Solutions Architect, SMB

Stripe; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 157,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

401(k) plan

Medical, dental & vision

Wellness stipends

Job summary

Stripe in Chicago is seeking a Solutions Architect who will build trusted relationships with c-level and technical decision makers to drive monetization opportunities and growth for customers and Stripe.

You will architect business models, deliver demos, respond to RFPs, collaborate across GTM, product and marketing, and guide customers through Stripe Payments, Billing, Connect, and more. Expect ~25% travel and a fast, globally impactful role.

Qualifications

• 2+ years in a customer-facing engineering role in fintech or software enterprise.
• Experience presenting and architecting solutions.
• Proficiency in at least two of Stripe’s deployment languages.
• Excellent communication and executive engagement.
• Ability to travel up to 25%.

Responsibilities

• Build trusted relationships with CIO/CTO/COO/CRO/CDO and other executives, acting as a trusted advisor.
• Architect business models with customers to drive monetization and growth for both users and Stripe.
• Lead thought leadership and ensure alignment with customer goals.
• Understand customer objectives and apply Stripe solutions (Payments, SaaS, Banking-as-a-Service, Link).
• Deliver demos, respond to RFPs, evangelize Stripe products, and collaborate on narratives.

Skills

Executive engagement

Solution architecture

Public speaking

Cross-functional collaboration

Multi-language coding

Tools

Ruby

Python

JavaScript

Java

Go

Job description

About Stripe

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies—from the world’s largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups—use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone’s reach while doing the most important work of your career.

Who we are

About Stripe

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies—from the world’s largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups—use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone’s reach while doing the most important work of your career.

About The Team

Stripe’s SMB Solutions Architecture (SA) team works with technical and business leaders (CTO/ CIO/ CEO/ Founders etc.), payments leaders and product engineering teams in the mid-market segment to evangelize Stripe’s solutions in the market. A solutions architect’s role is to build relationships with decision makers and think strategically about the business needs of Stripe’s customers. Solution Architects identify and propose Stripe solutions to solve complex business challenges and drive growth for our customers. SAs establish and prescribe best practices around a customer’s strategy, provide business and technical thought leadership and are viewed as a trusted advisor. They work on scaling business processes aligned to maximizing account coverage while working closely with customer and partner resources to deliver a solution that can be adopted quickly.

What you’ll do

As a member of the team, the Solutions Architect will build highly consultative trusted relationships with c-level executives and technical decision makers in the customer’s organization to provide business and technical thought leadership, and become a trusted advisor in solving mission‑critical business challenges. She/he will architect business models with them so they can drive new monetization opportunities and growth for both the user and Stripe.

Responsibilities

• Drive thought leadership and build executive relationships with key business and technical stakeholders including CIO, CTO, COO, CRO, CDO & Head of Payments. Strive to become their trusted advisor.
• Work to deeply understand the customer’s business objectives and apply Stripe’s payments, SaaS, Banking-as-a-Service and Link Network solutions to customer challenges
• Secure the technical win for Stripe’s products by delivering demos, responding to RFPs, evangelizing Stripe’s products, and collaborating internally on narratives that align with the customer’s goals.
• Emphasis on creating scalable processes (1:M customer engagements, Webinars, office hours etc), partnerships (with external and internal partners) and scaled assets (reusable videos/ templates, playbooks) in order to act as a force‑multiplier in the sales process.
• Expand Stripe’s footprint within existing accounts to new global markets and business units by introducing new capabilities and local payment methods
• Collaborate with multiple internal stakeholders including go‑to‑market, product and marketing to deliver impactful EBC briefings for SMB accounts
• Act as the voice of the customer to inform our product team on insights, trends, and opportunities across our SMB accounts.
• Work closely with professional services and partners to accelerate activations and time to live
• Collaborate with partners to help Stripe scale and reach its Total Addressable Market
• Approximately 25% travel is anticipated to help you connect in‑person in a meaningful way with users and collaborate internally

Who you are

An ideal candidate should have experience working for medium to large software companies (preferably in In payment‑tech), focused on identifying business priorities, technology strategy, and solution design. They will have demonstrated the ability to become a trusted advisor to senior executives and facilitate customer success including business value identification(discovery/ demo cycles), road mapping, as well as advising and defining successful execution strategies.

Ideal candidates have external customer‑facing experience, have payment expertise (preferred but not required) who can present and architect Stripe’s solutions, and persuade decision makers to leverage Stripe technology to drive business value. Candidates have previous experience in web architecture, enterprise architecture or experience defining and optimizing financial business processes.

Minimum Requirements

• 2+ years of experience in a similar customer‑facing engineering role (e.g. solutions architect, sales engineer, customer success, professional services delivery) for a fin‑tech/payment‑tech / global software enterprise or 3+ years of total relevant experience (software development, enterprise sales/ architecture, business development etc.)
• Presenting and architecting solutions
• Deep understanding or background in writing code in at least 2 of Stripe’s primary deployment languages (Ruby, Python, JavaScript, Java, Go, etc.)
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills, presentation skills, and comfortable explaining complex concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences
• Able and willing to learn Stripe solutions (Payments, Billing, Connect, etc.)
• Ability to understand how a wide variety of technologies and systems interact with each other (ERP, CRM, Billing, Tax, Legacy)
• Executive engagement skills and presence, with an ability to establish strong relationships with key decision makers and build credibility at all levels.
• Strong organizational/time management skills and the ability to juggle competing priorities while working with multiple opportunities and customers.
• Strong collaboration skills to work seamlessly with the broader GTM team to support our users.
• Experience solving open ended business problems with a combination of technology and creative thinking
• Ability to travel per business needs

In-office expectations

Office‑assigned Stripes in most of our locations are currently expected to spend at least 50% of the time in a given month in their local office or with users. This expectation may vary depending on role, team and location. For example, Stripes in Stripe Delivery Center roles in Mexico City, Mexico, Bengaluru, India, and Dublin, Ireland work 100% from the office. Also, some teams have greater in‑office attendance requirements, to appropriately support our users and workflows, which the hiring manager will discuss. This approach helps strike a balance between bringing people together for in‑person collaboration and learning from each other, while supporting flexibility when possible.

Pay and benefits

The annual US base salary range for this role is $156,700 - $235,100. For sales roles, the range provided is the role’s On Target Earnings ("OTE") range, meaning that the range includes both the sales commissions/sales bonuses target and annual base salary for the role. This salary range may be inclusive of several career levels at Stripe and will be narrowed during the interview process based on a number of factors, including the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and location. Applicants interested in this role and who are not located in the US may request the annual salary range for their location during the interview process.

• equity, company bonus or sales commissions/bonuses
• 401(k) plan
• medical, dental, and vision benefits
• wellness stipends

We look forward to hearing from you.

At Stripe, we're looking for people with passion, grit, and integrity. Your skills and passion will stand out—and set you apart—especially if your career has taken some extraordinary twists and turns. At Stripe, we welcome diverse perspectives and people who think rigorously and aren't afraid to challenge assumptions. Join us.