Senior Field Solution Architect – Data Protection and Information Managementat CDW Careers

The Senior Field Solution Architect (FSA) role focuses on pre-sales solution design for data protection solutions. This role is responsible for working with internal and external sales teams to plan and organize sales strategies. The incumbent analyzes the sales environment including customer expectations, competitive environment as well as the customer's technical environment and define actions to be performed in the sales cycle timeframe. The Senior FSA is a field-based technical presales role. The Senior FSA develops and maintains strategic relationships with Sales Management of the teams they support and seen as a trusted advisor to grow business. The Senior FSA is expected to be subject matter expert in multiple data protection solutions. The incumbent in this role operates independently using standard approaches, existing tools, templates, and resources; shares knowledge and information that may benefit the team.

Key Areas of Responsibility

• Technology Leadership: Is a passionate learner who demonstrates continuous learning by proactively expanding technical depth in products, solutions, and services. Achieves certifications in advanced technologies for data protection solutions.
• Operates with the perspective and insight that business needs, not just technology, establish the limits on what can be achieved.
• Designs technical solutions using standard approaches, considering the customer’s infrastructure limitations and opportunities; analyzes, interprets, and presents assessment results.
• Determines and defines services that complement and/or round out proposed hardware and software engagements, estimates required engineer effort.
• Uses team tools, templates, resources, and processes for maximum efficiency, productivity, consistency, and high quality execution.
• Provides feedback to technology leaders where opportunities exist to improve offerings, design, and delivery execution.
• Conducts technology/solutions training for CDW audiences (e.g., Sales, Inside Solution Architects), using developed material.
• Contributes to the team’s knowledge base and readily shares knowledge with other FSAs, Inside Solution Architects, and Sales.
• Assists new team members by answering questions and sharing expertise on the tools of the job.
• Assists new hires by answering questions and sharing information.
• Sales: Follows up on implemented solutions and identifies new opportunities that complement the work that was completed.
• Researches and reviews customer profile information; applies knowledge of the vertical to develop customer intimacy prior to sales calls and/or strategy sessions.
• Assists customer in understanding their equipment maintenance contracts, upgrade needs, and renewals; analyses the most cost-effective approach for the customer (e.g., renew the contract or purchase new equipment and contract.)
• Uses various tools to calculate the Total Cost of Ownership and/or Return on Investment and explains to customers and Sales the business value of a solution and its benefits.
• Articulates to customers the Practice’s value proposition; articulates audience-centric version of the value proposition to customers, account managers, and partners and uses it to generate additional revenue opportunities for CDW.
• Guides (compares and contrasts) customers in their decision making within CDW data protection partners; influences, guides and partners with customers to develop their IT strategy.
• Plans and executes events by replicating plans from other successful events; secures funding to support CDW customer events; drives attendance to sponsored events.
• Leads business-focused technology solution presentations at CDW, Customer, and Partner events and meetings in your territory.
• Uses technology assessments and demos as a sales tool for furthering sales opportunities; identifies cross sell-and/or up-sell opportunities for an engagement, equips/assists FSAs and Sales to pursue it.
• Collaborates with Partners, Inside Solution Architects (ISA) and Account Executives (AE) to drive mapped opportunities; fine tunes strategies and approaches to achieve greater sales results.
• Operates in a regular cadence with multiple partners to educate, plan, and execute on joint strategies in collaboration with multiple stakeholders (ISA, AE, Sales Managers, Field Sales); understands partner alignment in geography and leads customer opportunity mapping exercises; coordinates on-site partner visits.
• Produces marketing-type documents and materials (e.g., presentation) to customer.
• Produces Bills of Materials, including product maintenance; writes Statements of Work (including work estimates), RFPs, RFIs, and proposal content.

Education and/or Experience Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience
• Four-year minimum technical pre-sales or technical architecting experience

Required Qualifications

• Stay up to date on products, applications, technical service, market conditions, competitive activities, advertising, and promotional trends through the reading of pertinent literature, seminars, and online training
• Obtain and maintain relevant data protection certifications
• Proven project management skills
• Proficient in Microsoft office applications
• Proven success and experience selling data protection technologies solutions and services
• Knowledge and proven success of engaging and working with sales teams
• Ability to excute on team goals and metrics
• Ability to adapt and change to the business needs of the practice and team coverage model
• Strong interpersonal and presentation skills, including consulting skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Strong passion for learning and teaching others
• Motivated and self-starting
• Demonstrated ability to work under minimal supervision, independently and/or as a member of a project team
• Ability to think creatively and come up with proactive ideas that will increase sales
• Strong problem solving skills
• Must be able to communicate effectively and in a constructive manner with management, peers and coworkers
• Ability to understand, remember, and apply oral and/or written instructions or other information. Ability to organize thoughts and ideas into understandable terminology. Ability to multi-task, organize and prioritize. Ability to apply common sense in performing job. Ability to understand and follow basic instructions and guidelines. Ability to travel as needed.

Preferred Qualifications

• Obtain and maintain relevant industry certifications
• Demonstrated the knowledge of enterprise data protection solutions integration with other aspects of the environment suchs as Active Directory,
• AWS and / or Azure, VMware and / or AHV, or enterprise databases
• Demonstrated knowledge of project estimation and scoping experience