Databricks SME (Remote)

Overview: GovCIO is hiring a Databricks SME to support the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Data Modernization initiative. In this role, the Databricks SME will guide data scientists, analysts, infrastructure specialists and business SME to deliver production\-ready data solutions. This position focuses on workspace automation, onboarding support, data platform usability, infrastructure provisioning, and white‑glove customer success to ensure VA users can rapidly adopt and leverage modern data tools. This position is fully remote within the United States. Responsibilities: * Implement and manage linked services, mount points, and catalog configuration within Databricks and VA’s VHA Data Lake. * Develop and optimize PySpark (Python/Scala) jobs, notebooks, and workflows in Databricks. * Build ETL/ELT pipelines using Azure Databricks Lakehouse features. * Design and implement Spark\-based data processing for analytics workloads. * Optimize Databricks Spark jobs for performance, cost, and scalability (partitioning, caching, tuning, etc.). * Collaborate with data scientists, analysts, infrastructure specialists and business SME to deliver production\-ready data solutions. * Experience with Delta Lake and Synapse. * Ensure data quality, governance, and security best practices. * Act as subject matter experts to the workgroups from start to finish in their migration to the cloud * Help workgroups set up their resources and migrate their work loads * Support automated data warehouse access provisioning for eligible users, ensuring seamless integration with VA Cloud Data Warehouse (CDW) systems. * Provide white‑glove customer success services, including onboarding sessions, office hours, rapid async support, and creation of reusable templates, guides, and best‑practice documentation. * Collaborate with Customer Success, Business Analysts, and Platform Engineering teams to refine intake processes, improve user satisfaction, and standardize workspace deployment. * Develop migration guidance and self‑service resources to accelerate platform adoption and reduce user friction when transitioning from legacy data systems. * Troubleshoot user issues related to data access, workspace configuration, pipelines, cataloging, or permissions, escalating to engineering teams when needed. Qualifications: **Required Skills and Experience:*** Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology or a related field. (or commensurate experience) * 12\+ years of experience in business analysis, project management, or a similar role. * Strong experience with Databricks and Azure data services, including workspace administration, catalog creation, linked services, storage mounts, and access configuration. * Proficiency in data engineering fundamentals such as ETL/ELT pipeline development, data modeling, and managing structured and unstructured datasets. * Ability to automate provisioning workflows and infrastructure using scripting or infrastructure‑as‑code tools (Python, PowerShell