Job Title: Lead Databricks Architect
Location: Onsite, Indianapolis
Industry: Pharmaceutical
Job Overview:
Theoris is assisting our client in their search for a Lead Databricks Architect to lead the architecture, governance, and modernization of an enterprise Databricks platform running on AWS.
This is a true architecture and platform leadership role, not a general Databricks development or data engineering position. The ideal candidate has already led multiple enterprise-scale Databricks implementations on AWS and has direct experience migrating AWS Glue, Aurora PostgreSQL, and existing AWS data lake environments into a Databricks Lakehouse architecture.
The architect will establish platform standards and reusable architectural patterns while guiding migration strategy, governance, security, and engineering practices across multiple Databricks workspaces in a large, regulated enterprise environment.
Responsibilities:
- Design and build metadata-driven, config-based raw-to-refine ingestion pipelines for large-scale Veeva Vault object sets (e.g., 200+ objects) using Databricks on AWS with a Unity Catalog medallion (raw/refine) architecture.
- Develop and maintain Databricks Lakeflow Declarative Pipelines (formerly DLT), including CDC decorator patterns for inserting/update/delete tracking and materialized views for relationship expansion.
- Integrate with the Veeva Direct Data API (DDAPI) and/or Databricks Lakeflow Veeva Vault Connector, including managing incremental file timing, schema evolution, and field-rename edge cases.
- Write and optimize Python-based code generators and automation utilities that translate metadata exports into production pipeline definitions (e.g., SQL/MV templates).
- Author advanced SQL for Databricks/Delta and Iceberg-compatible tables, resolving platform-specific issues (e.g., LATERAL VIEW/JOIN chaining, correlated subqueries, deletion vectors, REORG PURGE).
- Define and provision cloud and platform infrastructure using Terraform, including Databricks workspaces, Unity Catalog objects, service principals, and IAM/permissions.
- Build and maintain AWS infrastructure using CloudFormation (CFN), integrating with services such as S3, Glue, Lambda, Step Functions, Event Bridge, and DynamoDB where applicable.
- Design manifest-driven CI/CD approval and deployment workflows (e.g., GitHub Actions) leveraging the Databricks Statement Execution API for controlled production releases.
- Ensure pipelines meet the compliance, traceability, and data-quality standards required in regulated pharma domains, understanding Veeva Vault as the system of record for transactional data.
- Partner with Safety/Regulatory IT teams, data architects, and business stakeholders to translate Veeva data domain requirements into scalable engineering solutions.
- Troubleshoot and resolve complex data pipeline, schema evolution, and platform compatibility issues; drive root-cause fixes and long-term architectural improvements.
- Document architecture decisions, naming conventions, and operational runbooks; mentor other engineers on Veeva/Databricks best practices.
- Serve as the lead architect for an enterprise Databricks platform hosted on AWS.
- Define Databricks platform architecture, technical standards, governance models, security controls, and engineering guardrails.
- Establish standards across multiple Databricks workspaces, including workspace design, Unity Catalog, data sharing, access controls, and platform governance.
- Lead migrations from AWS Glue, Aurora PostgreSQL, and existing AWS data lake environments to Databricks.
- Modernize existing ETL frameworks, data pipelines, and operational processes as part of the migration strategy.
- Develop reusable platform accelerators, reference architectures, deployment patterns, and engineering standards.
- Design and implement enterprise data governance utilizing Unity Catalog and appropriate RBAC/ABAC models.
- Partner with security, infrastructure, data engineering, architecture, and business teams to ensure platform solutions meet enterprise security, compliance, privacy, and audit requirements
- Establish CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code practices for Databricks environments.
- Provide hands-on technical leadership and architectural guidance throughout implementation and migration efforts.
Requirements- Extensive Databricks architecture experience within AWS environments.
- Proven experience leading multiple enterprise Databricks implementations.
- Experience architecting Databricks environments containing multiple workspaces.
- Direct experience leading AWS Glue-to-Databricks migrations.
- Experience migrating Aurora PostgreSQL and/or PostgreSQL-based workloads into Databricks.
- Experience modernizing AWS data lake environments into Databricks Lakehouse architectures.
- Deep expertise with Unity Catalog, Delta Lake, Databricks Workflows, SQL Warehouses, and Spark/PySpark.
- Experience with declarative data pipeline frameworks.
- Strong AWS knowledge including S3, IAM, networking, and security controls.
- Experience implementing CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code within enterprise data platforms.
- Demonstrated experience defining platform standards, reference architectures, governance frameworks, and migration strategies.
Preferred- Experience within pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, financial services, or another highly regulated enterprise environment.
- Experience supporting audit, privacy, security, and compliance requirements.
- Knowledge of GxP environments and validated systems.
- Experience implementing enterprise RBAC/ABAC and data governance controls
Best In Class Benefits
We are in the people business; treating people right is our ONLY priority. Theoris Services consultants are full-time employees with full benefits, including:
- Robust Health Insurance
- 401(k) plan
- Excellent cash-based referral program
About Theoris: Our goal is to Fuel Your Career! As a Theoris team member, you join a culture based on people-centered values and an environment that fosters both personal and professional growth. We build long-term relationships with our clients and our consultants. With over 30 years of building strong relationships in the industry, we’re uniquely positioned to make the right connections. This knowledge is used to find the right job placement. Our recruiting teams are experts dedicated to the information technology and engineering staffing space and are highly respected by our client base.