Strategic Solutions Engineer

Job Summary

The Strategic Solutions Engineer will work as a technology generalist interfacing with larger customers and engaging in face-to-face meetings.  They will uncover and develop opportunities by building strong relationships with the customer.   This will include consulting on data center, edge, core, cloud, security, collaboration and services. This individual will need to understand and convey how that technology enables business.  

This position is a remote position requiring residence in the state of Minnesota to support business needs as determined by SHI management

About Us

Since 1989, SHI International Corp. has helped organizations change the world through technology. We’ve grown every year since, and today we’re proud to be a $14 billion global provider of IT solutions and services.

Over 17,000 organizations worldwide rely on SHI’s concierge approach to help them solve what’s next. But the heartbeat of SHI is our employees – all 6,000 of them. If you join our team, you’ll enjoy:

• Our commitment to diversity, as the largest minority- and woman-owned enterprise in the U.S.
• Continuous professional growth and leadership opportunities.
• Health, wellness, and financial benefits to offer peace of mind to you and your family.
• World-class facilities and the technology you need to thrive – in our offices or yours. 

Responsibilities

Includes but not limited to: 

• Responsible for the Solution Practice sales quota in their territory/pod 
• Take ownership of the sales pipeline for Solution Practice opportunitiesby engaging where appropriate, following up with prospects to discover, defend and acquire new business
• Collaborate and engage with customers to ensure account retention and penetrate multiple lines of sales entry for Data Center, Cloud, Network, Security, Collaboration and Services business in existing accounts
• Collaborate, develop and execute strategy for top prospectswith the sales team to discover, grow and acquire new business 
• Ongoing training and learning to understand the company services offerings in all solution practice areas by attending company training and expanding knowledge though self-study 
• Collaborate and engage with multiple layers of contacts within an organization, including but not limited to CIO, IT Directors, CTO, Application Managers, etc 
• Collaborate with sales teams and drive the sales process of the solution, including identifying the opportunity, qualifying, forecasting, decision making criteria, and closing 
• Builds the region/territory based on strategic account planning done in collaboration with the account executive and extended team 
• Demonstrates leadership to ensure that the company’s recommended solutions are comprehensive, achieve customer expectations and meet customer business needs and planning 
• Build strong relationships and trust withthe technical decision maker, executive stake holders   and own the technical side of customer relationships 
• Focused on delivering a world class customer experience according to company standards.  
• Develop relationships with Local Technology Community (MFG’s and SI Partners), and the appropriate customer technical personnel to establish market credibility and ensure the sales team understands the customer's on-going needs 
• Educate and develop sales teams on technical selling, product training, services and technology trends by taking advantage of office hours, setting up formal training and relationship building 
• Educate customers with product training and positioning technical solution sales cycle management 
• Engage in regular one on one meeting with managerand time with team ensuring value prop, resource usage, opportunity development and visibility to Data Center, Cloud, Network, Security, Collaboration and Services business (Corp / District / Rep) 

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree or relevant work experience required

• 2 years + Experience working in complex Data Center sales opportunities 
• Minimum 3 years Previous IT Administrator/Management experience desired
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Products Visio, PowerPoint, Excel, Word 
• Experience supporting Enterprise, SLED and Higher Education organizations desired 
• Advanced knowledge of servers, storage, networking, virtualization, cloud and unified communication and collaboration regarding their impact on the business 
• Knowledge of Converged Infrastructure of servers, storage, networking and virtualization regarding their impact on the business 
• Deep Familiarity with the RFP process and possess a winning record 
• Experience with Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity and High Availability Solutions (backup/recovery, mirroring, active/standby, active/active, clustering) 
• Strong knowledge of Virtualization technologies, Hypervisors, server and desktop virtualization (i.e. VMware, Hyper-V, Citrix, VDI) 
• Expertise in mainstream technologies to include: Dell/EMC, NetApp, HPE, Cisco, Palo Alto, Pure Storage, Azure and AWS 
• Experience with Public and Private Cloud Solutions

Required Skills

• Outstanding written and verbal communication  
• Able to build relationships with customers 
• Proactive mindset 
• Excellent Presentation & Negotiation Skills  
• Ability to work effectively, add value as a team member and assume a leadership role for the team. 
• Ability to train and disseminate information within an Area or Operation.  
• Ability to resolve and close complex technical and selling situations  
• Ability to work effectively within all levels of an organization, both internally and externally 
• Ability to work both individually and in a team environment 
• Must be results driven with a strong sense of urgency 
• Attention to detail, organization, and follow up skills are critical  
• Initiative to research and resolve problems with a positive attitude 
• Exceptional time management & organization  
• Strong documentation skills to include system/network diagrams and presentations
• Possess a real passion for technology

Unique Requirements

• Travel to client locations required up to 75% 
• Extended hours are required to complete some special projects 

Additional Information

• The estimated annual pay range for this position is $180,000 - $260,000 which includes a base salary and bonus. The compensation for this position is dependent on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and market location and, therefore, will vary from individual to individual. Benefits may include, but are not limited to, medical, vision, dental, 401K, and flexible spending.
• Equal Employment Opportunity – M/F/Disability/Protected Veteran Status 

Job Wrapping 1

Job Wrapping 2