Principal Azure D&A Architect

Principal Azure D&A Architect Role type: Long-term Contract with a possible extension Location: 100% Remote
Role Overview
We are seeking a Principal Azure D&A Architect to lead the strategy, design, and governance of our enterprise data ecosystem. In this role, you will balance high-level architecture with hands-on strategy, focusing heavily on Data Governance and Data Modeling, while integrating modern Databricks and AI capabilities.
Key Responsibilities
Data Modeling & Architecture: Design robust enterprise data models (Conceptual, Logical, Physical) and blueprints for scalable Azure Lakehouse/Data Warehouse environments.
Data Governance: Establish frameworks, policies, and lineage tracking (e.g., Azure Purview) to ensure data quality, security, and compliance.
Modern Analytics & AI: Architect data pipelines using Azure Databricks and collaborate with data science teams to integrate and scale AI/ML workloads.
Technical Leadership: Guide the data engineering team and collaborate with executive stakeholders to align tech roadmaps with business goals.
Technical Qualifications
Required
10+ years of experience in Data Architecture, with deep expertise in the Azure Data Stack (ADLS, ADF, Synapse, Purview).
Strong mastery of Data Modeling methodologies (Star Schema, Snowflake, Data Vault).
Proven experience designing and implementing Data Governance and metadata management frameworks.
Preferred
Practical experience with Azure Databricks (Delta Lake, PySpark).
Familiarity with AI/ML integration, MLOps, or Azure OpenAI services.
Relevant Azure or Databricks certifications.