Lead Solutions Architect (Digital Natives Business) - Databricks

REQ ID: FEQ227R147

Location: London, UK

Recruiter: Dina Hussain

At Databricks, our core values are at the heart of everything we do; creating a culture of proactiveness and a customer-centric mindset guides us to create a unified platform that makes data and AI accessible to everyone. We aim to inspire our customers to make informed decisions that push their business forward.

In the UK&I Digital Natives Hunting territory, we move at the speed of the most innovative companies in the world. We don't just sell software; we partner with technical founders, CTOs, and VPs of Engineering at high-growth startups to build the future of AI. You will be an essential part of this mission, using your executive-level technical credibility and "Hunter" mindset to win mindshare and acquire new logos. Join us in our quest to change how people work with data and make a better world!

Reporting to Manager, Field Engineering

The impact you will have:

• Executive Evangelism & Thought Leadership: Act as a Technical Advisor, building peer-to-peer relationships with CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and technical founders at high-growth DNBs. You will win technical mindshare in "first meetings" by articulating a vision for Data + AI that aligns with their rapid innovation cycles.
• Drive New Logo Motion: Execute the high-velocity "Hunter DNA"—obsessing over Time to Value, qualifying out ruthlessly when necessary, and focusing energy on hard-to-win, prestigious accounts that establish Databricks as the standard for the UK startup ecosystem.
• Ecosystem Building: Drive awareness within the UK startup and VC ecosystem. You will be the face of Databricks at relevant events, building strategic relationships with VCs, accelerators, and incubators to identify and influence the next generation of "unicorns."
• Strategic Technical Discovery: Move beyond traditional "hands-on" SA work to focus on high-level architecture and strategic road-mapping. You will bridge complex business requirements with technical solutions, ensuring that the Databricks Intelligence platform is seen as a strategic enabler of a startup's core product.
• Regional Mentorship: Be a role model and mentor for the wider Field Engineering team, specifically coaching Solutions Architects on how to engage effectively with CxOs and navigate the unique demands of the digital-native segment.
• Technical Community Engagement: Develop high-impact, customer-facing collateral, and lead technical seminars or meet-ups that position Databricks as a thought leader in Generative AI, LLMs, and modern data stack architecture.

What we look for:

• Startup Leadership & Scaling Experience: 10+ years of professional experience, including significant time spent as a tech co-founder, Head of Engineering, VP-level leader, or high-impact technical contributor within high-growth startups. We value the "in the trenches" experience of scaling a business and technical stack from the ground up. While you possess the credibility to engage with senior founders, you maintain a hands-on technical edge and aren't afraid to dive into the architecture.
• Executive Presence: Proven ability to influence and win trust with senior technical stakeholders and C-level executives in innovative, fast-moving environments.
• Technical Depth with an Evangelist Spike: Strong technical background (8+ years) in Operational Databases, Data Engineering, Data Science, or AI, but with a primary skillset focused on technical evangelism, storytelling, and high-level architectural vision rather than tactical delivery.
• Operational Database and Real-Time Data Architecture: Experience with modern operational database architectures (OLTP) and building scalable, data-driven applications, including connecting transactional systems with analytical platforms to support real-time analytics, AI/agent workloads, and operational applications. 
• Startup Ecosystem Knowledge: 5+ years of deep familiarity with the startup and VC landscape. You know who the key players are and how to navigate the network of investors, accelerators, and founders.
• High Velocity Mindset: Experience working with early-stage, high-growth digital natives where speed, agility, and "Time to Value" are prioritized over traditional enterprise sales cycles.
• Problem-Solving Agility: Ability to innovate technical solutions for specialized customer needs and navigate a competitive landscape where prospects may already be using "greenfield" or bleeding-edge tech stacks.
• Communication Excellence: Exceptional ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both highly technical audiences and business decision-makers.
• Nice to have:
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL-compatible systems and architectures enabling low-latency feature and application data serving.
• Experience migrating or modernising operational databases (e.g. Aurora/ RDS/ PostgreSQL) toward Lakehouse integrated architectures.
• Deep expertise in articulating the strategic and commercial value of Generative AI, including Large Language Models (LLMs), RAG architectures, and the shift toward Compound AI Systems.
• Familiarity with the latest advancements in Agentic Workflows, model fine-tuning (Mosaic AI), and efficient inference at scale.
• Established presence in the technical community (e.g., high-impact blog, regular public speaking at major conferences like Data+AI Summit, AWS re:Invent, or significant open-source contributions).