Snowflake Architect

About Ascendion

Ascendion stands at the forefront of AI-native software engineering services, specializing in applied AI, software engineering, cloud solutions, data management, experience design, and talent transformation. Our expertise drives innovation for Global 2000 clients, with our headquarters located in New Jersey. We boast a remote/hybrid workforce and maintain a presence in 12 countries, with over 40 offices globally across North America, Europe, and APAC. We are dedicated to developing technology enhanced by Generative AI, fostering an inclusive workforce, serving our communities, and cultivating a dynamic culture. For additional information, please visit www.ascendion.com.

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Role Overview

Ascendion is seeking a Senior Snowflake Architect to spearhead the architecture and execution of intricate data platform migration and modernization projects utilizing Snowflake. This role involves comprehensive ownership of client engagements that transition legacy data warehouses (Teradata, Oracle Exadata, Netezza, SQL Server, Hadoop) and ETL platforms (Informatica, DataStage, Ab Initio, SSIS) to Snowflake, along with modernizing transformations through ELT tooling such as dbt. This is a hands-on, client-facing position where you will collaborate with pre-sales and delivery teams, shaping proposals, leading discovery workshops, defining target-state architecture, and guiding delivery teams to successful production go-lives.

Key Responsibilities

• Take full ownership of the end-to-end target-state Snowflake architecture for enterprise migration and modernization projects, encompassing landing zones, RBAC, data sharing, and multi-account designs.
• Conduct assessments of current legacy systems including Teradata, Oracle, Netezza, SQL Server, and Hadoop; create workload heat maps and migration wave strategies.
• Formulate migration strategies (lift-and-shift, re-platform, re-engineer) and select the appropriate approach for each workload based on TCO, risk, and business value.
• Design ELT pipelines on Snowflake using dbt or similar transformation tools — establishing project structures, model layering (staging, intermediate, marts), testing, documentation, and CI/CD practices.
• Create ingestion and transformation frameworks employing Snowpark, Streams & Tasks, Dynamic Tables, and Snowpipe for batch, micro-batch, and streaming data sources.
• Provide technical guidance to delivery teams of 6 to 20 engineers spanning data engineering, SQL conversion, ELT modeling, testing, and DevOps initiatives.
• Promote automation of SQL conversion, data validation, and reconciliation through Snowflake-native tools and accelerators like SnowConvert, Bladebridge, or Datametica.
• Perform architecture and code evaluations; uphold engineering standards, naming conventions, and reusable patterns throughout ELT projects.
• Manage production cutover planning, rollback strategies, and hypercare to ensure zero data loss and minimal disruption to business operations.
• Assist in pre-sales activities — facilitate solution workshops, respond to RFPs, provide estimations, and draft SOWs for qualified Snowflake projects.
  
  

Essential Qualifications

• Experience: 8 to 12 years in data warehousing, data engineering, or analytics platform architecture, including a minimum of 4 years of hands-on delivery experience with Snowflake.
• Migration Expertise: Successfully led at least 2 comprehensive migrations from a legacy MPP/EDW (Teradata, Netezza, Exadata, SQL Server, or Hadoop) to Snowflake on an enterprise level.
• Snowflake Proficiency: In-depth knowledge of virtual warehouses, RBAC, resource monitors, micro-partitioning, clustering, query profile analysis, time travel, zero-copy clone, secure data sharing, and replication/failover.
• Data Engineering Skills: Proficient in SQL and working knowledge of Python; practical experience with Snowpark, Airflow, and at least one cloud-native ingestion tool (Fivetran, Matillion, Informatica IDMC, ADF, AWS Glue).
• Cloud Knowledge: Hands-on architectural experience with at least one of AWS, Azure, or GCP — including IAM, networking (PrivateLink), storage, and key management in conjunction with Snowflake.
• Governance & Security Insight: Strong understanding of data governance concepts — masking policies, row access policies, tagging, object dependencies, and integration with Collibra, Alation, or Atlan.
• FinOps Skills: Proven track record in designing and managing cost-effective Snowflake deployments — including warehouse sizing strategies, workload isolation, query tuning, and chargeback models.
• Consulting Expertise: Excellent written and verbal communication abilities; adept at engaging with senior client stakeholders; experience in producing SOWs, estimations, and high-quality architecture documents.
• Certification: SnowPro Core certification is mandatory.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• SnowPro Advanced: Architect certification.
• Hands-on experience with dbt (dbt Core or dbt Cloud) on Snowflake — including model layering, macros, tests, snapshots, and CI/CD; or similar experience with other ELT tools like Coalesce, Matillion, or Informatica IDMC.
• Familiarity with Snowflake Cortex (LLM functions, Cortex Search, Cortex Analyst) for GenAI applications.
• Practical experience with Apache Iceberg or interoperability patterns involving open-table formats.
• Knowledge of streaming architectures utilizing Kafka, Kinesis, Snowpipe Streaming, or Dynamic Tables.
• Industry expertise in sectors such as Banking & Financial Services, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Retail & CPG, or Manufacturing.
• Previous experience working within a Snowflake Premier or Elite Partner organization.