.
• You are equally comfortable writing Terraform code and participating in executive-level architecture, security, and governance discussions.
• You can explain why a proposed approach may create challenges over time and offer practical alternatives.
• You have strong technical opinions and preferred approaches, but you are willing to adjust them when evidence, business requirements, or organizational constraints support a different solution.
• You communicate technical trade-offs clearly to people who are not platform engineers and do so without unnecessary jargon or condescension.

Required Qualifications

• Deep, current, production-level Databricks administration experience on AWS, or significant Azure Databricks experience with a credible path to supporting AWS.
• Experience designing and managing Unity Catalog in a multi-workspace environment.
• Demonstrated experience developing catalog structures and access-control models that support a growing organization.
• Experience integrating Databricks with Microsoft Entra ID, including single sign-on and SCIM provisioning.
• Strong Terraform and CI/CD experience for infrastructure and platform management.
• Working knowledge of cloud networking concepts, including virtual private clouds, private connectivity, encryption, egress controls, and related security-review processes.
• Ability to build a strong partnership with IT Infrastructure and Security teams, clearly communicate platform needs, follow enterprise standards, and advocate constructively for architecture improvements.
• Sound judgment in determining when the platform’s default approach is appropriate and when organizational requirements call for a different solution.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Preference may be given to candidates with experience supporting government, military, or controlled-data environments, including Controlled Unclassified Information and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification requirements. Salas O’Brien is primarily a commercial organization, with federal and controlled-data workloads on the roadmap. Experience with enclave separation, controlled environments, and regulated-data operations is a meaningful advantage.
• Databricks certifications, such as Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional or Databricks platform administration credentials.
• Experience with Databricks Asset Bundles.
• Experience working in a federated, decentralized, or multi-entity organization where standardization requires partnership and influence rather than centralized mandates.
• Experience with MLflow, machine learning operations, model serving, and related Databricks capabilities.

Travel

Travel of up to 20% may be required to support architecture reviews, security and governance discussions, business stakeholder engagement, and team collaboration.

Pay

The expected base salary range for this position is $115,000 to $135,000 USD per year. Actual compensation will be determined based on several factors, including skills, experience, qualifications, geographic location, and internal equity. This position may also be eligible for performance-based bonuses and equity participation.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off and company holidays
• Wellness programs and employee-assistance resources
• Professional development support