Solutions Architect

Job Description

Job Title: Specialist Solutions Architect

FUNCTION: Technical Presales

JOB FAMILY: Global Shared Services

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Rackspace is a global organisation recognized as a company of experts, delivering a world-class support experience on the world’s leading technology platforms. As part of our Asia expansion plans into Singapore, we are seeking an experienced Solutions Architect that is technically proficient and applies their knowledge and expertise to lead presales efforts, provide architectural advice and guide technical strategy for our mid-market and enterprise clients based across 27 countries in Asia. The ideal candidate will also have experience in the Digital space and have expertise across several Digital technologies and platforms in order to complement our Digital strategy.

Our new Singapore office is spearheading the Asia efforts towards making Rackspace the go-to brand for managed solutions on the leading cloud vendors. This a multifaceted role with the core mission being to engage with new and existing customers and be their trusted advisor, using our diverse managed services and technology portfolio to deliver on their business and project goals. Working with our sales and service delivery teams, you will own the technical element of opportunities, providing thought leadership and strategic guidance for customers’ IT and cloud strategies, followed by delivery of technical solutions and architectures using technologies appropriate for a customer’s requirements. Moreover, with Rackspace being a platform-agnostic managed services provider, you will also have the opportunity to constantly grow and expand your technical abilities across the major cloud vendors (AWS, Azure and GCP) and our dedicated portfolio, with the backing of Rackspace and our technology partners’ support and resources.

With Rackspace Asia having proven success in delivering and managing solutions in the Digital space, we will have a proactive “Digital-focused” growth strategy in Singapore, where we will capitalize on our existing partnerships with the world’s leading Digital Agencies. As the subject matter expert on Digital platforms and technologies, you will also be the go-to architect leading and overseeing all technical solutions for our digital engagements.

You will be part of a small, but tight-knit team, representing the “first boots on the ground” in Singapore. While still being part of an established and profitable organization, our Singapore operations will be run as a lean, but well-funded startup. As a founding member of the Singapore team, your perspectives and experience will be highly valued and your personality will be an integral part of the team. We also expect numerous growth opportunities to arise as the opportunity grows, and you will be encouraged to define your growth beyond the traditional Solutions Architect role, where your responsibilities will also cover areas such as evangelism, project management and product engineering.

This is an excellent opportunity for the self-starter that is constantly looking to grow and learn, is a strong communicator and has an entrepreneurial spirit. The right candidate for the role will be technically adaptable across a number of technologies and have an ability to engage and adapt to varying audiences, including CxO’s and business and technical influencers. The candidate will also be able to work closely with technical specialists within Rackspace and our partners to leverage their expertise and coordinate efforts.

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

Key Accountabilities

• Orchestrate and lead presales and delivery efforts for customers (typically of mid-market and enterprise-scale), with an emphasis on our digital customers, across 27 countries in Asia. Providing strategic guidance for their businesses and delivering appropriate technical solutions fit for business and project purpose.
• Lead facilitation of group white-boarding sessions to articulate Rackspace solutions, cloud technologies, industry trends, transformation methodologies, and overall stimulate the customer about the concept of adopting a managed services model with Rackspace.
• Combine with Sales and Professional Services to deliver technical workshops, ranging from IT optimization, consolidation and cloud transformations, for customers requiring such solutions.
• Continuously grow and improve technical skillset across the major cloud providers (AWS, Azure and GCP) utilizing the resources available, including specialist architects inside and outside of the organization.
• Continuously maintain and develop a specialization in the Digital space, focusing on digital experience and e-commerce and platforms, such as Adobe AEM, Sitecore, SAP Hybris, Oracle ATG (Oracle Commerce) and Magento.
• Continuously keep abreast of evolving technologies, emerging industry trends, developing Rackspace product & solutions, and demands of the Asian consumer.
• Have an ongoing awareness of the dedicated technology set and managed service capabilities provided by Rackspace.
• Influence customer executives, customer decision-making process, and achieve Trusted Advisor status among targeted strategic pursuit and key growth accounts.
• Help create strategic plans to grow the Rackspace Asia business by aligning with Sales and Service Delivery needs and region demands.
• Interface with internal product teams and professional services teams by working on new product initiatives to ensure completeness and relevance to customer requirements.
• Develop strong, positive relationships and act as the liaison between Rackspace Sales Leaders, Marketing, Channel, Professional Services, Service Delivery and Operations.
• Develop strong, positive relationships with Rackspace technology and strategic partners by working with their leadership, sales and technical pre-sales teams, to deliver outcomes that strengthen and grow the relationship.
• Evangelise Rackspace Services and industry technologies at speaking engagements for conferences, industry, and marketing events including contribution to social media forums, authoring of white papers, and blogging.
• Mentor extended Rackspace sales and technical teams in regards to mature sales methodologies and technical solution specifications.
• Perpetually seek to improve and refine the Rackspace methodology, deliverables, sales collateral, and team roles and alignment.
• Coordinates with sales managers to proactively engage high priority/profile customers as an industry technology expert.
• Provide FANATICAL support by driving the value of Rackspace to both potential and existing Rackspace customers and internal sales teams alike.
• Ability to travel 40% of the time.

Key Performance Indicators

KPIs Include (not limited to):

• Attainment of the overall sales organisation against target.
• Net Promotor Score (NPS) of the Business Development Consultants and Service Delivery teams you support.
• Volume of thought-leadership and marketing activities.
• Activity within the technical community.
• Attainment of technical certifications, including AWS certifications and certifications of other technologies and platforms.

PERSON SPECIFICATION:

Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of Cloud Computing (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and proficiency in at least one of the three major public cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Advanced knowledge and experience working with and designing at least one Digital Experience or e-Commerce platform (such as Sitecore, Hybris, Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), Magnolia, Oracle Commerce Suite (ATG), Magento).
• Advanced working knowledge of Operating Systems (Windows and Linux).
• Advanced working knowledge of networking fundamentals.
• Advanced knowledge of databases (such as SQL Server and MySQL)
• Advanced knowledge of common web servers, mail, backup, and application monitoring systems.
• Knowledge and experience in application and software development using common programming languages (such as Python, Java and .NET languages).
• Working knowledge and strong understanding of the best practices for infrastructure management in a business context (such as data center strategy, capacity utilization and planning, disaster recovery and business continuity, and migration & consolidation).
• Industry certifications and accreditations highly advantageous.

Person Skills

• Highly motivated self-starter and team player with an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Effective presentation skills with the capacity to build rapport and articulate value to varying customer audiences (administrators to executives).
• Strong consultative selling acumen and demonstrated success in prior roles.
• Strong knowledge of all areas in typical business operations.
• Strong negotiation and objection handling skills.
• Strong ability to engage and leverage teams across the business to coordinate opportunities and initiatives.
• Effective with time management and expected deliverables.
• Experience leading technical workshops exploring requirements and mapping solutions.
• Exceptional communication skills in English; both written and verbal with great attention to detail. Additional languages is beneficial.
• Experience in providing mentoring for team members and Sales Representatives
• 3+ years’ experience in technical pre-sales
• Ability to develop ‘win themes’ and customization of value propositions for clients in conjunction with sales teams.

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