Azure Architect – Data & AI

Work arrangement: Remote (India) Location: Gurugram (company base)

About the Role

This is a key role for an experienced Azure Architect specializing in Data & AI. You will design end-to-end data architectures on Azure, architect advanced AI/ML and generative AI solutions, and provide hands-on architectural oversight throughout implementation. The role spans pre-sales solutioning, architecture design, and technical leadership during delivery. You will partner with sales teams, lead technical solutioning for RFPs/RFIs, and mentor engineering teams. You will report to the Practice Lead or Head of Data & AI.

Responsibilities

• Design end-to-end data architecture on Azure, covering ingestion, storage, transformation, governance, and consumption layers.
• Define reference architectures using Azure Data Lake, Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Databricks, and Azure SQL/Cosmos DB.
• Architect AI/ML and generative AI solutions using Azure Machine Learning, Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI Service, and Cognitive Services.
• Design data governance, security, and compliance frameworks using Microsoft Purview, Unity Catalog, and Azure security best practices.
• Create solution blueprints, high-level and low-level design documents, and target-state architecture diagrams.
• Partner with sales teams on customer discovery calls to understand customers’ data landscapes, pain points, and business goals.
• Lead technical solutioning for RFPs/RFIs and prepare architecture proposals, effort estimates, and delivery roadmaps.
• Deliver architecture presentations, proofs of concept (PoCs), and demos to technical and business stakeholders.
• Support commercial teams with technical positioning of Azure Data & AI offerings against customer requirements.
• Provide hands-on architectural oversight during implementation, ensuring adherence to the design and Azure best practices.
• Guide data engineering and data science teams on pipeline design, data modeling, MLOps, and deployment patterns.
• Review code, pipelines, and infrastructure as code for architectural compliance, performance, and cost optimization.
• Troubleshoot complex technical issues and provide escalation support during critical project phases.
• Mentor engineers and consultants on Azure data platform and AI capabilities.

Ideal Candidate Profile

We are looking for a strong Azure Data & AI Architect with a blend of pre-sales solutioning and hands-on delivery leadership.

• Experience: 10+ years of overall experience, including 8+ years specifically in Azure Data/AI architecture, and proven experience architecting and delivering large-scale data platforms on Microsoft Azure.
• Architecture design: Ability to design end-to-end Azure data architecture (ingestion, storage, transformation, governance, and consumption), create reference architectures, and produce solution blueprints, HLD/LLD, and target-state diagrams.
• Pre-sales: Demonstrated pre-sales experience, including customer discovery, technical solutioning for RFPs/RFIs, architecture proposals, effort and cost estimation, delivery roadmaps, and architecture presentations, PoCs, and demos.
• Delivery oversight: Proven experience providing hands-on architectural oversight during delivery (Well-Architected Framework), guiding data engineering and data science teams on pipeline design, data modeling, MLOps, and deployment, and reviewing code, pipelines, and IaC for compliance, performance, and cost.
• Microsoft partner experience: Prior experience in a Microsoft Partner organization, with direct involvement in achieving or maintaining the Data & AI (Azure) Solutions Partner designation and hands-on contribution to passing the Microsoft Data & AI specialization audit.
• Technical skills:
  • Strong expertise in Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Fabric, and/or Azure Databricks.
  • Experience with Azure Machine Learning and Azure OpenAI Service, and building AI/ML or generative AI-powered solutions (Azure AI Foundry, Cognitive Services).
  • Solid understanding of ETL/ELT pipelines, data modeling (dimensional/data vault), and orchestration tools (Azure Data Factory, Synapse Pipelines).
  • Familiarity with Microsoft Purview (or equivalent) for data governance, cataloging, and lineage, plus working knowledge of Azure security, networking, and identity (Entra ID, Private Link, Key Vault, RBAC).
  • Hands-on scripting/programming experience in Python, SQL, and/or Spark, and infrastructure-as-code experience (Bicep, ARM templates, or Terraform) for provisioning Azure resources.
• Communication: Strong client-facing communication skills and the ability to present architecture to both technical and executive audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certifications: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Data Engineer Associate, Azure AI Engineer Associate, or DP-600 (Fabric Analytics Engineer).
• Other: Experience with Power BI semantic modeling/reporting; MLOps tools (MLflow, Azure ML pipelines, CI/CD for ML); and consulting, SI, or Microsoft Partner (Solutions Partner) environments.