Cloud Solution Architect - Data & Analytics

Overview

The Cloud Solution Architect - Data & Analytics (CSA) is a customer-facing technical role responsible for helping customers design, implement, and optimize modern data and analytics solutions on Microsoft Azure. As a trusted technical advisor, you work closely with customers to unblock adoption challenges, improve platform health, and accelerate value from Microsoft’s data services.

In this role, you focus on hands-on architecture guidance and technical execution, supporting enterprise and strategic customers as they modernize data platforms, migrate analytics workloads, and operationalize analytics at scale. You bring strong working knowledge of Microsoft Fabric, Azure Databricks, and core database services (Azure SQL, SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server on Azure), with the ability to connect business requirements to practical, well-architected technical solutions.

You partner with Customer Success Account Managers (CSAMs), Technical Specialists, and engineering teams to remove technical blockers, guide design decisions, and ensure customers deploy secure, performant, and scalable data architectures. Typical engagements include architecture design sessions, solution reviews, performance tuning, migration guidance, and production readiness validation.

You are expected to independently own technical engagements within your area of expertise while collaborating with more senior architects on complex or cross-domain scenarios. You contribute to customer success by applying Microsoft best practices, sharing learnings across the CSA community, and providing product feedback based on real-world customer usage.

This role is ideal for a technically strong data professional who enjoys customer interaction, problem-solving, and enabling analytics outcomes, while continuing to deepen expertise across modern data platforms and cloud architecture.

Responsibilities

• Customer Technical EngagementDeliver architecture guidance and technical leadership for data and analytics workloads on Azure, with focus on Fabric, Azure Databricks, and relational databases. Understand customer data estates, technical constraints, and priorities to design fit-for-purpose analytics solutions. Act as a trusted advisor during technical discussions, helping customers make informed platform and design decisions.
• Architecture & Solution DesignDesign and review modern data architectures including lakehouse patterns, data warehousing, and analytical databases. Guide customers on database modernization, including migration from on-premises SQL Server to Azure SQL or SQL Managed Instance. Apply Azure Well-Architected Framework principles across performance, security, reliability, cost optimization, and operational excellence.
• Delivery Acceleration & Platform HealthRemove technical blockers through hands-on troubleshooting, performance optimization, and design validation. Support architecture design sessions (ADS), cloud architecture reviews (CAR), and production readiness activities. Work with Microsoft Support and engineering teams to resolve complex technical issues impacting customer workloads.
• Analytics EnablementHelp customers adopt and optimize Microsoft Fabric (data engineering, semantic models, analytics) and Azure Databricks for large-scale data processing. Support analytics self-service, governance, and data modeling best practices. Collaborate with AI and App Innovation specialists to enable downstream analytics and AI scenarios.
• Collaboration & Continuous ImprovementPartner with account teams to align technical activities with customer success plans. Contribute learnings, reusable assets, and best practices to the CSA community. Provide product feedback based on customer experience and usage patterns.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Experience designing, implementing, or supporting data and analytics solutions on Azure.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Fabric, Azure Databricks or equivalent analytics platforms.
• Strong experience with relational databases, including Azure SQL, SQL Managed Instance, or SQL Server.
• Understanding of data engineering patterns, data modeling, and ETL/ELT processes.
• Ability to engage directly with customers and translate requirements into technical guidance.
• Hands-on skills with SQL and at least one analytics or data engineering language (e.g., Python or Spark).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting cloud data migrations or data platform modernization initiatives.
• Familiarity with data governance, security, and access control concepts (e.g., Purview, RBAC).
• Exposure to streaming or near-real-time analytics scenarios.
• Azure certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect Expert or Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate.
• Experience working in cross-functional account teams and collaborating with sales, engineering, or partners.
• Growth mindset with desire to deepen expertise across data, analytics, and cloud architecture.

Key skills/competency

• Azure Data Services
• Microsoft Fabric
• Azure Databricks
• Relational Databases (Azure SQL, SQL Server)
• Data Architecture Design
• Data Engineering
• ETL/ELT Processes
• Performance Optimization
• Cloud Migration
• Technical Advisory