Data Architect Sr. Advisor

Principal Solution Architect

Minimum Experience : 15+ Years

1. Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Principal Solution Architect - Data & AI to strengthen our APAC consulting and solution architecture capabilities and drive business growth across the region.

The role will lead strategic customer engagements, pre-sales and solution consulting, shape large Data & AI transformation opportunities, and provide enterprise architecture leadership for strategic customer programmes. The individual will work closely with APAC Sales, Account Leaders, Delivery Teams, Global Practice Leadership and technology partners to identify opportunities, develop differentiated solutions, lead customer discussions and support successful deal conversion.

The successful candidate will combine enterprise data architecture expertise with technology consulting, commercial solutioning, pre-sales leadership and strong customer-facing skills. This is a business-oriented architecture leadership role, balancing revenue generation through pre-sales and consulting with revenue realization through billable architecture engagements.

2. Key Responsibilities

A. Pre-Sales, Solution Consulting & Business Development

• Partner with APAC Sales and Account Leaders to identify, qualify and shape Data & AI opportunities.
• Lead solution architecture and consulting for strategic pursuits, large deals and transformation programmes.
• Conduct customer discovery workshops, executive presentations and architecture discussions.
• Translate business requirements into scalable, differentiated and commercially viable solutions.
• Lead technical solution development, RFP/RFI/RFQ responses, effort estimation and solution presentations.
• Support deal shaping, commercial modelling, pricing discussions and solution defence sessions.
• Build relationships with senior customer stakeholders, including CIOs, CTOs, CDOs and Enterprise Architects.
• Proactively contribute to pipeline development and conversion of strategic opportunities.

B. Enterprise Architecture & Delivery Leadership

• Lead enterprise and solution architecture for complex Data & AI transformation programmes.
• Define target-state architectures, technology strategies, migration roadmaps and implementation approaches.
• Provide architecture governance, design reviews and technical assurance across strategic engagements.
• Take on billable Enterprise Architect / Chief Architect responsibilities on selected customer programmes.
• Ensure solutions meet enterprise standards for scalability, security, performance, reliability and cost optimisation.
• Guide delivery teams in resolving complex architectural and technical challenges.

C. Technology Practice & Centre of Excellence Development

• Establish and strengthen technology Centres of Excellence across Databricks, Snowflake and Microsoft Fabric.
• Develop reusable reference architectures, solution frameworks, accelerators and estimation models.
• Build standardised solution blueprints, proposal assets and delivery methodologies.
• Drive technology partner engagement, joint propositions and go-to-market initiatives.
• Support capability development, technical certifications and mentoring of solution architects.

D. Agentic AI & Next-Generation Data Solutions

• Drive customer propositions and architecture solutions around Generative AI, Agentic AI and enterprise AI enablement.
• Develop solutions across the Enterprise Data Value Chain, covering data engineering, integration, governance, semantic layers, knowledge layers and AI enablement.
• Integrate modern data platforms with AI/ML, RAG, knowledge graphs and agentic capabilities.
• Identify emerging technology opportunities and translate them into differentiated customer offerings.

3. Mandatory Skills & Experience

• 18+ years of experience in Data & Analytics, Enterprise Architecture, Technology Consulting or Digital Transformation.
• Significant experience in customer-facing solution architecture and technology consulting.
• Proven experience leading pre-sales, solutioning and architecture for large Data & AI opportunities.
• Strong enterprise data architecture experience, including modern data platforms, data engineering, integration and governance.
• Deep expertise in at least one strategic platform: Databricks / Lakehouse Architecture, Snowflake / Cloud Data Platform, or Microsoft Fabric / Azure Data & Analytics.
• Good working knowledge of other major cloud data platforms and technologies.
• Experience in solution estimation, effort modelling, commercial solutioning and delivery planning.
• Experience leading customer workshops, executive presentations and strategic architecture discussions.
• Strong understanding of cloud architecture, data security, governance, scalability and performance optimisation.
• Proven ability to work with Sales, Delivery, Account Management and senior customer stakeholders.

4. Preferred Skills & Experience

• Experience supporting business development and strategic customer pursuits across APAC markets.
• Exposure to Agentic AI, Generative AI, RAG and enterprise AI architecture.
• Experience establishing or leading technology Centres of Excellence.
• Relevant certifications in Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft Azure or other cloud platforms.
• Experience working with technology partners and developing joint go-to-market propositions.
• Experience in large-scale enterprise data modernisation and cloud transformation programmes.

5. Leadership & Consulting Competencies

• Strong business acumen and customer-centric consulting mindset.
• Excellent communication, presentation and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to engage and influence senior business and technology executives.
• Strong commercial orientation and understanding of deal economics.
• Ability to lead complex solutioning exercises and drive consensus across multiple stakeholders.
• Strategic thinking combined with practical architecture and problem-solving capabilities.
• Ability to mentor architects and build technical consulting capabilities.

6. Expected Contribution Model

The role will have a balanced contribution towards business growth, customer delivery and practice development.

Contribution Area

Expected Allocation

Billable Architecture & Customer Engagements

50%

Pre-Sales, Solution Consulting & Business Development

30%

Practice Development, CoE & Capability Building

20%

Total

100%

7. Key Success Measures

• Contribution to APAC Data & AI revenue pipeline and strategic deal wins.
• Quality and competitiveness of solutions and proposals.
• Improvement in pre-sales responsiveness and solution turnaround time.
• Achievement of approximately 50% billable utilisation.
• Customer satisfaction and successful architecture leadership on engagements.
• Establishment of reusable solution assets and strategic technology CoEs.
• Development of Agentic AI and next-generation Data & AI offerings.
• Mentoring and development of architecture talent.

8. Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is an established technology consulting and architecture leader with a strong track record of leading customer engagements, winning strategic opportunities and architecting complex enterprise Data & AI solutions.

The individual should be able to operate at three levels:

• Business: Engage customers, understand business challenges, shape opportunities and support revenue growth.
• Architecture: Lead enterprise solution architecture, technology strategy and architecture governance.
• Practice: Build capabilities, develop reusable offerings, mentor architects and strengthen technology partnerships.

Role clarification: This is not a pure technical delivery or hands-on engineering role. Candidates with strong delivery backgrounds but limited pre-sales, consulting, commercial solutioning and customer-facing leadership experience may not be suitable.