Solutions Architect

Davenport Group; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Davenport Group in Seattle is seeking a Solutions Architect to design enterprise data center solutions, focusing on requirement gathering, design, configuration, and services scoping for campus environments.

You will deliver technical presentations, support sales activities, and develop relationships with customers while mentoring teammates and coordinating with Salesforce for configuration data. This is a full-time exempt role with substantial travel.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (CS/IT) or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years with enterprise data center technology infrastructure.
• 5+ years in selling, maintaining, or installing enterprise infrastructure hardware/software.
• 4+ years with server virtualization (VMware required; Hyper-V preferred).
• 4+ years with data center network design/implementation.
• 3+ years with data protection/backup technologies.
• Experience with multiple server OS (Windows/Linux).

Responsibilities

• Learn and understand customer business drivers and objectives.
• Provide technical support for design/architecture of products and solutions.
• Lead demonstrations, ROI analyses, and customer evaluations.
• Deliver technical presentations during sales calls.
• Contribute to bids and sales proposals with technical content.
• Support in customer environment information gathering and configuration planning.
• Design and recommend storage/network/data center infrastructure solutions.
• Maintain knowledge of OS, hardware, and performance tuning.
• Build and maintain relationships with customers for repeat business.
• Document configuration information in Salesforce.com.
• Engage with manufacturers and vendors at product update events.
• Mentor and coach team members.
• Advise and train Account Executives on company-supported technology.
• Manage and administer customer proof-of-concept engagements.

Skills

Requirements gathering

Solution design

Technical presentations

Sales support

Mentoring

Customer relationship management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Information Technology

4-year degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Salesforce

VMware

Hyper-V

Job description

Job Title: Solutions Architect

Department: Pre-Sales

Reports To: Lead Solutions Architect

Last Revision Date: 6/6/2024

Full-Time Exempt

SUMMARY

The primary role of this position is solutions design for enterprise data center projects. The Solutions Architect provides expertise in the areas of requirement gathering, design, configuration, and services scoping, relative to enterprise data centers and organizational campus computing environments.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Learn and understand customer’s business drivers, challenges, objectives, and how solutions can provide value to them.
• Provide technical support to assist in the design and architecture of company products, services, and solutions.
• Conduct and/or participate in demonstrations, customer evaluations, and ROI analyses.
• Deliver technical presentations and respond to technical questions during sales calls.
• Provide technical content for bids and sales proposals.
• Provide direct sales support in the areas of customer environment information gathering, requirements collection, performance evaluation, and complex configuration planning.
• Develop, design, and recommend technology infrastructure solutions including Storage Area Network configurations, NAS, Fibre Channel/Ethernet fabrics, data center network design, server virtualization, data protection, and other hardware and software products.
• Stay current on and maintain an in-depth knowledge of operating systems, hardware systems, peripheral products, conversion techniques, and performance analysis and tuning methods of all company offerings.
• Establish and cultivate ongoing business relationships with customers to facilitate additional business.
• Document configuration information in Salesforce.com.
• Maintain close relationships with strategic manufacturers and vendors, including attending product update events whether virtual or in-person.

ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Mentor and coach team members.
• Advise and train Account Executives and Inside Account Managers on company-supported technology.
• Manage and administer customer proof-of-concept engagements.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES REQUIRED

• Bachelor’s degree (Computer Science or Information Technology) from a four-year college or university; or one to two years’ related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Ten or more years working with enterprise data center technology infrastructure solutions, including five or more years selling, maintaining, or installing enterprise infrastructure hardware and software systems.
• Five or more years of enterprise storage systems experience (SAN, NAS, Hierarchical storage systems, RAID, Fibre Channel, and iSCSI).
• Four or more years of experience with server virtualization (VMware required; Hyper-V, preferred in addition).
• Four or more years of experience with data center network solution design or implementation/management.
• Three or more years of experience with data protection, and replication technology experience, including backup/restore technologies.
• Extensive experience with at least two server operating systems (Windows Server, Linux, etc.), including the latest versions.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES PREFERRED

• Dell Storage, HCI, Server, Network, and Data Protection experience is preferred
• Industry certifications: Dell Design, Dell Information Storage and Management (ISM), EMCTA, VCP and/or VCAP preferred
• Network security (Firewalls, IDS/IPS, Access Control/Management, etc.) design, configuration, installation, and maintenance a plus
• Wireless network design/implementation a plus
• Desktop virtualization experience a plus
• Microsoft applications (Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server) experience a plus

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Requires a minimum of 50% travel for customer visits, training, and meetings