Principal Architect

We are seeking a dynamic Principal Architect based in the Middle East to join our EMEA team as a thought leader and advisor for NetApps strategy technology focus areas and customer imperatives both within NetApp and across our partner and customer ecosystems.

Principal Architects are experts at positioning NetApps Intelligent Data Infrastructure business technology strategy into each of the identified customer-driven imperatives where our portfolio is differentiated and solves their challenges with high residual value. They are focused on Data Infrastructure Modernization Artificial Intelligence Cloud Transformation and Cyber Resiliency.

In this role you will act as the tip of the spear focused on establishing NetApps relevance with new buying centers establishing NetApps right to a seat at the table and opening the door to NetApp sellers to cultivate the deal through to close. You will also work directly with the Product business unit and the rest of the field sales to develop best practices and blueprints and motivate and justify product enhancements.

The ideal candidate brings a strong background in sales pre-sales customer engagement and product innovation with experitse to drive cross-functional initiatives.

• Lead initial conversation with customers & prospects at EBCs Sales Meetings QBRs and more as required to establish NetApps vision and relevance in each of the target workload/solution pillars via relatable customer value and mapped to their imperatives in conjunction with account teams.
• Develop and maintain relationships with C-suite executives and decision-makers to expand our footprint and secure new business.
• Operates early in the sales cycle and works closely with customer domain architects executives and business stakeholders to develop initial application & technology architecture concepts to guide investments.
• Develops the technical win plan for each opportunity that they generate setting out a clear and recommended path for the account team to follow to develop the deal through to close. Applies local area/region/district knowledge to customize target workload sales approaches and accelerates local adoption of time-sensitive corporate-identified sales strategies aligned with customer imperatives.
• Create solution strategies roadmaps and reference architectures focused on long-term business goals. Collaborates with NetApp account or service managers early in the sales cycle on the implications of respective architectures on the broader customer environment.
• Works at the area region or district level (as appropriate) to capture Win/Loss information related to each of the four customer imperatives to identify key learnings for continuous improvement.
• Consolidates Product Feature Enhancement requests aligned with customer imperatives into Solutions Management.

• Minimum 12 years leading or developing Information Technology projects with a concentration on Application Cloud Infrastructure or Storage Architectures.
• 2 years of sales experience or experience as the primary decision maker as a customer for infrastructure and/or cloud solutions.
• Degree in Computer Science Computer/Software Eng. or MIS preferred but not required
• Demonstrable expertise in Artificial Intelligence and one or more of the following: Modern Data Infrastructures Cyber Resiliency Public cloud at hyperscale or regional government level
• 5 years of DevOps systems integration and/or implementation experience
• Experience in a broad range of Infrastructure (Storage Compute and Network) as well as cloud.