Lead Data Architect

Founded in Switzerland in 1968, Zühlke is owned by its partners and located across Europe and Asia. We are a global transformation partner, with engineering and innovation in our DNA. We're trusted to help clients envision and build their businesses for the future – to run smarter today while adapting for tomorrow’s markets, customers, and communities. Our multidisciplinary teams specialise in tech strategy and business innovation, digital solutions and applications, and device and systems engineering. We excel in complex, regulated spaces including health and finance, connecting strategy, tech implementation, and operational services to help clients become more effective, resilient businesses.

If you share our values and want to do the best work, for the right reasons, we can offer you the chance to do it on a global scale and play a real role in shaping our exciting journey.

The role

As a Lead Data Platform Architect, you are responsible for architecting data platforms laying the foundation for advanced applications including AI. You explain architectural choices in a way that resonates with stakeholders and inspire them with your vision. Your deep understanding of modern data platforms, security, and governance, coupled with a DevOps mindset, enables you to create sustainable, value-driven solutions. With a concept-driven approach and practical data engineering skills, you empower your team to succeed in high-impact projects. You operationalize machine learning prototypes into production-ready systems and implement principles such as transparency, reproducibility, and measurability. Whether on-premises or in the cloud, you design optimal solutions using platforms like AWS, Azure, and GCP. As a thought leader, you help shape Zühlke’s offerings, drive service development, engage in pre-sales, and stay on top of market trends. You actively contribute to the growth of internal talent and educate clients on data possibilities.

How you’ll make an impact

Design and implement foundational architectures for sophisticated data-driven solutions.

Bring deep methodological and conceptual expertise to create sustainable, client-oriented architectures.

Apply strong data engineering skills to guide teams with optimal data structures, processing pipelines, and management strategies.

Operationalize data and ML solutions by implementing traceability, transparency, reproducibility, and measurability.

Architect and deploy solutions on both cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) and on-premise environments.

Position data science and ML as enablers of digital transformation and communicate their value to clients.

Actively shape Zühlke’s data platform services and market offerings, including pre-sales and proposal development.

Monitor and anticipate data and platform trends to keep our capabilities at the cutting edge.

Provide internal and external thought leadership in data platforms through training, mentorship, and community-building.

What’s important to us

Passion for sustainable software architecture and experience leading technical mandates.

In-depth knowledge in various aspects of data engineering and machine learning with a deep understanding both capabilities and limitations.

Strong communication skills, confident presence with clients, and intrinsic motivation to lead.

Architectural decisions guided by non-functional requirements like availability, flexibility, maintainability, and security—balanced with business value.

Awareness of how architectural choices impact implementation at the code level.

A completed university degree (ETH, university, FH) in Computer Science, Mathematics, or similar.

Proficiency in technologies such as Apache Airflow, Apache Spark, Kubernetes, Docker, Python, SQL, Java, and a range of databases (relational, columnar, NoSQL), including experience with stream or batch processing.

Fluency in both German and English is required.

What we offer

Work-life blend : Flexible working hours and remote work options in a safe and healthy environment.

Profit share scheme : Receive a share of the company’s profits in addition to your annual salary, depending on business performance.

Global and diverse community : Collaborate across Zühlke’s 16 global offices, share knowledge, and enjoy team camps, year-end events, and local festivities.

Commitment to development : We invest in your growth—supporting you in building skills to create impact for clients and yourself.

Innovation-driven culture : Work in an environment that values thought leadership and future-oriented technology strategies.

To dive deeper into local benefits of working in Zühlke follow the link.

If you feel you don't meet all the requirements, we are still happy to get to know you, learn more about your ambitions and ideas and look forward to receiving your application!

We welcome people from all backgrounds, regardless of their gender, personality, national origin, race, religion, colour, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, disability or veteran status.