AI & Cloud Platforms Specialist Solutions Engineer

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.

At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual’s race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.

We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD.

The Specialist Solutions Engineer in the AI & Cloud Platforms practice will be a core member of our Cloud, Apps, Data, and AI pursuit team that’s responsible for generating demand across the AI & Cloud Platforms portfolio. This includes Data Products and Services, AI Services and Infrastructure, Cloud Modernization and Migration, Platform Engineering and Automation, as well as Modern Application Development. Specialists are technical experts that collaborate with our AHEAD Account Teams to help identify, qualify, and build the solutions that support our customers Digital Business. They listen to customer challenges and demonstrate credibility through success stories, whiteboarding sessions, and knowledge of the industry. The responsibilities will include working closely with the Regional Managing Directors to drive sales campaigns focused on our portfolio of AI & Cloud Platform consulting services. This individual will also be responsible for creating awareness of AHEAD’s world class services that integrate with our key partners, AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Harness, Cognition, Kong, Red Hat, Wiz, Snowflake, and Databricks, while working closely with current and prospective customers to determine how AHEAD can best serve their Modernization and Digital Transformation initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Engages in conversations with customers to understand their business challenges and introduce AHEAD and AHEAD’s AI & Cloud Platforms capabilities to qualify opportunities.
• Initiates conversations with customers specifically focused around Data, AI, Platform Engineering, Cloud, and Modern Applications in collaboration with vendors and the AHEAD services organization.
• Identify gaps in the client environment, process, and skills with the intent to address, educate, and bring their teams together to drive client enablement
• Explain and educate complex solutions, architectures ,and integrations in a clear and articulate manner
• Creates guiding examples of customer transformation through seminars, workshops, webinars, and direct engagement.
• Collaborates with team members to discover new opportunities. Drives incremental revenue growth through personal campaigns (e.g., portfolio analysis) or internal sources (e.g., Marketing). Collaborates with account teams, partners, or services to track and qualify new opportunities.
• Identifies customer business needs and technology readiness. Contributes to the development of solutions in collaboration with internal teams, partners, and services. Proposes prioritized solutions that align with customers’ needs. Articulates the business value of proposed solutions.
• Collaborates with other teams (e.g., account teams) to build pipeline. Interfaces with customers and builds relationships via social selling. Apply AHEAD’s sales process to adequately qualify an opportunity.
• Identifies opportunities to drive consumption and grow business with existing customers by initiating conversations, providing demos or quotes, and collaborating with partners or internal teams.
• Proactively engage with Cloud vendors to leverage funding mechanisms available as part of sales campaign.
• Proactively builds external stakeholders’ mapping. Collaborates with account teams (e.g., Account Executives) to identify and engage senior business subject matter decision makers at the customer’s/partner’s business.
• Implements strategies to accelerate the closing of deals. Contributes input on strategies to drive and close prioritized opportunities. Implements close plans (e.g., how to map timeline, engage …