The Data Solutions Architect is required in any organisation that wants to build a data environment on premises or in the cloud. They are the link between the needs of the organization and the data scientists and the data engineers. The data solutions architect is responsible for managing the full life-cycle of solution. This includes creating the requirements analysis, the platform selection, design of the technical architecture, design of the application design and development, testing, and deployment of the proposed solution.

The role of a big data solutions architect is a very technical one, but he or she should also have some other skills that are important in designing the right architecture for the right need:

• To be able to benchmark systems, analyse system bottlenecks and propose solutions to eliminate them;
• To be able to clearly articulate pros and cons of various technologies and platforms;
• To be able to document use cases, solutions and recommendations;
• To have excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• To be able to explain the work in plain language;
• To be able to help program and project managers in the design, planning and governance of implementing projects of any kind;
• To be able to perform detailed analysis of business problems and technical environments and use this in designing the solution;
• To be able to work creatively and analytically in a problem-solving environment;
• To be able to work in teams, as a big data environment is developed in a team of employees with different disciplines;

Of course, the perfect data solutions architect with all the above skills, experience and know-how is hard to find. He or she should however have at least an understanding of a variety of hardware platforms including mainframes, distributed platforms, desktops, and mobile devices as well as a deep understanding of databases, data in storage and data in motion. In the end, the big data solutions architect is responsible for the overall design and development of a vision that underlies a projected data solution.