Starburst Centre of Excellence Lead – Associate Director

Location: New York City (client engagements primarily NYC, NJ & East Coast).
Contract Type: Permanent, Full-time
Salary: Competitive + bonus.  Equity options available
Working Pattern: Hybrid (3–4 days per week onsite with clients or in Midtown Manhattan office space).

About the Role

We are seeking a Starburst Centre of Excellence Lead to drive innovation, delivery, and capability-building around Starburst across data, AI, and cloud practices. This is a hands-on leadership role, combining technical depth, client advisory, and enablement responsibilities. You will shape Starburst strategy, establish a Centre of Excellence, and act as the go-to authority for Starburst implementations.

The successful candidate will have proven experience in building and scaling data solutions using Starburst in cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments, while providing leadership to internal teams and external clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Build & Lead a Starburst Centre of Excellence: Develop best practices, accelerators, frameworks, and reference architectures to enable high-quality Starburst delivery.
• Upskill & Enable: Lead training and capability development across data engineering, platform engineering, ML/AI engineering, and governance practices.
• Partner Engagement: Act as a trusted advisor to Starburst stakeholders, supporting joint initiatives and strengthening technical partnerships.
• Technical Assurance: Oversee Starburst project delivery, ensuring solutions follow architectural best practices.
• Client Advisory & Pre-Sales: Support proposals, workshops, and client meetings, publish thought leadership, and represent at industry events.
• Innovation: Explore how Starburst AI features can create new business offerings and reusable IP.
• Collaboration: Work across multidisciplinary teams to design repeatable, Starburst-powered solutions for market adoption.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Proven expertise in designing, deploying, and optimising Starburst solutions in cloud, hybrid, and on-prem environments.
• Recognised Starburst certification and capstone assessment.
• Strong track record in training, enablement, and upskilling teams in Starburst.
• Demonstrable success in cost and performance optimisation of Starburst platforms.
• Knowledge of modern development practices (e.g. Python or similar languages).
• Leadership experience in data-oriented teams within consulting or enterprise environments.
• Excellent communication skills to engage with both technical and business stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of security, access control, and data mesh architecture.

Desirable Skills

• Hands-on experience with other modern data platforms (Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Expertise in enterprise data architecture, data modelling, and change management.
• Exposure to observability and CI/CD for data platforms.
• Experience with AI solutions leveraging Starburst.
• Background in pre-sales and client-facing activities within consultancy or product organisations.

Why Apply?

This role offers:

• A competitive six-figure base salary + performance bonus.
• Equity options in a fast-growing, data-driven consultancy.
• Opportunity to establish and lead a high-profile Starburst Centre of Excellence.
• The chance to work with top-tier clients across New York, New Jersey, and the East Coast.
• Hybrid working with access to premium Midtown Manhattan office space.