Solutions Architect, Sales Engineering
Up to £65K OTE + car allowance
Reference: WUK726
Please note: Applicants for this position must have authorization to work in the UK.Role
As our Solutions Architect you will work along side the UK sales force, supporting the sales cycle from a technical perspective. You will be responsible for creating complicated technical solutions for major opportunities and owning them from design phase through to managing implementation. You will also represent the end users/ marketplace to provide feedback into the sales engineering team on product features and positioning.
You'll enjoy describing the impact and benefits of technical features, conducting technical demonstrations and evaluations and taking ownership for technical questions and enquiries. Your skills in project management, troubleshooting and analysis along with your excellent communication skills mean that you'll be confident in building robust relationships with internal staff, customers and partner organisations.
This position is based at our headquarters in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, although it is anticipated that 60-80% of your time will be based out of the office in support of sales opportunities and partner training.
Main duties
- Work with major accounts team and strategic partner team to provide technical solutions and architecture to strategic account sales
- Contribute to and run discussions around Sophos product sets within network topologies in whiteboard sessions
- Own and project manage technical evaluations by working with prospects through proof of concept testing and implementation with the goal of a strong recommendation to purchase Sophos products.
- Identify early in the sales process where there is risk that an “out of the box” solution may not appear to fit by alerting the UK Sales Engineering Manager (UKSEM). Work with the global Sales Engineers to identify alternative solutions.
- Collect and aggregate feedback from the sales engineering team, feeding into Product Management and other teams to help direct product development to meet market needs.
- Ensure that any customised solutions are fully documented and understood by Technical Support, including Professional Services.
- Provide input into the positioning of Sophos solutions through presentations and meeting management to end users and partners back to the UK SE team
- Plan and prepare presentations to deliver technical solution element of the sale, in conjunction with the sales person owning that opportunity. Understand the composition of the audience and adapt the standard template presentation to meet their needs.
- Provide and manage customer feedback on products and competitive positioning for the UK Sales team in coordination with feedback on product requirements and technical issues back to the UK Sales Engineering Manager.
- Support the UK Sales & Marketing Team by delivering presentations, product demonstrations and acting as a product / technical spokesperson.
- Review with the sales persons opportunities that have been lost, feedback the improvements sales engineering can make to avoid recurrence to the UKSEM.
- Complete the technical element for RFXs drawing on the internal systems / best practices for standard answers and solutions.
Experience and skills
You will need to demonstrate experience in the following:
- Technical pre & post sales experience in a customer facing role to major accounts (i.e. 50,000 seats +) supporting the sales cycle
- Negotiating with and influencing technical specialists
- Experience of software deployment strategy within large environments (20k+ seats)
- Administration and deployment experience of Enterprise security software (e.g. Sophos/ McAfee/ Symantec/ Trend/ CA)
- Technical background in networking or security applications
- Presenting technical solutions to diverse audiences of both technical and non-technical staff
- Speaking at events from a technical solutions perspective to audiences 100+
- Experience of creating and delivering statements of work before on site consultancy in agreement with a the customer
Experience in the following is desirable:
- Product management
- Development of the sales and marketing strategy
- Project planning and overseeing major installations
- Managing teams of consultants
Benefits
The remuneration package includes:
- Annual holiday entitlement of 25 days
- Commission scheme
- Group personal pension scheme
- Private medical insurance
- Critical illness insurance
- Death in service policy (life assurance)
- Permanent health insurance
- Travel insurance
- Personal accident cover
Working conditions at Sophos are very good and include:
- Subsidised staff restaurant
- Free beverages, fruit and pastries
