Solutions Architect

Location:

Grand Rapids, MI / Indianapolis, IN

Employment Type:

Full-time

Workplace Type:

Hybrid

Position Overview:

The Solutions Architect serves as a technical subject matter expert supporting the sales team in the design and delivery of hybrid cloud and networking solutions. This role combines deep technical expertise with the ability to translate complex infrastructure concepts into business value — enabling sales representatives to position, propose, and close engagements with confidence. The Solutions Architect partners closely with internal engineering teams, project managers, and sales reps to align technical solutions with client goals and identify opportunities for expanded engagements.

Key Responsibilities:

Sales Support & Technical Enablement:

Partner with sales representatives as the technical resource across the full sales lifecycle — from discovery through proposal and close.
Participate in client-facing meetings alongside sales reps to provide technical credibility and architecture guidance.
Translate client requirements into solution designs that are technically sound and commercially viable.
Help sales reps qualify opportunities by assessing technical fit, complexity, and scope.

Technical Guidance & Architecture:

Provide expert-level guidance on hybrid cloud architecture, network design, and infrastructure best practices.
Assist in scoping and sizing engagements, ensuring proposed solutions are accurate and deliverable.
Ensure recommended solutions align with client environments and follow established design patterns.

Project Oversight:

Collaborate with project managers and engineering teams to ensure smooth handoff from sale to delivery.
Monitor project milestones and deliverables during active engagements to catch scope drift or technical risk early.
Serve as an escalation resource for delivery teams when complex technical issues arise.

Hybrid Cloud & Networking Architecture (Core SME Focus):

Serve as subject matter expert across on-premises infrastructure, hybrid connectivity, SD-WAN, and network segmentation.
Guide solution design spanning virtualization platforms (VMware, Hyper-V), server and storage infrastructure, and integration with cloud environments for backup, DR, and workload extension.
Advise on compute and storage architecture including hyperconverged infrastructure, SAN/NAS design, and capacity planning aligned to client workload requirements.
Assist clients in evaluating hybrid scenarios — on-prem virtualization with cloud-based DR, tiered storage, or burst capacity — and designing practical migration or modernization paths.
Support connectivity design between on-premises environments and cloud platforms, including site-to-site VPN, ExpressRoute, and traffic inspection requirements.
Advise on network security architecture including next-gen firewalls (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Cisco), zero trust network access, and perimeter modernization.
Support evaluation and positioning of SD-WAN platforms (Fortinet, Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Meraki) aligned to client connectivity and redundancy requirements.
Identify architectural gaps and modernization opportunities across client infrastructure and recommend strategic remediation paths.

Proposal & Growth Support:

Develop technically accurate statements of work, architecture diagrams, and supporting proposal content.
Collaborate with sales reps to build compelling business cases that connect infrastructure investments to client outcomes.
Support renewals and expansion opportunities by documenting delivered value and surfacing follow-on engagement opportunities.

Reporting & Documentation:

Maintain accurate documentation of client environments, solution designs, and engagement outcomes.
Contribute to internal knowledge bases, reference architectures, and reusable proposal assets.
Track and communicate pipeline activity and technical win/loss trends to sales leadership.

‍

Qualifications:

Maintain accurate documentation of client environments, solution designs, and engagement outcomes.
Contribute to internal knowledge bases, reference architectures, and reusable proposal assets.
Track and communicate pipeline activity and technical win/loss trends to sales leadership.
5+ years of experience in infrastructure architecture, pre-sales engineering, or a senior technical consulting role.
Deep hands-on experience with virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere/vSAN, Microsoft Hyper-V) and associated storage and compute infrastructure.
Strong working knowledge of SAN/NAS technologies, hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), and enterprise storage design.
Proven ability to design and document hybrid infrastructure solutions spanning on-premises datacenters and cloud environments.
Solid understanding of enterprise networking — routing, switching, segmentation, firewall policy, and WAN connectivity.
Experience evaluating and positioning SD-WAN solutions and next-generation firewall platforms in a pre-sales or advisory capacity.
Familiarity with cloud platforms (Azure preferred) in the context of DR, backup, hybrid connectivity, and workload extension.
Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical architectures into clear proposals, diagrams, and business cases for a non-technical audience.
Comfortable working in a sales-support capacity — able to manage multiple opportunities across multiple reps simultaneously without losing technical rigor.
Industry certifications in networking, virtualization, cloud, or security at the professional or expert level preferred.