Solutions Architect

Solutions Architect London 6 months contract £600 - £800 per day depending on experience Outside IR35 We are seeking an experienced Data Solutions Architect to join a high-impact Professional Services engagement with a strategic enterprise customer. This is a hands-on contract role for a technical expert who thrives working directly with clients on complex data and AI transformation initiatives using the Databricks platform. You will act as a trusted technical advisor, guiding the customer through architectural decisions, hands-on delivery, and platform adoption, helping them extract maximum value from their data. What You Will Be Doing • Lead short-to-medium term customer engagements covering data engineering, data science, and cloud architecture on Databricks • Design and build reference architectures, productionalise customer use cases, and create scalable how-to guides • Integrate Databricks platform capabilities with client systems and existing data infrastructure • Advise on Lakehouse architecture, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Apache Spark, and MLflow best practices • Deliver training and enablement sessions to customer data teams • Contribute to internal knowledge sharing and best-practice documentation Must-Have Skills & Experience • 10+ years working with Big Data technologies (Apache Spark, Kafka, Data Lakes) in a customer-facing, post-sales, or consulting capacity • 4+ years as a Solutions Architect designing and delivering Big Data solutions for enterprise clients • Deep expertise in Apache Spark and distributed computing including performance optimisation and streaming • Hands-on coding ability in Python, PySpark, and/or Scala • Strong working knowledge of the Databricks Lakehouse Platform • Experience with at least one major cloud platform (Azure, AWS, or GCP) in a data architecture context • Excellent communication skills, able to translate complex technical concepts for both engineering and business audiences Highly Desirable • Databricks Certified Data Engineer Associate or Professional certification • Experience with MLflow, MosaicML, or GenAI tooling on Databricks • Knowledge of real-time streaming pipelines • Prior experience in a Big 4, GSI, or specialist data consultancy • Familiarity with Microsoft Azure Data Engineer or AWS Data Analytics certifications What We Are Looking For in You Beyond the technical credentials, the right person for this role will bring: • Genuine intellectual curiosity about data and AI technology • A consultative mindset: you listen first, then architect the right solution • Adaptability and a growth mindset in a fast-moving, high-growth environment • Strong accountability — you deliver what you commit to, and take ownership of outcomes • Collaborative approach: comfortable working across client teams, sales, and field engineering To apply or find out more, please get in touch.