Senior Solutions Architect, VMware

Jobtailor; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 360,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Rackspace in Saudi Arabia seeks an experienced presales architect to drive VMware-based solutions and hybrid cloud transformations for large enterprise clients. You will lead workshops, design architectures, and collaborate with SMEs, product, and sales teams to articulate compelling proposals.

Role requires deep VMware expertise, strong communication, and proven success in complex enterprise engagements across infrastructure modernization and data centre strategies.

Qualifications

• Experience designing enterprise infrastructure and VMware-based solutions.
• Strong understanding of datacentre and infrastructure modernisation strategies.
• Expertise across VMware technologies including VCF, vSphere, NSX, Aria, and Tanzu.
• Knowledge of enterprise infrastructure architectures: compute, storage, networking, security.
• Experience in highly available, scalable, secure virtualised environments.
• Familiarity with disaster recovery, backup, and business continuity.

Responsibilities

• Develop trusted relationships with client executives and technical stakeholders as advisor.
• Lead customer workshops on VMware technologies, private cloud adoption, and hybrid cloud architectures.
• Design and position solutions leveraging VMware platforms and related tech.
• Assess requirements and craft architectures addressing business objectives.
• Lead presales engagements coordinating SMEs, product, sales, and delivery teams.
• Produce proposals, RFI/RFP responses, bids, and SoWs clearly outlining scope and effort.
• Provide specialist guidance on VMware platforms, migrations, and cloud strategies.
• Identify buying signals and potential barriers to successful outcomes.
• Address objections to reduce risk and increase confidence in Rackspace solutions.
• Advise on infrastructure operations, governance, and transformation roadmaps.
• Estimate project effort and delivery approaches using Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid.
• Maintain pipeline, opportunity, and customer engagement data in Salesforce.
• Contribute to the wider solutions organisation through mentoring and knowledge sharing.
• Stay deep in VMware expertise and current with industry trends.

Skills

Presales experience

Solution architecture

Stakeholder management

VMware technologies expertise

Strong communication

Negotiation skills

Time management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Business, or related discipline

Tools

VCF

vSphere

vCenter

NSX

VMware Aria Suite

Tanzu

Terraform

Ansible

Aria Automation

Salesforce

Job description

Responsibilities

• Develop trusted relationships with client executives and technical stakeholders, acting as both a business and technical advisor.
• Lead customer workshops focused on VMware technologies, private cloud adoption, data centre modernisation, hybrid cloud architectures, and platform transformation strategies.
• Design and position solutions leveraging VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), vSphere, NSX, VMware Aria Suite, Tanzu, and complementary technologies.
• Assess customer requirements and develop solution architectures that address current and future business objectives.
• Lead complex presales engagements, coordinating with Subject Matter Experts (SME), Product Management, Sales, and Delivery teams.
• Produce high-quality proposals, RFI/RFP responses, bids, and Statements of Work (SoWs) that clearly articulate customer requirements, solution designs, project scope, and delivery effort.
• Provide specialist guidance on VMware platforms, migration strategies, infrastructure transformation, and hybrid cloud adoption.
• Identify buying signals, compelling events, key stakeholders, and potential barriers to successful sales outcomes.
• Anticipate and address technical and commercial objections, reducing customer risk and increasing confidence in Rackspace solutions.
• Advise customers on infrastructure operations, platform governance, cloud strategy, and transformation roadmaps.
• Estimate project effort, resource requirements, and delivery approaches using Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid methodologies.
• Maintain accurate pipeline, opportunity, and customer engagement information within Salesforce.
• Contribute to the development of the wider solutions organisation through mentoring, knowledge sharing, and technical leadership.
• Maintain deep expertise in VMware technologies and stay current with industry developments and market trends.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Business, or a related discipline; alternatively, 10+ years of relevant experience in technical presales, consulting, or solution architecture.
• Extensive experience designing enterprise infrastructure and VMware-based solutions.
• Strong understanding of datacentre and infrastructure modernisation strategies, including virtualisation, workload migration, consolidation, private cloud, and hybrid cloud adoption.
• Proven expertise across VMware technologies, including: VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), vSphere, vCenter, NSX, VMware Aria Operations and Automation, and VMware Tanzu.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise infrastructure architectures, including compute, storage, networking, and security.
• Experience designing highly available, scalable, resilient, and secure virtualised environments.
• Understanding of disaster recovery, backup, business continuity, and infrastructure resilience solutions.
• Familiarity with infrastructure automation and orchestration tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Aria Automation, or similar technologies.
• Knowledge of Kubernetes and container platforms, particularly VMware Tanzu, is advantageous.
• Demonstrated success solving complex technical challenges within enterprise VMware, virtualisation, or hybrid cloud environments.
• Strong commercial awareness and the ability to navigate complex customer engagements and negotiations.
• Advanced understanding of industry trends relating to virtualisation, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and data centre transformation.
• Experience using solutioning and presales tools, including Salesforce, proposal management, project scoping, and assessment frameworks.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, whiteboarding, analytical, and problem‑solving skills.
• Strong organisational and time‑management skills with the ability to balance multiple opportunities and strategic initiatives.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in VMware technologies and solution architecture, with a strong focus on hybrid cloud adoption, infrastructure modernization, and presales engagement. Capable of leading customer workshops, producing high‑quality proposals, and providing strategic guidance on cloud transformation.