Sr. Databricks Solutions Architect

ECS is seeking a Sr. Databricks Solutions Architect to work in our Fairfax, VA office.  Please Note: This position is contingent upon contract award.

ECS is seeking a skilled Sr. Databricks Solutions Architect to join our Professional Services team. This position is contingent upon contract award. If you are passionate about helping customers solve complex big data challenges, leveraging Databricks for advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI-driven insights, and enjoy working in a consulting environment where technical expertise meets client engagement, this role is for you.

As a member of our team, you will work with customers on short- to medium-term engagements, providing technical guidance, architecture, and hands-on support to ensure they maximize value from their Databricks environments. You will collaborate with clients to design, implement, and optimize data pipelines, analytics workflows, and machine learning solutions, all while delivering exceptional customer service and consulting expertise.

Responsibilities

• Lead customer engagements to design, build, and optimize Databricks-based architectures for advanced analytics, data engineering, and machine learning workloads.
• Develop scalable ETL/ELT pipelines and integrate with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Guide customers on data governance, security, and compliance best practices within Databricks environments.
• Consult on architecture, reference implementations, and best practices for leveraging Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, MLflow, and related Databricks capabilities.
• Assist customers with productionalizing data pipelines, machine learning workflows, and AI-driven applications.
• Provide escalated technical support for customer operational issues and help troubleshoot complex platform or workflow challenges.
• Collaborate with internal and Databricks teams, including Engineers, Architects, Project Managers, and Customer Success teams, to ensure engagement goals are met.
• Document technical designs, architecture patterns, deployment procedures, and lessons learned.
• Stay current on Databricks platform features, distributed computing trends, and emerging big data technologies.
• Deliver solutions that improve performance, scalability, and operational efficiency while meeting customer business objectives.
• Support Professional Services and Managed Services initiatives as needed, ensuring billable deliverables meet customer expectations.

• US Secret Clearance required.
• 7+ years of experience in Data Engineering.
• 10+ years of consulting experience, preferably in data platform or analytics-focused engagements.
• Completion of 6–8 hands-on projects with Databricks in production environments.
• Proven experience with Databricks, including Spark, Delta Lake, MLflow, and cloud integration.
• Strong proficiency in Python and/or SQL for data engineering and analytics.
• Deep understanding of distributed computing concepts and Apache Spark runtime internals.
• Hands-on experience designing and deploying end-to-end big data and machine learning solutions.
• Familiarity with data modeling, performance tuning, and production-grade pipeline design.
• Experience working directly with customers in a consulting or professional services capacity.
• Ability to manage technical scope, timelines, and delivery while maintaining excellent customer communication.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience.
• Willingness to travel up to 30% for customer engagements.