Description

Salesforce's pre-sales Technical Architects (TAs) are the solutions team members who know what's possible and how to make it happen, no matter how complex the challenge appears to be. Their domain and product knowledge allows them to serve as subject matter experts on the account team, not only in terms of product and domain knowledge, but also in how to craft the right solutions to satisfy both business and IT buyers. They are not afraid to dig into the inner workings of our platform to answer a challenging question or address an objection, and are equally comfortable speaking to a room of software developers as they are to the CIO & CTO.

As hands-on technical leaders, TAs take an active role in leading and executing Proof of Concepts (POCs) during customer engagements, working alongside the pre-sales team to demonstrate real-world value and validate solution approaches. They translate customer requirements into working prototypes, leveraging their deep technical expertise to de-risk implementations and accelerate time-to-value.

They are willing to be honest about potential challenges and always keep the long-term success of the customer in mind. People who enjoy both working with technology in a deep way and relating to people will excel in this role. Curiosity, communication, and capacity for learning are key pillars for successful TAs.

The SMB EMEA Technical Architect works with Salesforce's Small & Medium Business (SMB) customers across all industries. As pre-sales engineers and architects, we partner with our customers to drive digital transformation within their companies, and support the sales team in winning new business. We work in a fast-paced, team-driven collaborative environment where everyone brings something unique to the table to get the job done.

Your Impact - Responsibilities

• Work with EMEA SMB customers in close collaboration with our sales and solution engineering teams, to solve a wide variety of technical challenges using the whole portfolio of Salesforce solutions.
• Develop relationships, and act as a trusted advisor to CIO/CTO/CISO and their teams, as they integrate Salesforce into their technology strategy, guiding them towards long-term success.
• Understand customer’s needs and establish Salesforce’s product as the best solution that addresses the technical and business requirements.
• Present Salesforce technology infrastructure, including demonstrating deep familiarity with platform capabilities, hosting infrastructure, security and integration capabilities.
• Conduct architecture and technical workshops, providing actionable technical recommendations that are aligned with the client’s business objectives.
• Handle customer technical due diligence and risk management processes.
• Partner with pre-sales teams to lead technical POCs, translating customer requirements into working demonstrations that validate solution feasibility and drive deal progression
• Translate business requirements into solution architectures and roadmaps that best leverage the Salesforce platform and products with a successful implementation and adoption in mind
• Participate in all appropriate product, sales, and procedural training and certification to acquire and maintain the knowledge necessary to be effective in the position.
• Lead our SMB Technical Architect Community to enable less technical solutions colleagues and act as a multiplier.
• Work closely with a variety of stakeholders e.g. alliances, sales programs, product & product marketing, etc. to develop and execute internal and external programs and initiatives.
• Attain quarterly and annual objectives assigned by management.
• Mentor, teach and guide more junior and less technical team members within the ESMB Solution Engineering organisation but also the Account Executive teams.

Baseline Requirements:

• Minimum 5 years working experience in a system architect, solution engineering role or a technical architect role or over 4 years experience in a SME/SMB or tech start up operations, consulting, implementation management, pre sales or solution engineering role
• Ability to understand business & IT department requirements, translating those business needs into a compelling solution, and presenting your recommendations to executive, technical, and business audiences.
• Deep knowledge of enterprise software applications and their delivery, including several of the following:
• Coding experience and a willingness to work with code (Apex, Node, Go, R, Java or C#, JavaScript, python, Ruby, etc.)
• Database and data management fundamentals
• Web and mobile application development and architecture
• Application lifecycle management
• Integration principles and tools
• Enterprise data management tools and methods
• Process orchestration
• Principles of network, application, and information security
• Good understanding of the architectural principles of cloud based platforms including SaaS, PaaS, multi-tenancy, multi-tiered infrastructure, etc.
• Strong oral, written, presentation, and interpersonal communication and relationship skills.
• Strategic thinker, thought leadership and comfort communicating with executive audiences.
• Excellent time management skills and the ability to support multiple, concurrent projects.
• Lifelong learner, inquisitive, practical, and passionate about technology and sharing knowledge.
• Willing and able to travel occasionally.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, MIS, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Data Science, Management Information Systems, other STEM degrees or equivalent work experience.

Preferred Requirements:

• Experience in roles that required working hands-on to build, implement, administer, or maintain enterprise software (e.g. software engineer, system architect, implementation architect, integration architect, or similar).
• Understanding of risk mitigation, compliance and security.
• Experience with design thinking, persona-based discovery or other innovation techniques.
• Industry experience in a specific field, vertical or market segment is helpful.
• Knowledge of the Salesforce platform, including Salesforce Certifications and/or Trailhead Superbadges
• Languages: Fluency in English (additional European languages are a plus).