The Cloud & AI Data Solution Architect (CSA) is a customer-facing technical leader responsible for helping enterprise customers build a unified, governed Data & AI estate and accelerate the adoption of AI-powered business solutions. The role combines technical architecture, strategic advisory, and customer success to drive business outcomes, Azure consumption growth, and successful AI transformation journeys.

As part of Microsoft's Cloud & AI Platforms Customer Success organization, the CSA partners with customer executives, architects, engineering teams, account teams, and specialists to design modern data platforms, enable AI and agentic solutions, and ensure customers realize value from their Microsoft investments. The role requires balancing delivery excellence with opportunity identification and consumption growth .

For strategic Financial Services customers, the CSA acts as a trusted technical advisor, helping customers modernize data estates, establish governance, unlock business insights, and deploy AI solutions that drive measurable business impact.

Customer Advisory & Technical Leadership

• Serve as a trusted advisor to customer technical stakeholders, enterprise architects, and technology leaders.
• Lead architecture discussions and guide customers on data modernization, AI adoption, governance, and analytics strategies.
• Translate customer business objectives into actionable technology roadmaps and solution architectures.
• Drive executive-level conversations around data, AI, transformation, and innovation initiatives.

Data & AI Solution Architecture

• Design and recommend modern data platform architectures using Microsoft Fabric, OneLake, Azure Data Services, and analytics platforms.
• Architect AI-powered solutions leveraging Azure AI Foundry, Azure AI Search, generative AI, RAG patterns, agents, and intelligent applications.
• Provide technical guidance on data governance, security, compliance, scalability, and operational excellence.
• Support proof-of-concepts, solution design workshops, and architectural reviews.

AI & Agent Transformation

• Help customers establish AI-ready data foundations.
• Drive adoption of AI-powered experiences, intelligent agents, and agentic workflows.
• Advise customers on AI architecture patterns, model selection, grounding strategies, and responsible AI practices.
• Enable customers to realize value from Microsoft AI platform investments.

Customer Success & Delivery Excellence

• Ensure successful deployment and adoption of Microsoft Cloud & AI solutions.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks that may impact customer outcomes.
• Drive customer health, solution adoption, and consumption acceleration.
• Partner with Customer Success Account Managers (CSAMs) and delivery teams to achieve business and technical objectives.
• Monitor progress against agreed success criteria and transformation milestones.

Consumption Growth & Business Development

• Identify new opportunities to expand Azure consumption and AI adoption.
• Collaborate with sales and specialist teams to develop technical strategies supporting account growth.
• Generate data and AI pipeline opportunities through architecture engagements and customer success outcomes.
• Connect delivery achievements to future modernization, analytics, and AI initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related technical field, or equivalent industry experience.
• Experience designing and implementing enterprise-scale data and analytics solutions.
• Hands-on knowledge of modern data platform technologies, including Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Services, Data Warehousing, Lakehouse architectures, and enterprise analytics.
• Experience with AI and machine learning solutions, including generative AI, Azure AI services, and intelligent application architectures.
• Strong customer-facing communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence technical and business stakeholders at multiple organizational levels.
• Demonstrated problem-solving, architecture, and consultative engagement skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Azure AI Foundry, Azure AI Search, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Agentic AI, and intelligent automation solutions.
• Financial Services industry experience and understanding of regulatory and governance requirements.
• Knowledge of data governance, security, privacy, and responsible AI frameworks.
• Experience engaging C-level executives, enterprise architects, and business decision makers.
• Azure certifications in Data, AI, or Solution Architecture disciplines.
• Experience with Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft IQ, AI-powered analytics, and enterprise data transformation initiatives.

Success Profile

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong technical depth across Data & AI technologies.
• Consultative customer engagement and executive presence.
• Ability to connect technology solutions to business outcomes.
• A growth mindset and continuous learning capability.
• Strong collaboration across sales, customer success, engineering, and partner teams.
• Passion for helping customers transform through data, AI, and cloud innovation.