Principal Architect

Job Title: Principal Data Architect – Data Engineering, Gen AI & Pre-Sales Experience: 15-20 years of IT experience, with a minimum of 5 years specifically focused on pre-sales activities. Location: Gurugram or Hyderabad Reports to: Head of Data Practice About the Role: We are looking for a Principal Architect who can operate at the intersection of technical delivery and pre-sales solutioning for our Data Engineering practice. You will lead the design of greenfield and brownfield data architectures and large-scale migrations on modern cloud-native platforms such as Snowflake and Databricks, deployed on AWS, Azure or GCP, while increasingly bringing Gen AI-driven capabilities — intelligent data pipelines, LLM-powered analytics, and AI-assisted architecture patterns — into both client solutions and proposals. You'll also play a lead role in shaping client pitches, RFP responses, and technical win strategies. This is a dual-mandate role — architecting solutions that get built, and architecting the pitches that win the business in the first place. Responsibilities: Pre-Sales & Solutioning Partner with sales and account teams to scope, architect, and win new data engineering and Gen AI opportunities across multiple industries. Lead technical responses to RFPs/RFIs — solution architecture, technology recommendations, high-level design, and effort/cost estimation across AWS, Azure and GCP. Design and present solution architectures, reference architectures, and POCs/POVs — including Gen AI use cases such as intelligent data discovery, natural-language analytics, and AI-augmented pipeline automation. Translate client business problems into compelling, technically sound, and commercially viable proposals, positioning Gen AI as a differentiator where it adds real value. Own solution narrative and technical storytelling in client-facing pitches, workshops, and architecture review sessions. Assess competitive positioning and articulate differentiated value of proposed platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, AWS/Azure-native services, and Gen AI/LLM tooling) vs. alternatives. Collaborate with delivery leadership to ensure proposed solutions — including AI-enabled ones — are realistic, deliverable, and aligned with proven patterns. Architecture & Delivery Lead end-to-end architecture and delivery of data engineering solutions for telecom clients, from discovery through production deployment. Design greenfield data architectures and lead seamless migrations to modern cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks) on AWS, Azure and GCP. Architect and build robust, scalable data pipelines supporting batch, real-time, and AI-driven processing use cases. Evaluate and integrate Gen AI capabilities (LLMs, RAG architectures, copilots) into data platforms — e.g., natural-language querying, automated data cataloging, metadata enrichment, and anomaly detection. Define cloud-native reference architectures on AWS/Azure/GCP aligned to client business goals, security, compliance, and responsible-AI requirements. Act as a trusted technical advisor to client stakeholders post-sale, ensuring continuity from proposal to delivery. Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural governance across delivery teams, including on emerging Gen AI patterns. Required Qualifications 15+ years of overall IT experience, with strong depth in data architecture and engineering. Proven expertise designing and delivering solutions on Snowflake and Databricks. Strong hands-on architecture experience with AWS, Azure and GCP ecosystems and cloud-native design patterns. Working knowledge of Gen AI / LLM technologies (e.g., RAG pipelines, vector databases, Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock) and how they integrate with modern data platforms. Prior experience in a pre-sales, solution architecture, or technical sales support capacity — RFP/proposal authorship, client presentations, effort estimation. Demonstrated experience building real-time and batch data pipelines at scale. Excellent client-facing communication, storytelling, and stakeholder management skills — comfortable presenting to CXO/technical audiences alike. Preferred Certifications AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate/Professional) Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert Snowflake / Databricks platform certifications Gen AI / ML certifications (AWS or Azure) — a plus What We Offer A high-visibility dual role spanning solutioning and delivery leadership for large data and Gen AI programs. Direct influence on deal shaping, technology strategy, and client relationships from pursuit to production. Exposure to cutting-edge multi-cloud, modern data platform, and Gen AI technologies.