Staff Technical Designated Engineer

Job title: Staff Technical Designated Engineer

About the Role A Staff Technical Designated Engineer at Databricks partners with Field and Engineering teams to deliver high-touch specialized support for the largest and most strategic customers in the Digital Native Business (DNB) segment. You will leverage your Spark and data technology expertise to triage complex issues and unblock critical technical challenges.

What You'll Do

• Perform advanced Troubleshooting and Root Cause Analysis to resolve performance and reliability issues in Spark, SQL, Delta, Streaming, and Databricks runtime features using tools like Spark UI metrics, Mosaic AI Model Service, DAGs, and event logs.
• Discover requirements for continuous monitoring to detect early performance issues working with R&D and NOC teams to optimize the DNB customer environments.
• Build Rapid POCs, Test/Deploy/Monitor the solutions built by Databricks Engineering to address customer challenges and showcase advanced Spark/ML/AI runtime capabilities aligned with their business goals.
• Develop comprehensive playbooks and maintain a knowledge base of common issues and solutions for Spark, ML, and AI workflows.
• Train customer engineering and business teams on best practices in performance tuning, debugging, and effectively leveraging Databricks Features.
• Pilot new best practices processes/programs, champion process improvements, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to enhance the customer experience.
• Advocate for customers in business review meetings and maintain close relationships as a trusted advisor and primary technical point of contact.
• Collaborate onsite with Field Engineering, Sales, and Product teams during customer engagements and technical presentations to provide rapid solutions to production-impacting issues, demonstrating deep technical expertise and building strong customer trust.

What We're Looking For

• Technical Expertise in Big Data and Spark: 8–12 years designing, building, and troubleshooting distributed computing applications, with 4+ years delivering production-scale Spark/ML/AI solutions using Python, Java, or Scala.
• Data Engineering Specialization: Hands-on expertise with Data Lakes, SQL-based databases, and Cloud-based Data Warehousing/ETL tools like Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, etc.
• Advanced Tech Skills: Deep knowledge of Spark core internals, Delta/Iceberg, JVM optimization, and memory management, with additional proficiency in AI ecosystems like Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Generative AI.
• Cloud and CI/CD Skills: Practical experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP, coupled with expertise in building and managing CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and alerting systems.
• Customer-Facing Experience: 3–5 years in customer-facing roles such as Technical Account Manager or Solutions Architect, demonstrating strong communication, relationship-building, and problem-solving skills.
• Advanced Proactive Problem Solving Skills: Proven ability to anticipate, identify, and mitigate risks while planning solutions for production challenges.
• Collaboration and Leadership: Proven ability to work with cross-functional teams and senior leadership to address roadblocks, mitigate risks, and drive customer success while creating impactful documentation for self-service solutions.
• Language Skills: Fluent Japanese and business-level English are required.

Nice to Have

• Optional/preferred qualifications (only if mentioned)

Compensation & Benefits

• At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here.
• Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion emphasizes inclusive hiring practices and equal opportunity standards.