Channel Presales Technical Architect (Southern California)

Description

This role is remote, so you will mainly work from home.

The company is a global edge-to-cloud firm that helps customers connect, protect, analyze and act on their data and applications.

The team is hiring a channel presales technical architect to build technical advocacy for storage solutions across its partner community. You will be the trusted technical adviser to top channel partners, helping their teams position, design and deliver storage and data protection solutions for their customers, and turning that capability into pipeline and revenue.

The work mixes storage architecture with partner enablement. You will support partner sellers and engineers on live deals while building their ability to lead on their own.

Responsibilities

• Build durable relationships with partner technical and sales staff and become their main storage resource.
• Grow the number of partner engineers who can position, demo and design storage solutions, using sessions, workshops, whiteboarding and hands-on labs.
• Find and develop technical champions inside partner firms, and help them meet certification and partner program requirements.
• Represent the company at partner events, tech days and customer briefings.
• Join deep-dive talks with partners and end customers, assess their current IT setup, and shape a solution that covers alternatives and gaps.
• Give presentations and demos that link technical capability to business results.
• Support configurations and proofs of concept that meet partner and end-customer needs.
• Build competitive plans with partners to win against rival vendors.
• Work with account teams, channel managers and partners to create, qualify and advance storage opportunities.
• Drive adoption of new technology, upgrades and refreshes across the installed base in the partner community.
• Keep partners' pipeline records accurate and current so deals keep moving toward close.
• Hand each sale to implementation smoothly by orienting partners and internal teams to the design and spotting training needs.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of technical presales work with a major storage vendor or a storage-focused channel partner.
• Deep hands-on skill in pitching, demoing and designing complex storage solutions.
• Solid knowledge of virtualization, VMware or KVM, and at least two application stacks such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle or SAP.
• Practical experience working in one major public cloud: AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.
• Broad command of the full data lifecycle: block, file, backup, ransomware protection and related solutions.
• Deep competitive knowledge of at least one major storage vendor.
• Strong grasp of channel partner business models and offerings, and a proven record of engaging and technically enabling partners through the sales cycle.
• Excellent consultative selling: active listening, framing, whiteboarding and storytelling.
• Clear, confident writing and speaking, able to present to technical teams and business executives.
• Up to date on storage trends and on rival vendors' offerings and plans.
• Sound business and financial judgment, with an understanding of what different customer stakeholders need and prioritize.
• Solid project management, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Familiarity with CRM systems and sales tools, and comfort using social media and other channels to share technical content.
• Preferred: certifications in a public cloud.
• Preferred: expertise in at least one major vertical (financial services, manufacturing or healthcare) and its related solutions.
• Preferred: storage-related industry certifications, which are strongly preferred.

Conditions

You must live in greater Southern California.

You must be able to travel about 50% of the time to partner and customer locations, depending on your assigned partner coverage.

Job level TCP03, within the sales function.

Base salary and target sales pay in California range from $137,500 to $284,000 USD a year, covering total pay at 100% of the sales plan, split 80% base and 20% target. The actual offer depends on location, experience, education and training, and skill level.

The company is an equal opportunity employer that decides on qualifications, merit and business need, and it welcomes accommodation requests at any stage of hiring.

Benefits

• Health, financial and emotional wellbeing benefits for team members and their families.
• Career development programs, including paths to become a knowledge expert in your field or to move into another division.
• A flexible workplace culture that supports managing work and personal needs, with US benefit details published on the company's new-hire enrollment site.