Senior Field Specialist - Data Lakehouse (Apache Iceberg)

October 19, 2026

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world’s largest enterprises. Are you passionate about making data and AI use cases accessible for enterprise clients? Cloudera is seeking a customer-facing, hands-on Field Specialist - Data Lakehouse (Apache Iceberg) to join our global team. In this pivotal pre-sales role, you'll leverage your deep technical expertise to empower our customers, influence product direction, and drive success across our most impactful Business Intelligence (BI) and AI-ready analytics use cases. If you thrive on creative freedom and shaping the future of open data lakehouses and modern data warehousing at scale, we encourage you to apply. As a Data Lakehouse & Warehousing Specialist, You Will (Responsibilities)<ul><li>Lead customer engagements by designing and presenting scalable, cloud-native lakehouse architectures and business outcomes to technical and executive stakeholders.</li><li>Provide deep domain expertise throughout the sales cycle, supporting PoCs, solution sizing, and adoption for new and existing customers focusing on self-serve BI, open table formats (Iceberg), and AI-ready data analytics.</li><li>Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues related to query performance, concurrent workload management, and data federation, providing guidance and leading escalations.</li><li>Drive internal and external technical enablement by exploring new analytical engines, developing educational materials, and sharing best practices around modern data warehousing.</li><li>Influence product roadmap by translating customer feedback and region-specific requirements into actionable insights for our product and engineering teams.</li><li>Act as a Cloudera evangelist, participating in community activities, speaking at events, and contributing to knowledge sharing around the open data lakehouse paradigm.</li><li>Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams (Sales, Product, Engineering) to align on customer success and product vision.</li><li>Travel: Ability to travel to customer sites and Cloudera hubs approximately once per month. </li></ul> We’re excited about you if you have:<ul><li>Proven experience leading and implementing mission-critical data warehousing and BI use cases in industries such as Financial Services, Retail, Healthcare, Public Sector, etc.</li><li>Proven hands-on experience designing, building, and deploying enterprise-grade data lakehouses built on Apache Iceberg and modern cloud-native architectures</li><li>Hands-on expertise with leading SQL engines, open table formats, and big data warehousing technologies, specifically Apache Iceberg, Trino, Apache Hive, and Apache Impala.</li><li>Strong background in architecting production data deployments across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, with specific expertise in massive-scale BI, ad-hoc analytics, and building an AI-ready data foundation.</li><li>Demonstrated ability to run Proofs of Concept (PoCs) and MVPs that lead to successful, enterprise-grade production deployments, ensuring high-concurrency query performance and cost optimization.</li><li>Practical experience in designing data-intensive architectures, including data modeling, navigating security, data quality, and the governance challenges required to serve trusted data to both analysts and data scientists.</li><li>Exceptional presentation skills, comfortable engaging with diverse audiences from SQL developers and data analysts to senior executives.</li><li>Ability to analyze customer data warehouse workloads and define technical migration or modernization roadmaps (e.g., from legacy appliances to an open data lakehouse) tailored to their specific needs.</li></ul> You'll Be Well-Positioned for Success If You Bring (Bonus Qualifications):<ul><li>Prior experience in pre-sales or technical consulting roles with a strong focus on big data, data warehousing, & AI platform solutions.</li><li>Direct experience with legacy or competing enterprise data warehouses (e.g., Snowflake, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, Teradata) and advising customers/partners on migration strategies to open-source, cloud-native alternatives.</li><li>Experience with modern data modeling (e.g., dbt, Star Schema, Data Vault) and optimizing analytical query performance over distributed object storage.</li><li>Experience with, and interest in, open-source software and development practices.</li><li>Familiarity with Cloudera Data Warehouse (CDW), Cloudera Machine Learning (CML), and Shared Data Experience (SDX) for unified security and governance.</li><li>Relevant technical certifications (e.g., Snowflake SnowPro Core, AWS Certified Data Analytics, Google Cloud Professional Data Engineer).</li><li>Working knowledge of the broader open-source data and AI ecosystem, particularly integration points with data engineering pipelines (e.g., Apache Spark, Airflow).</li><li>Deep understanding of how structured, governed data in a lakehouse accelerates the adoption of machine learning, deep learning, and generative AI applications.</li></ul> This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship. The anticipated annual base salary range for this position is:California: $166,000 - $200,000Colorado: $146,000- $180,000Illinois: $154,000- $190,000 Individual compensation within the published range is determined by the candidate's skills, experience, qualifications, and primary work location. In addition to base pay, sales roles are eligible for Cloudera's commission plan, while non-sales roles are eligible for the corporate incentive plan. All employees receive a comprehensive benefits package. What you can expect from us:<ul><li>Generous PTO Policy</li><li>Support work life balance with Unplugged Days</li><li>Flexible WFH Policy</li><li>Mental & Physical Wellness programs</li><li>Phone and Internet Reimbursement program</li><li>Access to Continued Career Development</li><li>Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages</li><li>Paid Volunteer Time</li><li>Employee Resource Groups</li></ul>EEO/VEVRAA

Back to blog

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...