DBX Leader/ Solution Architect
Location: Hybrid, Minneapolis, MN
About the Role
EXL Service is seeking an accomplished Lead Solution Cloud Architect with 12–15 years of progressive experience in designing, implementing, and governing enterprise cloud and data architectures. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in Azure and Databricks, with strong architectural leadership capabilities.
This is a senior/lead role responsible for shaping cloud strategy, guiding engineering teams, and ensuring that solutions meet enterprise standards for scalability, security, performance, and cost-efficiency.
Key Responsibilities
Cloud & Data Architecture
- Architect and design enterprise-grade cloud solutions leveraging Azure services (Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Blob Storage, Azure Data Factory, Azure Functions, Azure Event Hubs, Azure Active Directory and Azure Synapse Analytics).
- Design Databricks Lakehouse solutions including Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Spark optimization, governance, and MLOps patterns.
- Build scalable ETL/ELT pipelines, real-time streaming architectures, and reusable data integration frameworks.
- Develop high-level and low-level architecture blueprints ensuring security, compliance, cost efficiency, reliability, and performance.
- Architect cloud/on-prem hybrid data platforms leveraging the full Azure ecosystem including Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure Data Factory, Azure Databricks, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Purview, and Azure DevOps.
Solution Design & Delivery
- Lead requirement discovery, translate business needs into robust architectural designs and roadmaps.
- Create HLDs, LLDs, data flow diagrams, integration patterns, deployment models, and security reference architectures.
- Oversee end-to-end delivery, guiding engineering and DevOps teams through implementation and optimization.
- Perform architecture assessments and recommend improvements for scalability, resilience, and cost savings.
Technical Leadership
- Provide thought leadership and hands-on direction to data engineering, analytics, DevOps, and platform teams.
- Establish best practices for coding, data governance, CI/CD, infrastructure automation, and environment management.
- Introduce and evaluate emerging cloud technologies, tools, and frameworks relevant to analytics and modern data platforms.
Stakeholder & Client Management
- Act as technical SME for client conversations, workshops, and executive presentations.
- Communicate complex architectural concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Partner closely with business stakeholders to define solution vision, roadmap, and success metrics.
Required Skills & Experience
Technical Expertise
- 12–15 years of overall IT experience with strong focus on cloud, data engineering, and enterprise architecture.
- 5+ years of hands-on experience architecting production solutions on Microsoft Azure.
- 5+ years’ strong experience in Databricks (Spark, Delta Lake, MLflow, Unity Catalog).
- Proficiency in Python, SQL, PySpark, and distributed data processing frameworks.
- Deep understanding of data modeling, data governance, metadata management, and modern security practices.
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines, Terraform / Azure Bicep / ARM Templates, GitOps, and end-to-end automation.
- Strong knowledge of Azure networking (VNets, NSGs, Private Endpoints), Azure Active Directory, RBAC, encryption, identity governance, and security frameworks (NIST, CIS benchmarks).
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