Azure Data Architect

Brampton - Hybrid (2-3 days from Office)

Define end to end data platform reference architectures using Azure services such as Azure Synapse/SQL Microsoft Fabric (Lakehouse Warehouse Semantic Models) Databricks Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 Data Factory/Synapse Pipelines Event Hubs/Kafka and Stream Analytics.

Select appropriate storage and compute patterns (e.g. lakehouse data mesh medallion zones Delta format) aligned to use cases SLAs and scalability needs.

Produce and maintain HLD/LLD Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) ERDs and interface/API specifications.

Establish dimensional (Kimball) 3NF and Data Vault models where appropriate; promote semantic models for BI (Power BI / Fabric).

Define ingestion and processing patterns (batch streaming CDC micro batch) and file format standards (Parquet Delta Lake Avro).

Set coding standards and performance guidelines for SQL T SQL PySpark and Spark SQL.

Architect robust ETL/ELT pipelines with ADF/Synapse Pipelines Fabric Data Factory Databricks Workflows and orchestration using ADF triggers and Logic Apps.

Integrate data from ERPs/CRMs SaaS applications APIs and on prem systems via Self hosted Integration Runtime Event Hubs Kafka Service Bus and Change Data Capture tools.

Implement data governance (catalogs lineage glossary ownership) using Microsoft Purview; establish data mesh guardrails and federated governance practices.

Enforce security using Azure AD (Entra ID) RBAC/ABAC Managed Identities (MSI) Key Vault Private Endpoints VNet integration row/column level security dynamic data masking and encryption at rest/in transit.

Define data quality master/reference data practices and support audit retention and regulatory requirements.

Design for scalability and resilience (partitioning caching Z ordering concurrency control workload isolation).

Tune Spark and SQL workloads; optimize storage layouts; configure auto optimize/auto compaction strategies (e.g. Delta).

Own FinOps for data platforms: capacity planning cost governance tagging budgets/alerts and rightsizing.

Establish CI/CD for data and infrastructure using Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions with Terraform/Bicep and deployment strategies (blue green canary).

Implement monitoring and alerting with Azure Monitor Log Analytics Fabric/Databricks observability and custom dashboards; define SLOs/SLIs for data pipelines.

Define backup & disaster recovery strategies and RPO/RTO targets for critical datasets.

Lead data architecture governance and design reviews; mentor data engineers and analysts.

Partner with Product Security Enterprise Architecture and Business stakeholders to align roadmaps and priorities.

Drive vendor/tool evaluations proofs of concept and build vs buy decisions.

7 years in data architecture/engineering including 3 5 years with Azure data services.

Hands on expertise with several of the following:
o Azure Synapse Analytics / Azure SQL
o Microsoft Fabric (Lakehouse Warehouse Semantic Models / DAX)
o Databricks (Spark Delta Lake Unity Catalog) PySpark/Spark SQL
o ADLS Gen2 Data Factory / Synapse Pipelines / Fabric Data Factory
o Event Hubs Service Bus Kafka Stream Analytics CDC tools

Strong data modeling (dimensional 3NF Data Vault) and ELT/ETL design.

Proficient in SQL T SQL PySpark; solid understanding of metadata management and lineage.

Security & networking basics: AAD RBAC VNets Private Endpoints Key Vault Managed Identities.

IaC & DevOps: Terraform/Bicep Git Azure DevOps/GitHub automated testing for data pipelines.