Data and Analytics Architect - MS Fabric

The company is seeking an experienced Data and Analytics Architect to lead the design of modern data and analytics platforms, with deep, hands-on architecture experience in Microsoft Fabric. The role combines broad data and analytics architecture expertise (strategy, patterns, integration, governance and modernization) with the platform depth to design and to deliver production Fabric solutions.

The architect is responsible for the architecture from discovery and design through delivery and handoff, stays hands-on throughout, and partners with our sales team on new opportunity pursuits. This role requires demonstrating a strong understanding of our clients’ business challenges and the ability to communicate technical solutions without unnecessary jargon.

Primary Responsibilities

• Partner with clients, business analysts and stakeholders to translate business requirements into scalable, efficient data and analytics solutions.

• Assess clients' current data environments, define target architectures, and build phased roadmaps.

• Select and apply the right architecture pattern and communicate the trade-offs to stakeholders.

• Design end-to-end architectures in Microsoft Fabric, covering OneLake, Lakehouse and Warehouse, data integration, data modeling, semantic models and reporting.

• Design integration from diverse sources (ERP, CRM, SaaS, APIs, files and streaming), including batch, incremental and change data capture patterns, using Fabric Data Factory, Dataflows Gen2, Spark notebooks and Azure Data Factory.

• Lead modernization and migration from on-premises SQL Server, SSIS/SSAS, Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI Premium to Microsoft Fabric.

• Design the semantic layer and reporting standards and guide report developers.

• Size, monitor and optimize Fabric capacity and consumption costs, and identify and resolve performance bottlenecks.

• Define data governance, data quality, lineage and metadata practices, and partner with our Security practice on data security, privacy and compliance.

• Conduct data architecture reviews and assessments, identify gaps, and recommend scalable, secure, high-performance solutions.

• Provide technical leadership and guidance to data engineers, analysts and other team members to ensure successful delivery.

• Be a strong collaborator amongst organizational practices to ensure solutions meet the company's quality standards for design and security.

• Support new opportunity pursuits by developing solution approaches, effort estimates and SOW inputs, and by presenting architecture options to clients.

Requirements

Technical Experience

Data and Analytics Architecture

• Data modeling (dimensional and normalized), data warehousing, and lakehouse and medallion design.

• Data integration across diverse sources, ETL/ELT development, pipeline orchestration and performance tuning.

• Data governance, data quality, metadata management, lineage and master data concepts.

• Data security and compliance considerations in the context of analytics.

• Source control and CI/CD with Azure DevOps or GitHub, and delivery within Agile/Scrum methodologies.

• Related Azure services: Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure SQL and SQL Server.

Microsoft Fabric Expertise

• OneLake: Lakehouse vs. Warehouse vs. Eventhouse selection, shortcuts and mirroring, and Delta/Parquet storage design.

• Data engineering: Data Factory pipelines, Dataflows Gen2 and Spark notebooks, and when to use each.

• Semantic layer: Direct Lake semantic models, composite models, DAX optimization and enterprise Power BI design.

• Workspace and tenant design: workspaces, domains, capacities (F SKUs), capacity monitoring and cost management.

• Security and governance: workspace and item permissions, OneLake data access, row- and object-level security, and Microsoft Purview integration.

• ALM: Fabric Git integration, deployment pipelines, and environment promotion across dev, test and production.

• Migration: moving Azure Synapse, Azure Data Factory, SSAS/Azure Analysis Services and Power BI Premium workloads into Fabric.

• Real-Time Intelligence (preferred): Eventstreams and KQL databases for streaming and operational analytics

Required

• Eight or more years of professional data and analytics experience, including at least three years in an architect role.

• Architect on at least two production Microsoft Fabric implementations.

• At least one full-lifecycle greenfield architecture engagement.

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Data Science, Information Systems or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

• Leads requirements elicitation, design and brainstorming sessions with internal and client teams, in both structured and ad hoc settings, and ensures all key contributors are heard.

• Clear, professional written and verbal communication with technical and business audiences at all levels.

• Business acumen to align solution design with client needs.

• Ability to participate in ad hoc meetings, on short notice with groups of all sizes.

Preferred

• Microsoft certifications: Fabric Data Engineer Associate (DP-700); or Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate (DP-600) or Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) as an alternative.

• Exposure to Databricks, Snowflake or other cloud data platforms.

• Pre-sales and estimating experience in a consulting environment.

• AI/ML in analytics workflows (Azure Machine Learning, Python or R), Copilot in Fabric, and Fabric data agents.

Travel and Other Requirements

This is a remote role, with required travel 4-6 times per year with no more than 24 days away from home per calendar year.

Candidates must reside, at the time of application in one of the ten approved state locations to be considered for this position.  Those locations are Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, South Dakota, North Carolina, Arizona and Arkansas.  Candidates residing outside of these locations will not be considered.

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)

• Retirement Plan (401k)

• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)

• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)

• Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity)

• Long Term Disability

• Training & Development

• Work Life Balance

• No company politics.

• Strong employee focused culture