Solutions Architect-Azure

Polestar Analytics is seeking a senior Solution Architect with deep expertise across the Microsoft technology stack, particularly Microsoft Azure and Azure AI Foundry, to lead the end-to-end architecture of enterprise-grade AI and data solutions. The role involves designing solutions that aggregate information across heterogeneous on-premise and cloud data sources, building unified structured and unstructured data repositories, and enabling natural language access through modern RAG and NL-to-SQL approaches. This is a hands-on, client-facing architecture role based on-site in the tri-state area.

Key Responsibilities

* Own the end-to-end solution architecture for enterprise AI and data initiatives built primarily on Microsoft Azure.

* Design scalable, secure, and cost-optimized architectures leveraging Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, Azure Machine Learning, Azure Data services, and the broader Microsoft cloud ecosystem.

* Architect data integration patterns that aggregate information from multiple on-premise and cloud sources into centralized structured and unstructured repositories.

* Design retrieval architectures including vector RAG, graph RAG, and hybrid approaches, as well as NL-to-SQL solutions for querying enterprise data.

* Translate business requirements into technical blueprints covering compute, storage, networking, identity, security, data, and AI/ML layers.

* Partner with client stakeholders such as CIOs, CTOs, and Heads of Data and AI to shape the technology roadmap and articulate trade-offs across architectural decisions.

* Provide technical leadership and mentorship to AI engineers, data engineers, and other delivery team members.

* Stay current with the evolving Azure AI Foundry capabilities including model catalog, agents, evaluation, observability, and responsible AI features, and bring those innovations into client solutions.

* Lead architecture reviews, design sessions, and proof-of-concept builds.

* Ensure solutions adhere to enterprise standards for security, compliance, governance, and the Microsoft Well-Architected Framework.

* Support pre-sales activities including solution scoping, effort estimation, and proposal development as required.

Required Qualifications

* 10+ years of total experience in solution architecture roles delivering enterprise-grade solutions.

* 3 to 5 years of hands-on architecture experience specifically on Microsoft Azure.

* Strong, demonstrable expertise in Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and its current capabilities, including model catalog, agent service, prompt flow, evaluations, content safety, and observability.

* Working knowledge of graph RAG and graph-based retrieval architectures, with the ability to design solutions that combine knowledge graphs with vector search for enterprise data access.

* Experience designing data integration solutions that consolidate structured and unstructured data from multiple on-premise and cloud sources into unified, queryable repositories.

* Familiarity with NL-to-SQL technologies and patterns for enabling natural language querying over structured enterprise data.

* Deep understanding of the Microsoft technology landscape, including Azure core services such as compute, networking, storage, and identity, the Azure Data Platform including Synapse, Fabric, Data Factory, and Databricks on Azure, Azure OpenAI, and Azure Machine Learning.

* Broader awareness of the AI and cloud technology landscape, with the ability to evaluate Microsoft offerings against alternatives and justify architectural choices.

* Strong grasp of enterprise concerns including security, identity through Entra ID, networking, DevOps and MLOps, cost optimization, and governance.

* Excellent client-facing communication skills, with the ability to present to both technical and executive audiences.

* Must be based in or willing to work on-site in the NY/NJ tri-state area.

Preferred Qualifications

* Microsoft certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305), Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102), or Azure Data Engineer Associate.

* Hands-on experience with graph database technologies such as Azure Cosmos DB Gremlin API, Neo4j, or similar, in the context of RAG solutions.

* Prior experience architecting agentic AI solutions on Azure.

* Experience working with regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, or insurance that are common in the NY/NJ market.

* Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.