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 be responsible for designing end-to-end data architectures on Azure, architecting advanced AI/ML and Generative AI solutions, and providing 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, reporting 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 current data landscape, pain points, and business goals.
- Lead technical solutioning for RFPs/RFIs, prepare architecture proposals, effort estimates, and delivery roadmaps.
- Deliver architecture presentations, 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 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 overall experience, with 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, 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/cost estimation, delivery roadmaps, and architecture presentations/PoCs/demos.
- Delivery Oversight: Proven experience providing hands-on architectural oversight during delivery (Well-Architected Framework),



guiding data engineering/science teams on pipeline design, data modeling, MLOps, and deployment, and reviewing code/pipelines/IaC for compliance, performance, and cost.
- Microsoft Partner Experience: Prior experience in a Microsoft Partner organization, with direct involvement in achieving/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, Azure OpenAI Service, and building AI/ML or GenAI-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 in Python, SQL, and/or Spark, and IaC experience (Bicep, ARM templates, or Terraform) for provisioning Azure resources.

- Communication: Robust client-facing communication skills, able 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); consulting / SI / Microsoft-partner (Solutions Partner) environment experience.

📌 Azure Architect – Data & AI (Haryana)
🏢 TheStaffingCircle
📍 Haryana