WealthTech Today Ep. 332: Microservices, Medallion Architecture, and Why Your Data Lake Is Probably a Swamp, with Amplify
Mar 12, 2026
Aaron Brodt, CEO of Amplify, blends high-touch service with scalable tech to help RIAs grow. David Hatfield, CTO of Amplify, designs disciplined data and platform architecture for wealth systems. They discuss medallion-style AI-ready data lakes, microservices with governance to avoid schema drift, custody integrations and last-mile remediations, and balancing advisor autonomy with firm-level controls.
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Data First Design Drives Modular Platform
- Amplify built the platform from a data-first perspective, designing advisor workflows around a central data layer before adding tools like trading and onboarding.
- David Hatfield emphasized defining core entities and APIs up front so modules share a single governed data model rather than siloed datasets.
Enforce Canonical Data Definitions Early
- Enforce strict data governance: decide canonical definitions, where entities live, and who can read or modify them before expanding features.
- David advised that discipline prevents multiple conflicting definitions of core items like accounts.
Azure SQL Is The Core Backbone
- Amplify uses Azure as the primary cloud with Azure SQL as the core relational backbone and blob storage for unstructured data.
- They keep transactional business data in SQL and use NoSQL selectively for eventual-consistency needs.