USA - Remote - Maryland / Growth & Alliances

Merkle Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 163,000 - 245,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, vision, and dental insurance

Disability insurance

Flexible paid time off

At least 15 paid holidays per year

Paid sick leave

Job summary

Merkle Inc. is seeking a VP, Alliance Solutions Architect with deep MarTech expertise, especially within the Salesforce ecosystem, to shape and scale innovative customer experience solutions across our client portfolio.

This is a highly visible pre-sales role focused on strategy, alliance engagement, and thought leadership, reporting to the Head of Alliance Solution Leads. The ideal candidate translates complex concepts into business value for clients, prospects, partners, and internal teams,

Qualifications

• 15+ years in solution architecture, consulting, alliance management, pre-sales, or leadership roles.
• Strong expertise in Salesforce ecosystem including Core CRM and CX capabilities.
• Experience with AI, Agentic transformation and automation.
• Experience building joint GTM motions with Salesforce or another enterprise platform.
• Demonstrated ability to engage executive stakeholders with credibility across teams.
• Ability to translate business objectives into technical solutions and measurable outcomes.
• Ability to design, configure, and demonstrate Salesforce-based solutions for clients.
• Proven track record in new business development, account growth or strategic pursuits.
• Strong communication, storytelling, and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute joint go-to-market strategies with Salesforce.
• Lead executive-level conversations on CX transformation, AI, automation, loyalty, CRM modernization and cross-cloud solutions.
• Shape opportunities from discovery through proposal development and client presentations.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with Salesforce, Merkle capability teams, and client stakeholders.
• Develop solution narratives, accelerators, and industry positioning showing Salesforce-driven value.
• Deliver compelling demos and walkthroughs linking tech to measurable outcomes.
• Collaborate with data, experience, technology and industry teams to architect integrated CX solutions.
• Drive Salesforce alliance growth through pipeline influence and strategic opportunities.
• Support marketplace engagement and joint marketing to position Merkle as a leading Salesforce partner.
• Drive innovation around Salesforce capabilities like Data Cloud and AI-powered experiences.

Skills

Salesforce

Pre-sales

Alliance management

Solution architecture

AI & automation

Executive communication

Storytelling

MarTech

Data Cloud

Tools

Salesforce Data Cloud

MuleSoft

APIs & integrations

Job description

Merkle is seeking a VP, Alliance Solutions Architect with deep MarTech expertise, particularly within the Salesforce ecosystem, to help shape, sell, and scale innovative customer experience solutions across our client portfolio. This role sits at the intersection of technology, strategy, and go-to-market execution, partnering closely with Salesforce and internal stakeholders to develop differentiated solution narratives, influence account growth, and create offerings that drive measurable business outcomes.

This is a highly visible individual contributor role focused on pre-sales strategy, solution development, alliance engagement, and thought leadership reporting into the Head of Alliance Solution Leads. The ideal candidate combines strong Salesforce platform knowledge with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into compelling business value for clients, prospects, partners, and internal teams.

What You’ll Do

• Partner with Salesforce stakeholders and Merkle growth teams to develop and execute joint go-to-market strategies, solution positioning, and growth initiatives.
• Lead executive-level client and prospect conversations focused on customer experience transformation, AI, automation, loyalty, CRM modernization, and cross-cloud solutioning.
• Serve as a trusted advisor during early-stage sales cycles, helping shape opportunities from discovery and qualification through proposal development and client presentations.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships across Salesforce, internal Merkle capability teams, and key client stakeholders.
• Develop solution narratives, offerings, accelerators, industry positioning, and thought leadership that demonstrate the value of Salesforce-powered customer experiences.
• Create and deliver compelling demonstrations, solution walkthroughs, and presentations that connect technology capabilities to measurable business outcomes.
• Collaborate with data, experience, technology, and industry teams to architect integrated customer experience solutions.
• Contribute to Salesforce alliance growth goals through pipeline influence, account expansion, and strategic opportunity development
• Help position Merkle as a leading AI and Salesforce partner through marketplace engagement, executive relationship building, enablement initiatives, and joint marketing activities.
• Drive innovation around emerging Salesforce capabilities including Agentforce, AI-powered experiences, automation, Data Cloud, and connected customer ecosystems.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, you will:

• Influence growth within existing client relationships and support expansion into net-new client opportunities.
• Build stronger Salesforce alliance relationships and elevate Merkle’s visibility within the partner ecosystem.
• Develop scalable solution narratives and offerings that support client acquisition and account growth.
• Help clients connect technology investments to measurable business outcomes, customer experience improvements, and operational efficiencies.
• Accelerate adoption of modern Salesforce capabilities across strategic industries including Retail, CPG, Healthcare, Entertainment, and other growth sectors.
• Act as a trusted technical leader who guides strategic opportunities without owning delivery execution.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in solution architecture, consulting, alliance management, pre-sales engineering, digital transformation, or client-facing technology leadership roles.
• Strong expertise within the Salesforce ecosystem, including Salesforce Core and broader customer experience capabilities.
• Experience with AI, Agentic business transformation and business process automation
• Experience building and executing joint go-to-market motions with Salesforce or another major enterprise technology platform provider.
• Demonstrated ability to engage executive stakeholders while maintaining credibility with technical and delivery teams.
• Experience translating business objectives into technology solutions and measurable outcomes.
• Ability to design, configure, and demonstrate Salesforce-based solutions in client-facing settings.
• Proven success supporting new business development, account growth, strategic pursuits, or complex client initiatives.
• Strong communication, storytelling, and presentation skills with the ability to simplify complex technical concepts.

Preferred Qualifications

• Salesforce certifications and hands-on platform experience.
• Experience with Salesforce Data Cloud, Agentforce, AI Cloud, Loyalty Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, and related technologies.
• Familiarity with MuleSoft, middleware platforms, APIs, integrations, and enterprise architecture concepts.
• Experience within a consulting, agency, systems integrator, or enterprise technology organization.
• Understanding of customer data, personalization, journey orchestration, loyalty, CRM, and customer engagement platforms.
• Exposure to complementary customer experience ecosystems such as Adobe, Microsoft, or related enterprise technology platforms.

The ideal candidate is:

• A technical strategist with broad customer experience and marketing technology knowledge.
• Comfortable discussing Salesforce architecture, AI, automation, and digital transformation trends.
• Equally capable of speaking with business executives and technical practitioners.
• Skilled at connecting technical decisions to customer, operational, and financial outcomes.
• An engaging presenter with strong executive presence and communication skills.
• Collaborative, influential, and effective in highly matrixed environments.
• Curious about emerging technologies and passionate about helping clients modernize customer experiences.

At dentsu, we believe great work happens when we’re connected. Our way of working combines flexibility with in-person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Employees who live within a commutable distance of one of our hub offices, currently located in Chicago, metro Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City, are required and expected to work from the office three days per week (two days per week for employees based in Los Angeles). Dentsu may designate other Hub offices at any time. Those who live outside a commutable range may be designated as remote, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect our employees to be flexible to meet the needs of our company and clients, which may include attendance in an office.

The annual base salary range for this position is $163,000 - $245,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law. Additionally, this position is eligible for discretionary incentive compensation.

Benefits available with this position include:

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Flexible paid time off
• At least 15 paid holidays per year
• Paid sick and safe leave

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies. For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com .