Sr. Solutions Architect - Global Telecommunications
About the role
At Databricks, our core principles are at the heart of everything we do; creating a culture of proactiveness and a customer-centric mindset guides us to create a unified platform that makes data science and analytics accessible to everyone. We aim to inspire our customers to make informed decisions that push their business forward. You will be an essential part of this mission, using your technical expertise to demonstrate how our Data Intelligence Platform can help customers solve their complex data challenges. You'll work with a collaborative, customer-focused team that values innovation and creativity, using your skills to create customized solutions to help our customers achieve their goals and guide their businesses forward.
Responsibilities
- Drive the technical and consumption strategy for the organization'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 prioritization.
- Contribute to Field Engineering thought leadership through customer-facing content, workshops, and community engagement.
Requirements
- 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. You will complete a live coding assessment and a platform build during the interview.
- 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 specialization with recognized 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.
- Ability to travel to customers 30% of the time.
- 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 vertical expertise (telco) with executive-level domain credibility.
Pay
Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role are:
- Zone 1: $219,100—$301,300 USD
- Zone 2: $219,100—$301,300 USD
- Zone 3: $219,100—$301,300 USD
- Zone 4: $219,100—$301,300 USD
Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Databricks anticipated utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and benefits.