Lead Databricks Architect

Job Title: Lead Databricks Architect
Location: Hybrid, Indianapolis
Industry: Pharmaceutical
Job Overview:
Theoris is assisting our client in their search for a Lead Databricks Architect to lead the architecture, governance, and modernization of an enterprise Databricks platform running on AWS.
This is a true architecture and platform leadership role, not a general Databricks development or data engineering position. The ideal candidate has already led multiple enterprise-scale Databricks implementations on AWS and has direct experience migrating AWS Glue, Aurora PostgreSQL, and existing AWS data lake environments into a Databricks Lakehouse architecture.
The architect will establish platform standards and reusable architectural patterns while guiding migration strategy, governance, security, and engineering practices across multiple Databricks workspaces in a large, regulated enterprise environment.
Responsibilities:

• Design and build metadata-driven, config-based raw-to-refine ingestion pipelines for large-scale Veeva Vault object sets (e.g., 200+ objects) using Databricks on AWS with a Unity Catalog medallion (raw/refine) architecture.

• Develop and maintain Databricks Lakeflow Declarative Pipelines (formerly DLT), including CDC decorator patterns for inserting/update/delete tracking and materialized views for relationship expansion.
• Integrate with the Veeva Direct Data API (DDAPI) and/or Databricks Lakeflow Veeva Vault Connector, including managing incremental file timing, schema evolution, and field-rename edge cases.
• Write and optimize Python-based code generators and automation utilities that translate metadata exports into production pipeline definitions (e.g., SQL/MV templates).
• Author advanced SQL for Databricks/Delta and Iceberg-compatible tables, resolving platform-specific issues (e.g., LATERAL VIEW/JOIN chaining, correlated subqueries, deletion vectors, REORG PURGE).
• Define and provision cloud and platform infrastructure using Terraform, including Databricks workspaces, Unity Catalog objects, service principals, and IAM/permissions.
• Build and maintain AWS infrastructure using CloudFormation (CFN), integrating with services such as S3, Glue, Lambda, Step Functions, Event Bridge, and DynamoDB where applicable.
• Design manifest-driven CI/CD approval and deployment workflows (e.g., GitHub Actions) leveraging the Databricks Statement Execution API for controlled production releases.
• Ensure pipelines meet the compliance, traceability, and data-quality standards required in regulated pharma domains, understanding Veeva Vault as the system of record for transactional data.
• Partner with Safety/Regulatory IT teams, data architects, and business stakeholders to translate Veeva data domain requirements into scalable engineering solutions.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex data pipeline, schema evolution, and platform compatibility issues; drive root-cause fixes and long-term architectural improvements.
• Document architecture decisions, naming conventions, and operational runbooks; mentor other engineers on Veeva/Databricks best practices.
• Serve as the lead architect for an enterprise Databricks platform hosted on AWS.
• Define Databricks platform architecture, technical standards, governance models, security controls, and engineering guardrails.
• Establish standards across multiple Databricks workspaces, including workspace design, Unity Catalog, data sharing, access controls, and platform governance.
• Lead migrations from AWS Glue, Aurora PostgreSQL, and existing AWS data lake environments to Databricks.
• Modernize existing ETL frameworks, data pipelines, and operational processes as part of the migration strategy.
• Develop reusable platform accelerators, reference architectures, deployment patterns, and engineering standards.
• Design and implement enterprise data governance utilizing Unity Catalog and appropriate RBAC/ABAC models.
• Partner with security, infrastructure, data engineering, architecture, and business teams to ensure platform solutions meet enterprise security, compliance, privacy, and audit requirements
• Establish CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code practices for Databricks environments.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership and architectural guidance throughout implementation and migration efforts.

Requirements

• Extensive Databricks architecture experience within AWS environments.
• Proven experience leading multiple enterprise Databricks implementations.
• Experience architecting Databricks environments containing multiple workspaces.
• Direct experience leading AWS Glue-to-Databricks migrations.
• Experience migrating Aurora PostgreSQL and/or PostgreSQL-based workloads into Databricks.
• Experience modernizing AWS data lake environments into Databricks Lakehouse architectures.
• Deep expertise with Unity Catalog, Delta Lake, Databricks Workflows, SQL Warehouses, and Spark/PySpark.
• Experience with declarative data pipeline frameworks.
• Strong AWS knowledge including S3, IAM, networking, and security controls.
• Experience implementing CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code within enterprise data platforms.
• Demonstrated experience defining platform standards, reference architectures, governance frameworks, and migration strategies.

Preferred

• Experience within pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, financial services, or another highly regulated enterprise environment.
• Experience supporting audit, privacy, security, and compliance requirements.
• Knowledge of GxP environments and validated systems.
• Experience implementing enterprise RBAC/ABAC and data governance controls