Lead/Senior Solutions Architect – Retail & CPG (Data & AI)

Req ID: FEQ326R178

Recruiter: Dina Hussain

Location: London, UK (Remote/Flexible with travel)

Reports to: Senior Manager, Field Engineering

The Opportunity: Reshaping the Future of Retail

From personalised shopping experiences to sustainable supply chains, data is the engine driving the Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industries forward. At Databricks, we are looking for a strategic technical leader to help the world's biggest brands turn their data into intelligence.

As a Lead/Senior Solutions Architect, you won’t just be building architectures; you will be building relationships, strategies, and the future of our team. You will act as a bridge between business goals and technical reality, ensuring our customers succeed and our internal teams thrive.

Why You’ll Love This Role

• Strategic Influence: You will move beyond purely technical tasks to shape long-term data strategies for complex, enterprise-scale organisations.
• Mentorship & Leadership: As a senior member of the team, you will have a direct hand in coaching junior architects, fostering a culture of learning and "technical championship."
• Defined Career Paths: We don’t guess about your growth. You can choose to develop in four clear tracks: Technical Specialisation, Industry Thought Leadership, Strategic Customer Vision, or People Management.

Our Philosophy: We value curiosity over perfection. If you have experience in data and a passion for the Retail/CPG space, but don't meet every single technical requirement, we encourage you to apply. We are interested in your potential and your ability to solve complex problems.

How You Will Make an Impact

• Trusted Advisory: You will build authentic partnerships with stakeholders—from developers to C-suite executives—helping them understand the vision of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform.
• Strategic Planning: Partner closely with Account Executives to design engagement strategies that address the specific, high-stakes needs of large Retail/CPG customers.
• Team Coaching: Act as a mentor for the wider team, guiding them on how to prioritise use cases and build technical credibility with clients.
• Ecosystem Integration: Solution complex engagements involving the broader cloud ecosystem (AWS, Azure, GCP) and third-party tools to ensure a seamless experience for the customer.
• Thought Leadership: Elevate your profile by leading workshops, creating customer-facing content, and speaking at industry meet-ups.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for a blend of technical expertise, industry insight, and emotional intelligence.

Industry & Strategic Experience:

• Retail/CPG Knowledge: Experience working within the Retail or CPG sectors, understanding the nuances of consumer data, supply chains, or merchandising.
• Enterprise Engagement: Experience navigating complex, strategic accounts. You know how to manage multiple stakeholders and long-term sales lifecycles (Global account experience is a plus, but deep experience with complex large-scale accounts is the priority).

Technical Expertise:

• Architecture & Cloud: Hands-on experience designing proofs-of-concept for Big Data solutions on public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Coding Foundations: Proficiency in a core programming language (e.g., Python, Java, or Scala) and a willingness to learn Apache Spark.
• Problem Solving: The ability to design creative technical solutions for specialised customer needs.

Communication & Travel:

• Collaboration: You can orchestrate diverse teams to achieve a common goal and explain complex tech to non-technical leaders.
• Travel: This role requires travel to customer sites in the UK and London offices (approx. 20-30%). We support flexible scheduling to help manage this travel alongside your personal life.

Nice to Have:

• Databricks Certification.