Technology Architect
Lumen

The Role

We are looking for Technology Architects who are passionate about leveraging technology innovation for the betterment of humanity. This exciting customer-facing Technology Architect role will work in partnership with our Sales, Solution Engineering & Customer Success Executives, leading innovative conversations that help shape the growth of our enterprise customers as they embrace the 4th Industrial Revolution. Technology Architects design and architect solutions utilizing our technology services platform. The successful Technology Architect must have a strong desire to leverage their technical and sales skills, including business acumen, to understand business requirements, develop a technical sales strategy, and effectively present solutions that address our customers' requirements and provide business value.

The Main Responsibilities

• Specialized Solution Design:  This role is the go-to expert for Solution Engineers at Lumen when very deep knowledge and experience is needed for a particular technology or product.  Clarifies ambiguous requirements with sales and clients, ensuring the solution resolves underlying client issues.  Provides guidance and alternatives to customer's requirements.  May interpret customer requirements based on limited information.
• Specialist Expertise:  Within the specialist vertical, provide on-demand design, solution best practices and industry expertise to the sales teams during the Learn/Buy/Get phases of the customer lifecycle experience. By proactively pulling in other specialists, expand the solution to be cross functional and multi-product. Follows industry technology trends through self-study and formal training and shares this knowledge with the teams they support along with their peer groups.
• Product Partnership:  Partners with Product Management in areas of process and design improvement within specific product area and contacts impacted departments to recommend potential solutions. Proactively provides input on strategic and tactical plans for new product development to teams across the organization. 
• Customer Meetings:  Leads and/or attends customer meetings in person and via collaboration tools. Prepares and delivers technical proposals and presentations with the appropriate level of business acumen for the audience.  Provides broad scope responses to solution and technology questions. Demonstrates advanced solution selling abilities and effective, pro-active customer communications. Interacts with all levels of customer's management team.
• Custom Solutions:  Exceptional understanding of technical and product boundaries within areas of specialization and understanding of multi-product solutions and how these products interact with each other as to what is standard, what is available via special approval process, and what is not able to be provided. Partner with account team to shepherd custom requirements through sign-off process.
• Sales Enablement:  Works to self-enable the Sales Teams by freely sharing knowledge of process, key contacts, technology, and product in their area of specialization over the phone, in writing or through live trainings.

What We Look For in a Candidate

• Education: Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, related fields or equivalent industry experience in the private sector or military
• Work experience: 5 years of relevant job experience.
• General Experience:  Pre-sales role responsible for needs identification, qualification, and solutions design with certain products/applications.
• Technical Knowledge:  Demonstrated understanding of advanced applications across multiple product areas with extensive knowledge of competitive offerings and trends.
• Communication: Ability to independently orchestrate & lead discussions with clients across many levels including C-level, VPs and Directors within IT.
• Sales Ability:  Proven track record of success attaining sales quota through leveraging technical relationships to up-sell existing customers and calling on new leads/prospects to generate business within an assigned territory utilizing solution selling methodologies. 
• Communication:  Advanced written and verbal communication skills.  Proven ability to work with multiple levels of decision making. Clearly articulate technical solutions in writing, on the phone, using video, or in person. 
• Problem Solving:  Expert problem-solving skills and ability to methodically understand and resolve complex issues across multiple products to integrate into a seamless customer solution.  Must demonstrate the ability to focus ambiguous customer needs into specific, deliverable requirements.  Must demonstrate creative solution development.
• Work Style:  Ability to work independently, part of a team or pull together and lead a team to build complex customer solutions. Must be able to build strong team relationships and easily transfer technical information.  Ability to work under pressure with tight deadlines and on multiple projects simultaneously.  Must be very detail oriented and demonstrate a high degree of accuracy.  Attention to detail with good organizational capabilities.  Ability to prioritize with good time management skills.
• Presentation Skills: Must possess expert level communication skills capable of creating engaging proposals and presenting to customers at any level of expertise.
• Computer Skills:  Advanced knowledge and usage of computer business applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel, Visio, and PowerPoint required.
• Industry certification: In one or more specialized technologies.
• Desired Skills: Experience in solution consulting - ITIL. 
• Some travel required.

What to Expect Next