Databricks Center of Excellence (CoE) Leader

Guidehouse•Tysons Corner, VA

14d

About The Position

Guidehouse is seeking a strategic and technically strong Databricks Center of Excellence (CoE) Leader to accelerate and mature our Databricks capabilities across the firm and support critical client delivery needs. This leader will establish and scale an enterprise-grade CoE that advances our cloud data engineering, analytics, AI/ML, and Lakehouse delivery excellence on the Databricks platform. This role requires a blend of hands-on Databricks expertise, executive‑level communication, vendor relationship management, and proven experience standing up and running enterprise technology CoEs.

Requirements

US Citizenship is required
Bachelor's degree is required
Minimum TEN (10 years in data engineering, cloud data platforms, or enterprise analytics.
Minimum FIVE (5) years leading large-scale cloud or data platform programs.
Deep, hands-on understanding of the Databricks platform, including Delta Lake, Databricks SQL, Unity Catalog, MLflow, and Lakehouse Architecture.
Experience establishing or running a technology Center of Excellence or platform engineering function.
Demonstrated success managing enterprise vendor relationships—preferably with Databricks, Azure, AWS, or other strategic cloud/data partners.
Strong communication skills, with the ability to influence senior executives and technical teams.
Prior consulting or professional services experience delivering complex data and AI solutions.

Nice To Haves

Databricks certifications (Data Engineer Professional, Machine Learning Professional, or Solutions Architect).
Working knowledge of the Advana platform in the Department of War.
Experience with Azure Databricks in secure government cloud environments (Azure Gov/GCC High or AWS GovCloud).
Understanding of data governance frameworks and enterprise metadata management.
Familiarity with regulated industries (public sector, healthcare, financial services).
Prior Director-level experience in a technology, analytics, or AI/ML leadership role.
Active Secret or Top Secret clearance.

Responsibilities

Lead the Databricks CoE to enable excellence in platform standards, reusable assets, delivery patterns, and best practices.
Develop and maintain the Databricks capability roadmap aligned to market demands of segments served by Guidehouse.
Lead governance, intake, prioritization, and performance management of CoE initiatives and shared services.
Drive adoption of consistent frameworks, architecture patterns, and accelerators across client engagements.
Serve as the senior subject matter expert (SME) on Databricks Lakehouse, Unity Catalog, Delta Lake, MLflow, model governance, and data engineering pipelines.
Oversee development of reusable code, templates, libraries, and reference architectures.
Guide teams in solution design decisions for large-scale data modernization, AI/ML, and analytics workloads.
Maintain expert-level understanding of Databricks platform updates, roadmap advancements, and industry best practices.
Manage and strengthen the strategic partnership with Databricks, including co-selling, technical alignment, JDPs, and joint marketing opportunities.
Coordinate with cloud partners (Azure, AWS, GCP) to align Databricks engagements within cloud ecosystem strategies.
Act as the primary Guidehouse point-of-contact for Databricks partner leadership and technical organizations.
Build and scale a Databricks-skilled workforce through training, certification programs, technical communities, and knowledge-sharing.
Provide oversight and quality assurance for major Databricks-enabled client engagements.
Develop and enforce delivery standards, security and governance guidelines, and MLOps best practices.
Support business development by contributing to proposals, solutioning, client workshops, and platform demonstrations.
Create thought leadership on Lakehouse architectures, generative AI on Databricks, and enterprise data innovation.
Partner with leaders across sectors to shape differentiated offerings powered by Databricks.

Benefits

Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance
Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays
Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus
Parental Leave and Adoption Assistance
401(k) Retirement Plan
Basic Life & Supplemental Life
Health Savings Account, Dental/Vision & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
Student Loan PayDown
Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development & Learning Opportunities
Skills Development & Certifications
Employee Referral Program
Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach
Emergency Back-Up Childcare Program
Mobility Stipend