APAC Principal Solution Architect, AI Infrastructure

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SUSE is a global leader in innovative, reliable and secure enterprise open source solutions, including SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE), Rancher and NeuVector. More than 60% of the Fortune 500 rely on SUSE to power their mission-critical workloads, enabling them to innovate everywhere – from the data center to the cloud, to the edge and beyond. SUSE puts the “open” back in open source, collaborating with partners and communities to give customers the agility to tackle innovation challenges today and the freedom to evolve their strategy and solutions tomorrow.  

We are open in our roots and open in our approach, striving to be the most trusted open innovator in the World. Openness extends beyond our technology. Our vibrant community thrives on diversity and connectivity without borders.

Job Description

The role of the Principal AI Solution Architect, APAC, is to act as the most senior technical subject matter expert across the domains of expertise relevant for developing AI infrastructure solutions for customer needs based on SUSE technologies and services. The Principal AI Solution Architect exhibits the highest level of technical sales and business maturity, operating independently in pre-sales and customer technical relationship activities, and actively investigates and develops a domain-specific technical vision within the customer base, founded on SUSE’s current and forward-looking technology and service offerings and differentiators. 

The Principal AI Solution Architect interacts with prospective customers through executive meetings, discovery conversations, solution demonstrations, executive-level presentations, and follow-up discussions. The primary role of the Principal AI Solution Architect during an active sales engagement is to provide the domain expertise necessary to develop technical trust within the customer that the proposed SUSE solution will address the customer’s problem and is the best choice over any competitive offering. During this process, the Principal AI Solution Architect will collaborate with the local solution architect and sales account executive, to coordinate against the account & opportunity objectives.

In some circumstances the Principal AI Solution Architect may act as the primary point of technical contact for a customer, especially where a high level of domain expertise is necessary to maintain the relationship and develop trust.  

In all circumstances the Principal AI Solution Architect has an ancillary role in providing mentorship to other Solution Architects working in the team, with the goal of upskilling the whole Solution Architect team. Where possible, the Principal AI Solution Architect should synthesize and re-share methodologies and solutions across the Solution Architect organization. The Principal AI Solution Architect is expected to be highly conversant and current with the competitive landscape, and be able to advise the Solution Architect team on strengths, weaknesses, and effective positioning when in competitive situations.

In addition to assisting with sales opportunities and strategic account development, the Principal AI Solution Architect provides subject-matter expertise for high-level marketing events and executive engagement activities. This may include the development of technical materials for publication, as well as media engagement. 

• AI infrastructure Prospect Qualification: The Principal AI Solution Architect assists and advises the sales team with opportunity qualification in the case of highly domain-specific technical requirements relating to AI infrastructure.

• Prospect Development: The Principal AI Solution Architect provides the deep expertise necessary to effectively engage with a prospect and provide assurance that SUSE fully understands – and can help satisfy – the customer’s business and technical needs.

• Market Advice: The Principal AI Solution Architect provides forward-looking opinion and advice to management and product teams relevant to the development of new technologies, solutions, and services that will address emerging customer needs.

• Organizational Development: The Principal AI Solution Architect acts as a mentor and advisor on their area of expertise to the Solution Architect organization, with the goal of uplifting the wider team to a higher level of competency. 

• Establish and maintain trust relationships at senior levels within customers and prospects and understand their wider organizational context and objectives. Solicit and provide product feedback from customers and prospects. 

• Provide expert consultative assistance to the account team in progressing opportunities through the qualification, definition, proof/evaluation, proposal, and closure stages of the sales cycle with attention to timelines.

• Provide expert consultative assistance to the account team in responding to the functional and business requirements and capabilities sections of RFI/RFPs

• Collaborate with the sales representative and prospect to ensure that the prospect’s business needs can be addressed with SUSE’s current and roadmap product and service capabilities.

• Listen, understand, and analyze the prospect’s business requirements and compose, validate, and present the best possible SUSE solution.

• Prepare and deliver advanced, compelling, value-based demonstrations and presentations in support of the domain-specific topics relevant to the customer. Work alongside local solution architects to ensure the complete customer picture is addressed, and that internal knowledge transfer is also taking place.

• Provide subject-matter expertise and thought leadership for pipeline generation, including developing papers, presentations and demonstrations for media and marketing events.

• Be the go-to technical subject matter expert within the domain of expertise, including competitive knowledge and positioning.

• Advise internal senior management, on the technical and business strategy within opportunities relevant to the domain of expertise.

• Maintain alignment with Product Management on existing and future SUSE capabilities and help drive product innovation. 

• Work with product management & development teams to influence the incorporation of key capabilities that increase the competitiveness of SUSE’s product offerings.

• Collect and communicate competitive intelligence from the field.

• Develop collateral and best practices, and share the knowledge within the Solution Architecture team and the wider sales organization.

• Mentor Solution Architect team members in domain expertise.

• Maintain technical information records within opportunity tracking systems.

• Keep up to date with any new SUSE solutions across the business lines. Understand functionality and interoperability of SUSE components.

• Extensive experience and compelling ability to engage with senior leaders (up to CxO level) on domain-specific solutions and business problems. 

• Able to listen to and analyze a prospect’s requirements, understand and incorporate the customer’s context and aspirations, and to present solutions with a compelling technical and business value. 

• Demonstrated ability to translate business problems into technical requirements, and technical solutions into business value.

• Provide pre-sales support to large & well-qualified deals.

• Ability to review and customize Proof-of-Value documents involving SUSE technologies & services.

• Able to work independently and manage and appropriately prioritize multiple simultaneous customer opportunities.

• Ability to provide guidance and consult with customers at multiple levels of an organization.

• Demonstrate a team attitude and leadership qualities.

• Ability to act as a mentor due to outstanding character, judgment, and knowledge.

• Demonstrate the highest level of written and verbal communication skills.

• Proven ability to manage time and deliver on deadlines.

• Experience developing and presenting clear and concise product briefings.

• Proven ability to unearth business requirements & drivers.

• Proven ability to map business drivers & initiatives to technology offering & differentiators. 

• Able to lead teams of solution architects delivering on Proofs-of-Value and customized demonstrations.

• Ability to lead discovery meetings to identify business value and ROI for complex business challenges. 

• Ability to travel up to 50%.

• Industry-leading understanding and ability in developing software infrastructure for AI workloads

• Close familiarity with cloud-native development,  infrastructure, & management tools including Kubernetes .

• Strong understanding of SUSE’s technologies including internal architecture, with an ability to leverage this in the sales cycle.

• Strong understanding of competitive landscape

• Strong experiences with implementation of SUSE technologies in customer projects or Proofs-of-Value.

• Expert in providing best practices to customers and helping with IT Strategy and implementation planning related to SUSE solutions domain.

• Have strong technical understanding and speaking knowledge about SUSE's products and capabilities.

• 10+ years prior experience in customer-facing pre-sales / solution architect / practical consultation roles.

• Master’s-level degree in science, technology, or STEM-related business field, and/or equivalent work experience & training.

• Deep understanding, experience, and demonstration of knowledge in the domain of expertise, including presentation at industry events, published writings, etc.

• Deep understanding of business infrastructure technology

• Experience with open source software development concepts

• Experience with Business Infrastructure concepts

• Familiarity with formal sales methodologies (e.g., MEDDPICC) is beneficial.

• Language Proficiency: Fluency in English; additional language and Mandarin (Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, or Southeast Asian languages) are a plus.

• Cultural Awareness: Demonstrated experience working with diverse APAC markets, understanding regional business etiquette, and fostering strong relationships.

• Regional Travel & Market Knowledge: Willingness to travel across APAC, with familiarity navigating local regulatory environments.

• Adaptive Sales Approach: Familiarity with various sales frameworks (e.g., MEDDPICC, Challenger, SPIN) and the ability to tailor consultative-selling methods to different cultural contexts.

• Global Team Collaboration: Strong communication and teamwork skills are essential, as the team actively collaborates via Slack and other virtual tools.

• Collaborative Mindset: Comfortable operating in a cross-functional, geographically dispersed environment—aligning with Sales, Partners, and Customer Success to ensure holistic account coverage.

Job

What We Offer 

We empower you to be bold, driving your career to create the future you want. We celebrate and reward your achievements.  

SUSE is a dynamic environment that is evolving rapidly, thus requiring agility, strong entrepreneurship and an open mind. 

This is a compelling opportunity for the right person to join us as we continue to scale and prosper.   

If you’re a big thinker, obsessed by execution and thrive in a dynamic environment in which you can tangibly create a lasting legacy, then please apply now!  

We give you the freedom to be yourself. You will work in a global community of unique individuals – like you – with different backgrounds, talents, skills and perspectives. A truly open community where everyone is welcome, has a voice and is encouraged to reach their full potential regardless of age, gender, race, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or any other characteristics.   

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