DATA ARCHITECT-Atlanta, Georgia- HYBRID

• This individual will own the architecture, modeling, performance optimization, and governance of all data systems.
• The company currently has no dedicated data professionals outside of a DBA and is actively hiring an offshore data engineer to support smaller-scale work.
• The Data Architect will set standards, define direction, and architect scalable solutions-particularly around AWS, Databricks, multi-tenant design, and real-time data streaming.
• Candidates with 2 4+ years of Databricks experience typically have the core technical foundation needed for this role.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Architect, design, and optimize enterprise data solutions across AWS environments (structured, unstructured, relational, and NoSQL sources).
• Design logical and physical data models, including ER diagrams, dimensional models, and multi-tenant schemas.
• Lead performance tuning and optimization efforts for Oracle and PostgreSQL databases.
• Define and implement OLTP and OLAP architectures, including data warehousing and ETL/ELT best practices.
• Build and support real-time data streaming solutions (including CDC, queuing technologies like Kafka, and event-driven pipelines).
• Enable near real-time delivery of data changes directly to customers for consumption within their own data lakes.
• Architect and grow modern data lake and environments, ideally leveraging Databricks as the strategic platform.
• Collaborate with engineering teams and offshore resources to deliver scalable, reliable, and well-governed data systems.
• Establish standards, best practices, and architectural patterns for enterprise data management.
• (Preferred) Build or enhance data platforms that support AI/ML workloads, including data readiness, optimization, and pipelines feeding AI models.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• Databricks experience (required) - strong working proficiency with 2 4+ years strongly preferred.
• Deep AWS data ecosystem experience, including design and hands-on engineering with structured, unstructured, relational, and NoSQL data.
• Database expertise in Oracle and PostgreSQL including schema design, indexing, and performance tuning.
• Strong data modeling skills; ability to design optimal models and produce professional ER diagrams.
• Near-expert experience optimizing databases for performance and scalability.
• Strong understanding of multi-tenant architectures, including schema isolation and workload management.
• Experience with both OLTP and OLAP systems, including modern data warehousing and ETL/ELT patterns.
• Experience with CDC, data streaming, and queuing systems (e.g., Kafka, Kinesis, Pulsar).
• Ability to architect data sharing solutions enabling customers to ingest data in their own data lakes.
• Experience designing or supporting data pipelines optimized for AI/ML workloads, including feature engineering, vector storage, model-ready datasets, or integration with AI platforms (e.g., SageMaker, Databricks ML, or similar).

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience building data lakes that support AI or advanced analytics.
• Experience designing data architectures that feed or support AI/ML models.
• Previous ownership of enterprise data strategy or acting as the primary data expert within an organization.
• Master's Degree

IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE

• Hands-on, highly technical Data Architect who can own end-to-end data architecture.
• Comfortable being the go-to data authority in an environment with limited existing data expertise.
• Strategic, forward-thinking, and experienced in shaping modern cloud-native data ecosystems.
• Strong communicator capable of working across teams and guiding offshore resources.