Senior Pre-Sales Solution Architect (FDE), Hybrid Cloud & AI

Role Overview

As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you will operate at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, Hybrid Cloud, enterprise infrastructure, and business transformation. You will serve as a trusted technical advisor for strategic customer opportunities, helping organizations solve complex business challenges using Lenovo's AI, Hybrid Cloud, Infrastructure, and Services portfolio.

Unlike traditional solution architects or pre-sales engineers, FDEs combine consultative solution design, hands-on technical execution, and customer engagement. You will lead discovery workshops, architect end-to-end solutions, build Proofs of Concept (PoCs) and Proofs of Value (PoVs), and guide customers through technical evaluation and adoption.

Key Responsibilities

Customer & Technical Leadership

• Lead technical discovery sessions to understand customer business objectives, applications, data environments, and operational challenges.
• Translate customer requirements into solution architectures, transformation roadmaps, and measurable business outcomes.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to customer stakeholders, architects, engineering teams, and business leaders.
• Present technical strategies and solution value to technical and executive audiences.

Solution Design, PoCs & Technical Validation

• Design end-to-end solutions spanning AI, infrastructure, data, cloud, security, networking, and enterprise applications.
• Develop architecture blueprints, integration strategies, and deployment models tailored to customer requirements.
• Build and lead customer-specific Proofs of Concept (PoCs), prototypes, demonstrations, and Proofs of Value (PoVs) using customer use cases and data where appropriate.
• Develop integrations, workflows, automation, AI agents, reference implementations, or technical prototypes to validate solution feasibility and business value.
• Conduct hands-on testing, validation, troubleshooting, and performance analysis to ensure solution readiness.
• Identify and remove technical barriers that impact customer adoption or purchasing decisions.

Opportunity Acceleration

• Partner closely with account teams to shape opportunities and accelerate deal progression.
• Support technical qualification, solution positioning, proposals, and customer presentations.
• Identify technical risks early and develop mitigation strategies.
• Contribute directly to improved win rates, pipeline velocity, and customer satisfaction.

Collaboration & Innovation

• Collaborate with Lenovo specialists, engineering teams, delivery teams, and alliance partners to deliver differentiated customer solutions.
• Provide field feedback to improve Lenovo offerings, services, and solution methodologies.
• Develop reusable assets, reference architectures, best practices, code samples, demonstrations, and technical enablement content.
• Mentor and support less experienced technical professionals.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in solution architecture, consulting, engineering, technical sales, software development, cloud engineering, or related enterprise technology roles.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing, implementing, or validating cloud, infrastructure, AI, data, or enterprise software solutions.
• Demonstrated hands-on technical skills including scripting, automation, APIs, software development, infrastructure deployment, or cloud engineering.
• Strong understanding of Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, or hybrid cloud architectures.
• Experience conducting customer-facing workshops, architecture reviews, technical discovery engagements, and solution demonstrations.
• Strong communication, presentation, and consultative problem-solving skills.
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous customer environments.
• Willingness to travel as required.
• Experience with Generative AI, LLMs, RAG architectures, agentic AI frameworks, MLOps, or AI governance.
• Experience developing customer-facing PoCs, pilots, prototypes, and technical demonstrations.
• Experience with Azure Local, VMware, Nutanix, OpenShift, Kubernetes, and cloud-native technologies.
• Experience with Python, APIs, automation, infrastructure-as-code, data integration, or software development.
• Familiarity with Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, or similar enterprise data platforms.
• Relevant cloud, AI, infrastructure, or architecture certifications.