Databricks Solution Architect

Location: Baden, Madrid | Workload: 80–100%

Who We Are
Axpo is driven by a single purpose to enable a sustainable future through innovative energy solutions. As Switzerland's largest producer of renewable energy and a leading international energy trader, we leverage cutting-edge technologies to serve customers in over 30 countries. We thrive on collaboration, innovation, and a passion for driving impactful change.

About the Team
You'll report to the Head of Development and work closely with the Chief Data & Analytics Office (CDAO) as part of a cross-functional effort to build a secure, scalable, and business-aligned data platform. Our mission is to empower Axpo's decentralized business hubs with self-service analytics and AI capabilities, combining the strengths of engineering, governance, and business ownership

What You Will Do
As a Databricks Solution Architect, you will play a pivotal role in Axpo's enterprise data transformation by designing and governing scalable and secure solutions on the Databricks Lakehouse platform.

You will:

• Design performant, secure, and cost-effective Lakehouse architectures that adhere to enterprise data governance and domain modeling standards defined by the CDAO.
• Lead the design of performant, secure, and cost-effective Lakehouse architectures aligned with enterprise needs.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders, engineers, and data scientists to design end-to-end solutions that enable innovation and data-driven decision making.
• Guide engineering teams on implementing technical best practices, ensuring alignment with CDAO-defined data models and stewardship principles.
• Collaborate with the CDAO office to implement Unity Catalog policies for access control, lineage, and metadata management.
• Support platform observability, data quality monitoring, and operational excellence in partnership with data governance stakeholders.
• Evaluate new Databricks features (e.g., Delta Sharing, governance enhancements) and lead their integration into platform capabilities.
• Establish solution review processes and mentor engineers and analysts on architectural thinking and Databricks capabilities.
• Support security, compliance, and cost-optimization efforts in close collaboration with platform and cloud teams.

What You Bring & Who You Are

You are a strategic thinker with hands-on technical expertise and a strong focus on business value. You bring:

• A degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or related field.
• 5+ years in data engineering and 3+ years in architecture roles, with deep experience designing solutions on Databricks and Apache Spark.
• Strong grasp of Delta Lake, Lakehouse architecture, and Unity Catalog policy implementation in coordination with data governance functions.
• Expertise in Python, SQL, and optionally Scala; strong familiarity with dbt and modern ELT practices.
• Proven experience integrating Databricks with Azure services (e.g., Data Lake, Synapse, Event Hubs).
• Hands-on knowledge of CI/CD, GitOps, Terraform, and orchestration tools (e.g., Dragster, Airflow).
• Sound understanding of enterprise data architecture, data governance, and security principles (e.g., GDPR).
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, able to bridge technical and business domains.
• Fluency in English; other European languages a plus.

Technologies You'll Work With

• Core: Databricks, Spark, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, dbt, SQL, Python
• Cloud: Microsoft Azure (Data Lake, Synapse, Storage, Event Hubs)
• DevOps: Bitbucket/GitHub, Azure DevOps, Terraform
• Orchestration & Monitoring: Dragster, Airflow, Datadog, Grafana
• Visualization: Power BI
• Other: Confluence, Docker, Linux

Nice to Have

• Knowledge of Microsoft Fabric or Snowflake
• Familiarity with Dataiku or similar low-code analytics platforms
• Experience with enterprise metadata and lineage solutions
• Background in energy trading or related industries