Senior Snowflake Architect

Overview

Ascendion Engineering Private Limited is a technology-focused engineering service provider based in India, offering professional growth opportunities in a collaborative and learning-centric environment. We seek a seasoned Senior Snowflake Architect to guide enterprise data platform modernization initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and own the comprehensive Snowflake architecture for large-scale enterprise migration and modernization projects, encompassing landing zones, role-based access control (RBAC), data sharing mechanisms, and multi-account strategies.
• Lead thorough assessments of existing legacy data platforms such as Teradata, Oracle, Netezza, SQL Server, and Hadoop, creating workload prioritizations and migration schedules.
• Establish appropriate migration strategies — lift-and-shift, re-platform, or re-engineer — carefully balancing total cost of ownership, risk factors, and business impact per workload.
• Architect ELT pipelines on Snowflake using dbt or comparable tools by structuring project workflows, layering data models (staging, intermediate, marts), and ensuring testing, documentation, and CI/CD integration.
• Develop ingestion and transformation frameworks leveraging Snowpark, Streams & Tasks, Dynamic Tables, and Snowpipe to support batch, micro-batch, and streaming data sources.
• Lead technical teams of 6 to 20 engineers across multiple functional areas including data engineering, SQL conversion, ELT modeling, testing, and DevOps.
• Promote automation in SQL conversion, data validation, and reconciliation through Snowflake-native tools and accelerators such as SnowConvert, Bladebridge, or Datametica.
• Conduct architecture and code reviews to uphold engineering standards, consistent naming conventions, and promote reusable ELT patterns.
• Manage production cutover activities ensuring zero data loss and minimal disruption through rollback strategies and hypercare support.
• Support pre-sales activities by leading solution workshops, responding to RFPs, providing accurate estimations, and drafting Statements of Work for Snowflake engagements.

Required Qualifications

• 8 to 12 years experience in data warehousing, data engineering, or analytics platform architecture, with at least 4 years of direct Snowflake implementation experience.
• Proven leadership in at least two end-to-end migrations from legacy MPP/EDW platforms (Teradata, Netezza, Exadata, SQL Server, or Hadoop) to Snowflake at enterprise scale.
• Advanced expertise in Snowflake features including virtual warehouses, RBAC, resource monitors, micro-partitioning, clustering, query profiling, time travel, zero-copy cloning, secure data sharing, and replication/failover setups.
• Data engineering proficiency with expert SQL skills alongside practical experience in Python programming; familiarity with Snowpark, Apache Airflow, and cloud-native ingestion tools such as Fivetran, Matillion, Informatica IDMC, Azure Data Factory, or AWS Glue.
• Hands-on architectural knowledge of at least one major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including their IAM, networking (like PrivateLink), storage, and key management integrations with Snowflake.
• Comprehensive understanding of data governance and security principles, including masking policies, row access restrictions, metadata tagging, dependency management, and integration with tools like Collibra, Alation, or Atlan.
• Financial Operations (FinOps) experience in configuring cost-efficient Snowflake environments through warehouse sizing, workload isolation, query optimization, and chargeback methodologies.
• Excellent consulting skills, including strong communication (written and verbal), senior stakeholder engagement, and the ability to compose professional documentation such as Statements of Work and architecture blueprints.
• Mandatory SnowPro Core certification.

Preferred Qualifications

• SnowPro Advanced Architect certification.
• Practical experience with dbt (Core or Cloud) for Snowflake, involving model layering, macros, testing, snapshots, and CI/CD processes; or equivalent expertise with alternative ELT tools such as Coalesce, Matillion, or Informatica IDMC.
• Familiarity with Snowflake Cortex capabilities (LLM functions, Cortex Search, Cortex Analyst) aimed at GenAI implementations.
• Experience with open table formats such as Apache Iceberg and interoperability frameworks.
• Exposure to streaming data architectures using Kafka, Amazon Kinesis, Snowpipe Streaming, or Dynamic Tables.
• Domain experience in sectors including Banking & Financial Services, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods, or Manufacturing.
• Previous work in organizations recognized as Snowflake Premier or Elite Partners.