Lead Solutions Architect - Strategic Customers
Application analysis
Lead Solutions Architect - Strategic Customers at Databricks is a forward deployed data & ai platform role for engineers who want customer-facing technical work with real deployment ownership.
Reading this role
This Solutions / Sales Engineering role centers on technical discovery, demos, POCs, and helping buyers build internal consensus. Key signals from the listing: AWS, Azure, GCP, Python.
About Databricks
Databricks sells a unified data platform to enterprises. Forward deployed engineers help customers migrate workloads and prove value on live data. The role is anchored in London, United Kingdom, so expect on-site customer work in that region.
Signals in the listing
Stand out for Lead Solutions Architect - Strategic Customers
- Lead your application with one paragraph tying Lead Solutions Architect - Strategic Customers to a specific customer or deployment you owned — Databricks hires for shipped outcomes, not tool lists.
- Bring a tight demo narrative: customer pain, live workflow, and measurable before/after — treat the interview like a compressed POC.
- Show how you qualify opportunities and say no to bad-fit pilots; Databricks values technical judgment in customer-facing roles.
- State clearance status clearly up front (active, expired, or eligible) and mention any prior NIPR/SIPR, IL5, or government cloud accreditation work — recruiters filter on this early.
- The posting mentions multiple languages — pick the one most relevant to this team and show production code, not tutorial exercises.
- This role is tied to London, United Kingdom — mention willingness to work on-site with customers and any existing ties to that market (clients, partners, or domain knowledge).
Stand out at Databricks
- Demonstrate Spark/SQL fluency with a concrete example — Databricks will probe for specifics, not buzzwords.
- Demonstrate enterprise stakeholder management with a concrete example — Databricks will probe for specifics, not buzzwords.
- Strong candidates show they can whiteboard a lakehouse migration and then actually implement the first milestone.
- Read recent engineering blog posts, product launches, and customer stories on databricks.com — reference one explicitly in your outreach to show genuine interest.
Tailored from this listing’s title, company, and description. Always verify requirements on the company careers page before applying.
Role description
Req ID: FEQ126R19
Location: London
Industry Sector: All verticals - Strategic Customers The Opportunity: Shaping The Future of Data & AI With Our Largest Customers Data & AI are the engine driving transformation across our customer base. We are seeking a strategic technical leader to collaborate with our most significant, complex enterprise customers to accelerate that transformation across the UK & Ireland. As a Lead Solutions Architect in the UKI Field Engineering practice, you will be an expert in driving organisational transformation through technology, data and AI. You will work with Databricks UKI leadership to identify and engage a select group of customers at the executive level to advise on and drive Databricks adoption to achieve their business objectives. You will demonstrate our builder culture to the highest standards. At Databricks, we believe in “show, not tell”, and you will leverage the latest in Data & AI technologies to inspire customer CTOs, VPs and senior leaders to think bigger and go further in democratising Data & AI across their organisations. You will act as a peer leader for the Databricks UKI technical communities, demonstrating thought leadership, working to establish and maintain best practices and collaborating across our leadership teams to drive collective success and develop the next generation of solutions architecture talent.
Why You’ll Love This Role
Strategic Influence: You will move beyond pure technology to shape long-term data strategies for complex, enterprise-scale organisations operating at the cutting edge of Data & AI.Independent Ownership & Execution: As a Lead Solutions Architect, you will be encouraged to define your own approach to hitting our organisational goals, supported by our UKI leadership teams and extensive support functions.High Velocity & Growth: Databricks grew by over 65% across the last financial year and we have no intention of slowing down. Our product portfolio continues to expand and innovate, enabling you to bring a high-velocity reality to some of the UK & Ireland’s most recognisable brands and to evolve your own skills along the way.
How You Will Make an Impact
Trusted Advisory: You will build authentic partnerships with stakeholders—from developers to C-suite executives—helping them understand the vision of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. Strategic Planning: Partner closely with Account Executives & UKI Leadership to design engagement strategies that address the specific needs of our largest customers. Team Coaching: Act as a mentor for the wider practice, guiding them on how to approach complex customer scenarios and engage at an executive level with credibility. Ecosystem Integration: Solution complex engagements involving the broader cloud ecosystem (AWS, Azure, GCP) and third-party tools to ensure a seamless experience for the customer. Thought Leadership: Elevate your profile by leading executive engagement, creating customer-facing content, and speaking at industry events.
What We Are Looking For
Enterprise Architecture: Experience influencing technology change at a global-scale enterprise level, with a particular focus on Data & AI strategy and implementation. Commercial Awareness: Deep appreciation of customer and vendor commercial motivations and sales cycles.Market Familiarity: Understanding and experience of key Data & AI technology market players, including the major hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP) and key ISVs.Builder Mentality: A bias towards “showing” rather than “telling”, preferring to inspire stakeholders through built examples.Technical Expertise: Deep experience in core data & AI technologies, including languages (Python, SQL), frameworks (Apache Spark) and platforms (Databricks, etc.) Collaboration: You can orchestrate diverse teams to achieve a common goal and explain complex tech to non-technical leaders. Travel: This role requires travel to customer sites in the UK and London offices (approx. 20-30%). We support flexible scheduling to help manage this travel alongside your personal life.
About Databricks
Databricks is the data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide — including Comcast, Condé Nast, Grammarly, and over 50% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to unify and democratize data, analytics and AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe and was founded by the original creators of Lakehouse, Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow. To learn more, follow Databricks on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Benefits
At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here. Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.
Compliance
If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.