--- title: 'Principal Architect, Data at Zencore' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-architect-data-zencore-london-dnrzgrnvq625' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-26' --- # Principal Architect, Data at Zencore - **Company:** Zencore - **Location:** London, United Kingdom - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-09-15 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-26 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/zencore/1eee2212-1e5c-44c3-bc81-6d5c4ad9e5a7 ## Job description Zencore is a leading Google Cloud consultancy focused on helping enterprise organizations reduce risk, accelerate cloud transformation, and unlock the value of Google Cloud. Founded by former Google Cloud leaders and engineers, Zencore brings deep technical expertise, senior-level talent, and a highly consultative approach to complex cloud engagements. ## About this Role We are looking for a Principal Architect, Data to provide senior technical leadership across our Data practice and client engagements. This is a highly technical, client-facing role for someone who can move comfortably between enterprise data architecture, hands-on technical execution, and strategic conversations with customers. At Zencore, Principal Architects are senior technical leaders and the external face of our engineering expertise. They own the end-to-end technical direction and successful technical delivery of complex engagements, while helping define the standards, patterns, and capabilities that allow our engineering organization to scale. Location: We are looking for candidates in the UK (London Preferred) ## Responsibilities - Act as the senior technical referent for complex Data engagements, owning key architecture decisions and ensuring successful technical delivery. - Work directly with clients to understand their business requirements, data landscape, and technical challenges, translating them into scalable solutions on Google Cloud. - Define architectures across data platforms, pipelines, modeling, integration, governance, security, and scalability. - Remain a hands-on technical practitioner, supporting engineering teams with complex implementation challenges and unblocking delivery when needed. - Develop estimates around the skills, resources, and timelines required to deliver Zencore engagements and translate these into clear technical proposals. - Partner closely with Data Engineers, Cloud Architects, and AI/ML teams to design solutions that connect Zencore’s Cloud, Data, and AI capabilities. - Help establish and evolve architectural standards, reusable patterns, and engineering best practices across the Data practice. - Mentor and enable engineers and architects, helping raise the technical bar across the organization. - Support solutioning and pre-sales conversations when deep Data expertise is required, helping customers understand both the technical approach and business value of the proposed solution ## Qualifications - Deep experience designing and delivering enterprise-scale data architectures in complex cloud environments. - Strong hands-on experience with the Google Cloud data ecosystem, particularly BigQuery. - Advanced SQL skills and strong experience with Python. - Strong experience with modern data engineering and orchestration technologies such as dbt, Airflow / Cloud Composer, and related tools. - Experience designing scalable data platforms, pipelines, data models, and integration patterns. - Strong understanding of data governance, security, quality, lineage, and observability. - Ability to translate complex business and data requirements into a clear technical vision, architecture, and delivery roadmap. - Ability to move comfortably between high-level architectural thinking and hands-on technical execution. - Strong software engineering fundamentals and understanding of development best practices. - Experience leading large-scale data modernization and transformation initiatives. - Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence both engineering teams and senior client stakeholders. - Experience in professional services, consulting, or cloud partner environments is highly desirable. - Strong communication skills and the ability to explain complex technical decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. Why work at Zencore? - We Are Trusted Experts: Our teams bring deep, hands-on experience to solve the hardest cloud and AI challenges. - We Value Candor: We share unbiased opinions and aren't afraid of hard truths—our clients view us as true subject matter experts. - We Are the Missing Link: We connect our enterprise clients directly to Google Cloud innovation, moving with agility where larger consultancies stall out. - We Remove Uncertainty: We bring structured playbooks that eliminate risk from complex cloud migrations and AI deployments. - We Show Empathy: We build lasting client trust because we understand the real-world operational complexities of enterprise technology. Zencore is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Zencore is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. ## About Zencore ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Zencore is a cloud consulting and engineering firm led by former Google Cloud architects and engineers, specializing in guiding enterprises through Google Cloud migration, modernization, and AI/ML transformations. - **Entity Type**: Private (bootstrapped; no disclosed funding rounds) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2021 (some sources mention 2020; LinkedIn lists 2021) - **Founders**: John Forstrom (CEO & Co-Founder), Guilhem Tesseyre (CTO & Co-Founder) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: IT Services and IT Consulting (cloud consulting) - **Target customers**: B2B enterprises migrating to or modernizing on Google Cloud, including fast-growing startups and large organizations. - **Mission/purpose**: “To help companies fully realize the promise of cloud through guidance rooted in experience” – enabling frictionless cloud adoption that unlocks innovation and growth. ## Products & Services - **Cloud Migration & Modernization**: End-to-end guidance for moving workloads to Google Cloud, including data and application modernization, with an opinionated, unbiased approach. - **Managed Cloud Services**: Ongoing support and optimization of Google Cloud environments, leveraging deep insider knowledge of Google’s ecosystem. - **Data & Analytics Engineering**: Building scalable data pipelines, databases, and analytics solutions on GCP. - **AI/ML & Generative AI**: Consulting and implementation of AI workflows, LLMs, LangChain, and Streamlit applications. - **Cloud Security & Infrastructure**: Architecture reviews, security best practices, and infrastructure automation for Google Cloud. - **Embedded Engineering Teams**: Co-development model where Zencore engineers work side-by-side with customer teams to accelerate delivery. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available - **Key Metric**: Headcount ~48 employees (as of Sept 2026), monthly growth +1.5%, yearly LinkedIn follower growth +29.6% - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Google Cloud Premier Partner - **Growth Signals**: - Consistently hiring across multiple roles (Software Engineer, Principal Architect AI/ML, Sales Directors, etc.) - Expanding into new regions (Nordics/Benelux, UK, LATAM) - Growing LinkedIn presence (+29.6% year-over-year) - High employer rating: 4.1/5.0 (10 reviews), with strong work-life balance (4.4) and culture (4.0) ## Competitive Advantages - **Ex-Google DNA**: Founded by former Google Cloud leaders and engineers, giving them insider knowledge of Google’s platform, roadmap, and best practices. - **Singular Focus**: Concentrates entirely on Google Cloud, unlike fragmented multi-cloud partners, allowing deeper expertise and faster outcomes. - **Opinionated, Unbiased Guidance**: Recommends open-source or alternative solutions when they fit better, not tied to vendor agendas. - **Fully Remote & Distributed**: Operates as a remote-first company since day one, with teammates across North America and Europe, enabling access to top global talent. ## Strategic Focus - **Deepen Google Cloud Specialization**: Continue to lead in migration, modernization, and AI/ML on GCP. - **Expand AI/ML Capabilities**: Actively hiring Principal Architects for AI/ML and investing in Generative AI workflows. - **Scale Sales & Geographic Reach**: Opening regional sales director roles in Nordics/Benelux and UK to grow European presence. - **Maintain High Engineering Standards**: Emphasis on “execution clarity, engineering rigor and service maturity” to deliver secure, right-first-time migrations. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: “First rule at Zencore – Be Kind.” Collaborative, feedback-driven environment that champions empathy and ownership. - **Remote & Flexible**: Fully distributed since Employee #1, with teammates across North America and Europe. Work from home, co-working spaces, or “workcations” allowed. - **Compensation & Benefits**: - Competitive salaries - Medical, dental, and vision insurance at no cost for employees - Unlimited vacation (paid) - 401k with pre-tax contributions - Continuing professional development support - **Engineering Culture**: Work with cutting-edge cloud technologies (Kubernetes, AI/LLMs, data systems) and collaborate directly with customers as a trusted advisor. - **Growth Opportunities**: Rapidly growing company with opportunities to take ownership, shape solutions, and advance your career in cloud engineering. ## Sources 1. [zencore.dev/about](https://zencore.dev/about/) 2. [zencore.dev/careers](https://zencore.dev/careers/) 3. [linkedin.com/company/zencoregroup](https://linkedin.com/company/zencoregroup) 4. [jobs.lever.co/zencore](https://jobs.lever.co/zencore) 5. [jobs.lever.co/zencore/abf5abec-66fb-4356-85b0-ae07b59fe695](https://jobs.lever.co/zencore/abf5abec-66fb-4356-85b0-ae07b59fe695) ## Other roles at Zencore - [Project Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/project-manager-zencore-london-bcp0a6s2ar20) — London, United Kingdom - [Head of Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-finance-zencore-united-states-5d3fxrr2yzb9) — United States - [Director of Marketing](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-marketing-zencore-united-states-50weypqej9p6) — United States - [Director of Alliances](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-alliances-zencore-united-states-001nqnj4p6zr) — United States - [Sales Director (DACH)](https://feeny.ai/job/sales-director-dach-zencore-berlin-74sz4mm7av60) — Berlin, Germany / Munich, Germany - [Strategic Sales Director](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-sales-director-zencore-new-york-2jdhbwbx6m43) — New York, NY - [Senior Client Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-client-partner-zencore-london-ajpjhv492j40) — London, United Kingdom - [Program Director](https://feeny.ai/job/program-director-zencore-new-york-7df63631afp2) — New York, NY - [Principal Architect, Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-architect-infrastructure-zencore-united-kingdom-7d8d94femm4y) — United Kingdom - [Senior Client Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-client-partner-zencore-united-states-fkdz34qz1bp8) — United States