Technical practice
How would you define a current-state and future-state data architecture for a Pacific-wide business?
What to coverThe role owns the architecture strategy and roadmap across domains, platforms, integrations and data flows. Suggested focus: explain how you would map the current landscape, connect target decisions to business priorities and sequence changes that can be delivered.
How would you design a cloud lakehouse architecture for enterprise analytics?
What to coverThe posting calls for experience delivering cloud data platforms and lakehouse architectures. Suggested focus: discuss storage, processing and modelling choices, and how you would evaluate a suitable platform from those named in the posting without assuming CBRE has selected one.
How would you model and integrate data across domains while maintaining governance?
What to coverThe role provides architectural leadership across domains and integrations and calls for strong modelling and governance skills. Suggested focus: address shared definitions, ownership, data quality and the trade-off between domain-specific needs and enterprise reuse.
How would you design data ingestion and pipelines to scale reliably?
What to coverThe posting asks the architect to guide pipeline design and ensure ingestion is scalable. Suggested focus: compare ingestion patterns, explain how you would handle changing data and failures, and describe how you would evaluate reliability.
How would you balance security, cost and enterprise standards in a cloud data platform?
What to coverThese are explicit considerations for platforms and ingestion in the role. Suggested focus: explain how architectural choices affect access, operating cost and scalability, and how you would document trade-offs against enterprise standards.
How would you rationalise overlapping data stores without disrupting their users?
What to coverThe role calls for modernisation that reduces duplication and promotes reuse. Suggested focus: describe how you would identify overlap, choose what to consolidate and plan a phased migration with checks that needed data remains available.
What makes an enterprise data foundation ready for AI and advanced analytics?
What to coverBuilding AI-ready data foundations is a stated responsibility. Suggested focus: connect data quality, discoverability, governance and reusable access patterns to the needs of analytics and AI solutions.
How would you design and evaluate a RAG solution using an LLM and vector database?
What to coverThe posting explicitly names LLMs, RAG and vector database architectures. Suggested focus: cover retrieval and indexing choices, access to source data, and how you would test answer quality and limitations before deployment.
How would you take a machine learning or generative AI solution from design into operation?
What to coverThe role calls for AI and machine learning deployment experience and knowledge of MLOps. Suggested focus: discuss evaluation, versioning, deployment and monitoring, including how operational feedback could inform changes.
How would you troubleshoot a failing or slow data pipeline while staying hands-on?
What to coverThe role combines architectural leadership with hands-on delivery and names Python, Java, JavaScript or C# as relevant languages. Suggested focus: walk through how you would isolate the cause, verify a fix and decide whether a code change or architectural change is warranted.
Behavioural practice
Tell me about a time you developed a data or AI team member.
What to coverLeading, mentoring and developing a team is a stated responsibility. Suggested focus: use a real situation, the coaching actions you took and an observable result for the person or team.
Describe a time you influenced senior leaders on an architecture decision.
What to coverThe role works closely with senior business and technology leaders and connects technical choices to strategy. Suggested focus: explain the situation, how you presented trade-offs or addressed disagreement, and the resulting decision.
Tell me about a time you balanced a long-term architecture roadmap with an urgent delivery need.
What to coverThe posting explicitly calls for balancing strategy with practical delivery. Suggested focus: describe the competing pressures, the decision and actions you took, and the effect on delivery and the longer-term plan.
Describe a time you aligned teams around shared data standards or reuse.
What to coverEstablishing best practice and reducing duplication are part of the advertised work. Suggested focus: give a real example of differing needs, how you gained agreement and what changed as a result.
Tell me about a strategic project where you remained directly involved in solution design.
What to coverThe role calls for a senior technical authority who also remains hands-on in strategic delivery. Suggested focus: distinguish your own design actions from the team's work, explain a challenge you addressed and state the outcome.