Solution Architect

**Job Category**:Customer Success Group

**Job Details**:The Solution Architect leads one or more workstreams in complex enterprise customer engagements, partnering with key stakeholders to achieve the vision while executing on key deliverables. They serve as hands-on advisors, using strong interpersonal skills, solution and/or technical knowledge, Salesforce product knowledge, industry experience, consulting experience, and knowledge of their client’s business to deliver customer ROI.

Solution Architects are strong presenters and facilitators that are able to co-create the vision and lead the execution with the customer as well as obtain customer acceptance of the delivered solution. They are capable of driving difficult conversations and removing roadblocks to execute the business strategies. They are proficient at analyzing issues and obstacles to determine root cause and can identify appropriate corrective action. They communicate with technical and business stakeholders from all levels through C-suite. On a day to day basis, they interact with customer product owner, business process owner and technical resources to understand requirements, analyze information, and design comprehensive solutions. They also show a strong understanding of typical business challenges or common objectives faced by customers within the industry.

Solution Architects are stewards of the Professional Services Methodology and use their networks to ensure that best practices are followed. They engage with Customer Success and Product teams to ensure the solutions are driving the most effective achievement of the value objectives. Solution Architects contribute to thought leadership and best practices by engaging with the cloud-specific practice teams. They will contribute both internally in their Community and externally in the marketplace.

**YOUR IMPACT: Responsibilities**
Salesforce Professional Services is looking for a Solution Architect. As a Solution Architect, you will be serving as a strategic advisor and Salesforce product and platform expert to the company’s largest, most complex Higher Education customers. These solutions will be optimized to use our Education Cloud and the Salesforce platform. Here are some salient responsibilities the role entails:

- Serve as a trusted advisor to our clients, advise on governance best practices (technical and organizational), data and integration strategy, and leading architecture reviews while recommending potential areas for improvement
- Develop and drive a program vision and roadmap while advising and articulating program/project strategies to enable technologies including the Salesforce platform
- Identify and lead internal strategic initiatives to grow the consulting practice; serve as an active contributor to the community’s overall knowledge base and expertise
- Guide customers and colleagues in rationalizing and deploying emerging technologies that drive increased business value
- Work collaboratively and have very strong communications skills, especially in teaching complex concepts, and creative, prescriptive thinking across various levels of a client organization
- Identify and proactively manage risk areas and commit to seeing an issue through to complete resolution
- Manage customer expectations; negotiate solutions to complex problems with both the customer and third-party partners
- Review and correct project/program direction, approach, and key artifacts to keep programs on track and solutions extendable and maintainable going forward

**MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS**:

- 5+ years of experience with enterprise-level Salesforce implementations using both waterfall and Agile software development methodologies throughout the whole lifecycle with repeated and demonstrable success
- 5+ years of experience in the Higher Education industry working within the Advancement space while using technology to drive and facilitate alumni engagement, donor and volunteer management, major giving and online fundraising
- Extensive experience with configuration and customization on the Salesforce platform
- Expert level experience defining the system architecture landscape, identifying gaps between current and desired end-states, and delivering a comprehensive solution that will enable achievement of the desired business outcomes
- Experience leading discovery sessions, defining business requirements, writing user stories, and providing detailed system and functional designs
- Experience in documenting business processes and wire-framing system designs using process flow diagram tools, UML, sequence diagrams, etc. as well as making recommendations for future state improved processes and system designs
- Strong presentation skills; able to effectively present a point-of-view and clearly articulate the rationale to a variety of stakeholders
- Detail-oriented individual with the ability to rapidly learn and take advantage of new concepts, business models, and technologies
- Strong com