Job Summary:
The Consulting Solution Architect - NetApp is a nationally aligned technical pre-sales role within CDW’s National Specialized Presales team. The role focuses on developing comprehensive NetApp solutions and consulting-led engagements for CDW customers across storage, data management, data protection, cyber resiliency, hybrid cloud, and AI-ready infrastructure. The Consulting Solution Architect provides consultative guidance, supports partner product and services sales, scopes service offerings, and fosters strategic relationships that drive business growth.
In this role, the coworker partners with customers, delivery teams, internal sales teams, field Solution Architects, and NetApp to develop and maintain strategic relationships and serve as a trusted advisor. The role provides national technical leadership for complex and strategic opportunities, accelerates pipeline development, enables the field, and helps grow CDW’s NetApp product and services business.
What you will do:
- Develop appropriate assessment and service solutions for CDW customers, including architecture reviews, optimization engagements, technology health checks, deployment services, cyber resiliency assessments, hybrid cloud evaluations, AI readiness assessments, and advisory services.
- Collaborate with customers, delivery teams, field Solution Architects, internal sales, and NetApp to provide consultative guidance, plan sales strategy, and author statements of work (SOWs).
- Gather business and technical requirements and translate them into solution architectures, recommendations, bills of material (BOMs), proposals, and service scopes that align to customer outcomes.
- Design and position NetApp solutions across ONTAP-based storage, data protection, cyber resiliency, hybrid cloud, cloud storage, data services, and AI data infrastructure.
- Analyze technical and competitive considerations, define actions to meet customer expectations during the sales cycle, uncover long-term goals and requirements, and craft solutions that build toward desired business outcomes.
- Serve as a national subject matter expert and technical escalation point for complex, strategic, and multi-region NetApp opportunities across CDW.
- Maintain strategic relationships with customers, internal sales and delivery management, field technical teams, and NetApp, acting as a trusted advisor to drive business growth.
- Maintain relationships with key strategic partners by achieving and maintaining at least five relevant partner technical certifications, with a primary emphasis on NetApp technologies.
- Grow influence nationally through high levels of engagement with customers, sales teams, vendors, and partners, and by being recognized as an expert in the field.
- Partner with business and practice leaders to support national NetApp growth strategies, go-to-market initiatives, solution plays, services development, and partner investment priorities.
- Act as a subject matter expert in multiple families of products and solutions and provide regular contributions to CDW marketing-approved activities, such as customer events, presentations, blog posts, online publications, and social media.
- Drive outreach initiatives, technical enablement projects, workshops, coaching, and mentoring for Solution Architects, Solution Executives, Solution Specialists, engineers, and sellers.
- Develop reusable reference architectures, best practices, technical collateral, enablement content, and solution documentation that improve field readiness, consistency, and execution quality.
- Collaborate across cloud, compute, networking, security, virtualization, AI, consulting, and professional services teams to develop integrated multi-vendor solutions and support successful transition to delivery.
- Represent CDW in NetApp and industry engagements, including customer executive briefings, partner events, technical forums, conferences, and joint business activities.
What we expect of you:
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience and 7 years in a technical, pre-sales, consulting, architecture, or post-sale delivery role; or 11 years in a technical, pre-sales, consulting, architecture, or post-sale delivery role.
- Motivated, self-starting, and able to independently perform high-quality work with minimal guidance.
- Industry knowledge and domain expertise: Possess deep knowledge of enterprise storage, data management, data protection, cyber resiliency, hybrid cloud, and AI infrastructure. Demonstrate strong understanding of NetApp architecture, products, technologies, and solutions, including ONTAP and related data services, and apply that knowledge to customer-specific recommendations.
- Team collaboration and leadership: Work effectively with cross-functional sales, services, delivery, partner, and technical teams; lead technical discussions; influence decision-making; and provide guidance, coaching, and mentorship to other coworkers.
- Customer-focused approach: Demonstrate a customer-centric mindset with strong communication, presentation, discovery, and facilitation skills. Build trusted relationships, understand customer pain points, and explain technical concepts and business value clearly to both technical and executive audiences.
- Solution design and problem-solving skills: Design and communicate comprehensive solutions that address customer requirements and business challenges. Analyze complex problems, identify appropriate options, build consensus, and resolve technical gaps in proposed solutions.
- Consulting and commercial skills: Develop assessments, roadmaps, proposals, SOWs, BOMs, and consulting-led recommendations. Connect technical decisions to customer outcomes and support product, software, subscription, and services growth.
- National engagement: Manage competing priorities across a broad coverage model and collaborate effectively with geographically distributed teams, customers, and partners.
- Willingness to travel up to 25% or as needed.
- Current NetApp technical certifications aligned to the role and CDW partner requirements, a plus.
- Experience architecting NetApp solutions in enterprise, hybrid cloud, virtualization, container, data protection, cyber resiliency, and AI infrastructure environments, a plus.
- Experience supporting strategic enterprise accounts and complex, multi-practice or multi-million-dollar opportunities, a plus.
- Consulting or professional services experience, including assessment development and services scoping, a plus.
- Experience delivering national field enablement, reusable solution assets, partner programs, or go-to-market initiatives, a plus.
Payrange: $121,450- $169,210depending on experience and skill set
Annual bonus target of 25%subject to terms and conditions of plan
Benefits overview: https://cdw.benefit-info.com/
Salary ranges may be subject to geographic differentials
CDW is committed to being an AI-fluent organization
We92re looking for people who bring curiosity, a learner92s mindset, and a willingness to engage with ever-evolving technology and tools. We value adopting AI as a partner, openness to experimentation, and a shared interest in learning together on AI. Our goal is to create a culture where AI enhances92not replaces92human creativity and decision-making. You don92t need to be an expert today; what matters is your readiness to explore, adapt, and grow with us as we integrate AI responsibly and effectively into our work.
Additionally, CDW is committed to fostering an equitable, transparent, and respectful hiring process for all applicants. During our application process, our goal is to understand your experience, strengths, skills, and qualifications. As an AI forward company, we see AI not just as a tool, but as a catalyst for new ways of thinking, creating, and communicating. We encourage candidates to embrace an AI mindset, one that92s curious, adaptive, and ready to explore what92s possible. We welcome thoughtful use of AI to expand your perspective and elevate how you share your story, while ensuring your application remains rooted in your own background, judgment, and voice.
