Director, Solution Architecture & Technical Sales

WeAreTechWomen; Crawley; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Viridien is seeking a director-level solution architecture leader to define end-to-end technical designs and support business growth through qualified opportunities to delivery transition.

You will engage customer executives, translate complex tech into business value, and lead cross-functional teams across sales, operations, cloud platforms, cybersecurity, procurement, and finance to deliver robust architectures.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, IT, or related field; advanced degrees preferred.
• 10+ years in solution architecture, technical consulting, technical sales, or HPC/cloud infrastructure.
• Track record influencing multi-million-dollar technology opportunities across HPC, AI, cloud, or enterprise infra.
• Experience with strategic technology partners, hyperscalers, OEMs, and delivery teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical sales cycle from qualification to contract signature.
• Design scalable HPC, AI, and managed services solutions based on customer needs.
• Translate market feedback into portfolio enhancements and reference architectures.
• Provide leadership and mentoring across solution architecture and delivery teams.
• Collaborate with sales, operations, cloud platforms, cybersecurity, procurement, and finance.

Skills

HPC infrastructure

AI infrastructure

Solution architecture

Pre-sales leadership

Executive advisory

Customer engagement

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Master's or PhD preferred

Tools

Kubernetes

OpenStack

Ceph

Cloud platforms

Job description

Viridien (www.viridiengroup.com) is an advanced technology, digital and Earth data company that pushes the boundaries of science for a more prosperous and sustainable future. With our ingenuity, drive and deep curiosity we discover new insights, innovations, and solutions that efficiently and responsibly resolve complex natural resource, digital, energy transition and infrastructure challenges.

Can you convert deep technical expertise into high-value customer outcomes?

Your role as a senior customer-facing technical leader will be to define solution architecture, own end-to-end technical design, and support the business development and sales teams in driving business growth through differentiated HPC, AI, and managed services solutions from qualification through proposal, commercial alignment, and transition to delivery.

You will bring your deep technical expertise, architectural authority, commercial judgement, and executive advisory skills to qualify opportunities, influence customers, support RFPs, and ensure solutions are technically robust, competitive, deliverable, and aligned with Viridien capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Pre-Sales Leadership

• Lead the technical sales cycle from qualification to contract signature, strengthening solution fit, differentiation, and customer confidence.
• Build trusted advisor relationships with customer executives, technology leaders, and technical stakeholders.
• Present Viridien capabilities and lead executive briefings, workshops, conferences, and technology forums.
• Own technical proposal input, including architecture, pricing assumptions, migration approach, documentation, go/no-go support, and solution risk assessment.

Solution Architecture

• Design scalable, secure HPC, AI, and managed services solutions for scientific, data-intensive, and AI workloads based on customer business needs.
• Lead discovery and workshops, align requirements with security, compliance, sustainability, operations, and delivery readiness.
• Drive customer satisfaction through solution excellence and delivery alignment.

Product & Portfolio Development

• Translate market feedback and customer needs into portfolio enhancements, reference architectures, reusable frameworks, and technical standards.
• Work closely with Viridien technology teams to translate customer requirements into development roadmap
• Position Viridien as a technology leader through executive briefings, technical points of view, industry events, and partner activities.

Leadership & Cross-Functional

• Lead and mentor solution architecture, benchmarking, and technical contributors through direct, matrix, or deal-based leadership.
• Collaborate across sales, operations, cloud platforms, enterprise services, cybersecurity, procurement, finance, and specialist technology teams.
• Promote best practices in architecture, technical sales, and customer engagement.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, IT, or a related scientific field; Master's, Doctorate, and relevant certifications preferred.
• 10+ years in solution architecture, technical consulting, technical sales, or HPC/cloud infrastructure, including enterprise or global client engagement.
• Track record influencing complex, multi-million-dollar technology opportunities across HPC, AI, cloud, or enterprise infrastructure.
• Experience working with strategic technology partners, hyperscalers, OEMs, accelerator platform providers, and specialist delivery teams.

Skills and Technical Expertise

• Strong knowledge across HPC and AI infrastructure, cloud and hybrid platforms, scientific computing applications, storage, networking, Linux and enterprise platforms, cybersecurity, compliance, data platforms, and operational resilience.
• Preferred experience includes OpenStack, Kubernetes, Ceph, or equivalent private cloud and storage platforms, plus cloud security, backup, recovery, access control, and data residency considerations. Experience in working with parallel computing frameworks is preferred as well.
• Excellent executive communication, customer advisory, and presentation skills.
• Strategic thinking, commercial awareness, and ability to translate complex technology into business value.
• Strong proposal, RFP, solution costing, and financial modeling awareness.
• Ability to operate in ambiguity, define assumptions, manage dependencies, and shape phased approaches.

Who are you?

You are a director-level solution architecture leader, commercially pragmatic technical sales executive, and trusted customer advisor who balances innovation, differentiation, and delivery discipline.

Our Hiring Process

At Viridien, we are committed to delivering a respectful, inclusive, and transparent recruitment experience.

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may not be able to provide individual feedback to every applicant. Only candidates whose qualifications closely match the role criteria will be contacted for an interview. We do, however, aim to share personalized feedback with those who progress to the first round of interviews and beyond.

We are also dedicated to ensuring that our hiring process accessible to all. If you require any reasonable adjustments to fully participate in the application or interview stages, please don’t hesitate to contact your recruiter directly.

We see things differently. Diversity fuels our innovation, we value the unique ways in which we differ, and we are committed to equal employment opportunities for all professionals.