Senior Data & AI Engineering Consultant

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Ohio.

📋 Description

• Lead client discovery processes to gain insights into business objectives, data environments, limitations, and success metrics.

• Convert discovery outcomes into actionable delivery strategies.

• Design and propose architectures for data lakes, lakehouses, data warehouses, and analytical data stores utilizing Azure and Microsoft Fabric.

• Implement or oversee the implementation of ingestion, transformation, and orchestration pipelines with Microsoft Fabric and Azure services.

• Integrate operational systems, APIs, and third-party data sources effectively.

• Transform raw data into curated datasets that are ready for analytics.

• Develop and sustain analytics-ready data models and schemas.

• Implement business rules, data enrichment, and reusable data patterns.

• Enable compute engines such as SQL, Spark/PySpark, Spark SQL, and KQL against shared datasets.

• Prepare governed data products and reusable datasets for business intelligence, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence applications.

• Establish practices for data quality, including validation, reconciliation, testing, and monitoring.

• Troubleshoot pipeline failures and enhance pipeline resilience.

• Optimize transformations, query performance, and pipeline execution to meet service-level and cost objectives.

• Implement logging, metrics, and operational runbooks.

• Assist with deployments, cutovers, and hypercare support.

• Design and enforce security, governance, and compliance controls across Azure and Fabric.

• Conduct workshops and communicate architectural trade-offs with client stakeholders and delivery teams.

• Produce design documentation, diagrams, implementation guides, and enablement resources.

• Facilitate the adoption of delivered solutions and ensure a smooth handoff.

⛳️ Requirements

• Proven experience in designing and delivering modern analytics platforms using lakehouse and/or data warehouse architectures on Azure and/or Microsoft Fabric, including client-facing delivery.

• Strong SQL proficiency with background in building transformations and dimensional or analytical models.

• Practical experience with Spark (PySpark/Spark SQL) and/or KQL for data engineering and analytics tasks.

• Familiarity with applying software engineering practices to data solutions, including modular design, version control, automated testing, code review, and technical documentation.

• Experience in constructing reliable data pipelines, encompassing orchestration, scheduling, error management, and automated monitoring.

• Understanding of data quality practices, including validation, reconciliation, testing, incident management, and root-cause analysis.

• Working knowledge of Power BI, particularly in semantic modeling concepts.

• Comprehensive understanding of security and governance principles for data platforms, including access controls, least privilege, compliance, and lineage.

• Excellent communication skills, with the capability to present recommendations, align stakeholders, and manage expectations in a client-facing environment.

• Preferred: Direct experience with Microsoft Fabric components such as OneLake, Lakehouse, Warehouse, Data Factory in Fabric, and Real-Time Analytics/KQL databases.

• Preferred: Experience with Azure Data Factory, Synapse, Databricks, ADLS Gen2, and Key Vault.

• Preferred: Working knowledge of Azure architecture fundamentals, covering identity, networking, storage, monitoring, resiliency, and cost management.

• Preferred: Familiarity with AI enablement patterns, such as Azure AI Search, Microsoft Foundry, retrieval-augmented generation, or agent-based solutions.

• Preferred: Experience implementing CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code.

• Preferred: Familiarity with semantic modeling and BI enablement practices.

• Current Microsoft certifications are highly regarded, especially DP-700, PL-300, and AZ-305.

• Experience with Power Apps is advantageous.

• Must be able to thrive in a client-facing consulting environment.

🏝️ Benefits

• Full-time employment.

• Stability and benefits typically associated with enterprise firms.

• Flexible small-company work environment.

• Family-first company culture.

• Innovative, enjoyable, and collaborative workplace.

• Recognition as one of the Best Places to Work.

• Commitment to equal-opportunity employment.