Solution Architect

💸Salary: £80,000 - £110,000 (depending on experience)

📍Location: Remote – must be based within the UK. Occasional visits to see customers and the team.    

🧠Interview process: Two rounds. 1: Get to know you chat with the People Recruitment Manager ; 2: Technical competency with two team members; 3: Final Interview with the Chief Architect

🤝Our Values:  Advancing, Come as you are, Zero burnout, We all level up together and Transparency  

Learn more about us: YouTube, Totally Skewed Podcast & Data Science in Production. Read our Blogs. 

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Who Are We?

Advancing Analytics are a market leader in delivering pioneering analytical solutions for customers all over the world. To thrive in today's market, businesses need to implement AI built on a solid, reliable Data Platform, and we are looking for you to help us build it!  

Who are we looking for?

The Solution Architect is a delivery-focused role responsible for designing, documenting, and supporting end-to-end data and AI solutions on Azure and Databricks. The role balances hands-on solution design with close collaboration across delivery, sales, and client teams.

You will be embedded in projects and support pre-sales activities where architectural input is needed. You will build strong delivery experience and sharpen your architectural judgement on real client problems.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Solution Design & Architecture

• Design and document end-to-end data and AI solutions using Azure, Databricks, and related services.

• Translate business and technical requirements into clear architecture designs that delivery teams can build.

• Apply our existing standards, patterns, and reference architectures.

• Identify technical risks early, own them on the project risk register and be accountable for their mitigation and resolution.

• Produce design artefacts and present them at architectural forums, from engineering teams through to senior executives.

• Shape and guide the design of intelligent data platform projects using lakehouse architectures, making data available for reporting, AI, and analytics.

2. Delivery Support

• Work closely with delivery teams to make sure what gets built matches what was designed.

• Support teams with architectural decisions during delivery.

• Take part in design reviews and technical walkthroughs.

• Run client workshops, including architecture reviews and discovery sessions

3. Pre-sales Support

• Get involved early in client conversations to qualify opportunities, capture requirements, and recommend the right approach.

• Support the sales process through technical expertise and demos.

• Contribute to proposals and solution approaches, working with subject matter experts across the business to shape designs that are scalable, supportable, cost-effective, and aligned with our standards.

• Own the technical view on scope, effort, and delivery risk for your assigned opportunities, and present it honestly to clients and internal teams

4. Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Build strong relationships with clients and become a trusted technical advisor.

• Take complex technical concepts and translate them into plain language and clear business outcomes for senior business leaders, technology leads, and internal sales teams.

Enablement & Learning

• Get hands-on with new and emerging technologies, including Agentic AI, and help shape how we apply them on real client work.

• Take part in internal communities, knowledge shares, and technical forums.

• Build your profile through writing, speaking, or contributing to thought leadership where you want to.

• Identify reusable patterns and learning from delivery work, validate and feed them into Advancing library of technical best practice, standards, templates, and accelerators.

• Work with the wider Data and AI leadership to shape our current and future offerings and go-to-market activities.

• Support and mentor more junior colleagues across the technical community.

• Share your knowledge, help others grow, and contribute to a team where people want to do their best work.

Authority & Decision Rights

• Own solution designs for your assigned projects.

• Recommend deviations from standards where there is a good reason, subject to review by architecture squad.

• Escalate major risks or significant deviations to a Chief Architect.

• Take part in the Architecture Review Board, to bring your designs for review, challenge others' designs constructively, and help keep our standards sharp.

Success Measures

• Solution designs are clear, complete, and can be delivered as sold.

• Delivery outcomes match the agreed architecture with minimal rework.

• Pre-sales contributions are realistic, well-scoped, and help us win the right work.

• Clients and delivery teams give positive feedback on architectural input and support.

• Patterns and learnings from delivery feed back into our standards and accelerators.

Skills / Approaches:

Technical

• Proven experience designing cloud data architectures, with hands-on work in Azure and Databricks.

• Working knowledge of data engineering, ML/AI engineering, data governance, and platform design.

• Experience designing scalable, secure, and cost-effective solutions using established patterns and standards.

Delivery

• Strong practical experience working in delivery teams and agile environments, turning requirements into architectures that can actually be built.

• Experience working with senior stakeholders and leadership to shape technical vision, high-level architectures, and delivery roadmaps for complex programmes.

• Comfortable working in ambiguous environments and helping clients shape problems as well as solutions.

Commercial & Stakeholder

• Good communication skills with technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels.

• Comfortable getting involved in sales conversations and able to represent solutions clearly to clients.

• Able to influence technical and business stakeholders without relying solely on formal authority.

• Previous consulting experience is required - you understand the difference between working for one business and working across man

What will it be like to work for Advancing Analytics?

We are a small company and encourage everyone to have a voice within our collaborative and inclusive team from day one.  

As a consultancy with strong partnerships with Microsoft, Databricks, AWS, Dataiku and Thoughtspot you will have access to the latest tech and training opportunities the industry has to offer. We are aware this is a rapidly changing market and are committed to investing in the long-term goals of our employees. We love being engaged in the wider tech community and frequently present at events, sponsor events such as Big Data London, SQLBits and even organise the Global AI Bootcamp London.   

Aside from offering a competitive salary, we have a great set of benefits and perks including, but not limited to:

• Industry matching Maternity & Paternity policy

• Private Medical & Dental Care plus Eye care scheme 👁️

• Health & Wellbeing supplement

• 25 Days Annual Leave, Birthday Leave & Charity Leave 🌴

• Away days with the team 🚃

• Discretionary Annual Bonus Scheme

• Flexible Working Hours

• Electric Car Scheme 🚗

Our company values define us:

🚀 Advancing – Being part of a team that drives innovation and pushing boundaries of what’s possible. Our work redefines industry standards and challenges the status quo in the data world every day.

❤️ Come as you are – we are an inclusive company. When you work with us, rest assured you're working in a safe environment.

❌ Zero burnout – We have seen it happen, and we never want to be a company that pushes our staff to breaking point.

⬆️ We all level up together – we have each seen the benefit that being part of a community can have, it is transformational.

💡 Transparency – We are big believers that there are no secrets in Advancing Analytics, and we try to live this day to day.

You can read about our values in more detail here - https://www.advancinganalytics.co.uk/values 

Equal opportunities for everyone

At Advancing Analytics both diversity and inclusion are a priority. We are all committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued, respected and empowered to be their authentic selves.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer; all applicants will be considered without regard to age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, veteran status, neurodiversity or disability status.

This role profile is intended to provide an overview of the responsibilities and qualifications required for the Solution Architect role. It is not an exhaustive list and may be subject to change to meet the needs of the organisation.