Cloud and Data Chief Architect

MGT•,

8d•Remote

About The Position

The Cloud and Data Chief Architect takes technical and commercial ownership of a solution group. The position is a senior technical authority for the cloud and data practice: leads the largest and most complex pursuits alongside sales, and defines the offerings, pricing, enablement, and performance standards that the rest of the organization sells and delivers. The role partners closely with sales leadership, OEM partners, delivery teams, and customer executives to shape solution strategy, accelerate deal velocity, and drive profitable growth in your practice. Approximately 50% of this role is directly involved in closing MGT's largest and most strategic deals — customer-facing pursuit leadership, architecture, scoping, and pricing. The remaining 50% is practiced leadership: refactoring and packaging offerings, driving speed-to-quote, enabling the presales and sales organization, and tracking practice performance.

Requirements

Compute and virtualization — server architectures (Dell, HPE, Cisco UCS), hypervisors (VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV, KVM), and containerization/orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift).
Storage and data protection — SAN/NAS/object architectures (Dell, NetApp, Pure Storage, HPE), protocols, replication and RPO/RTO design, backup/DR platforms (Veeam, Rubrik, Cohesity, Commvault), and capacity/performance sizing.
Public cloud — AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform core services (vendor certifications preferred).
Hybrid cloud and migration — Azure Stack HCI, AWS Outposts, Nutanix; rehost/replatform/refactor methodologies, migration and discovery tooling, DRaaS, and multi-cloud cost governance.
Datacenter and colocation fundamentals — power/cooling and redundancy tiers, cross-connects and carrier density, spine-leaf and SDN (Cisco ACI, VMware NSX), and datacenter interconnect.
Security and compliance — microsegmentation, encryption at rest and in transit, IAM/RBAC, and hosting frameworks (SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, FedRAMP).
Automation and management — Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible, Bicep, CloudFormation), observability platforms, and ITSM/CMDB integration (ServiceNow).
TCO/ROI modeling across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid options to justify the customer business case.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.
Ten (10) or more years of hands-on experience in the applicable technology field.
Five (5) or more years of hands-on pre-sales engineering, solution architecture, or equivalent experience.
Demonstrated success leading the technical strategy on large, complex, opportunities.
Proven ability to design and price large-scale solutions, including budgetary and detailed cost estimating.
Experience owning offering definition, pricing, or packaging for a technology practice or portfolio.
Experience managing OEM/vendor relationships and subcontractor resources.
Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate customer requirements into a bill of materials (BOM) and system design.
Ability to present credibly to executive and C-level audiences on both technical and financial merits.
Strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills; able to prioritize, multitask, and adapt to new technologies.
Willingness to pursue ongoing learning and professional growth.

Responsibilities

Serve as the executive technical lead on MGT's largest, most complex, and most strategic pursuits, from first customer meeting through close.
Lead impactful customer presentations, executive briefings, and equipment demonstrations on-site or virtually.
Provide Architect-level oversight on large, complex opportunities, ensuring best practices in design, integration, and delivery feasibility before commitment.
Own critical deal management: engage on at-risk and must-win deals, resolve technical objections, and drive them to closure.
Support the deals desk on discounting and margin escalations for strategic pursuits.
Deliver architect-level technical continuity into project startup, ensuring a seamless handoff to delivery and ongoing client satisfaction.
Continuously refactor the solution group's offerings to reflect market demand, OEM roadmaps, and delivery capability.
Own pricing and packaging for the practice, differentiated by vertical, geography, and customer size.
Define and communicate the practice roadmap and technical vision, internally and to customers.
Own and maintain strategic OEM and vendor relationships, including roadmap alignment, program participation, and escalation paths.
Identify, qualify, and manage subcontractors required to extend delivery capability.
Build and deliver presales enablement for the solution group, including solution modes, demo standards, and reference architectures.
Provide regional sales support, acting as the escalation point for technical and commercial questions in the field.
Support the deals desk on discounting and pricing escalation.
Manage procurement vehicles applicable to the practice and ensure the field knows how and when to use them.
Embed AI into the practice's own workflows — scoping, design, estimating, and proposal generation — to compress cycle time.
Track and report on service delivery capability within the practice, identifying gaps in skills, staffing, or tooling.
Own OEM certification tracking for the practice, ensuring partner-level requirements and customer-facing credentials are maintained.
Deliver monthly performance updates covering wins, sales performance and adoption, and customer success collaboration.
Deliver technically accurate, complete, and timely designs, estimates, proposals, and supporting documentation.
Meet customer requirements, schedules, quality standards, and profitability objectives.
Maintain current technical knowledge, manufacturer training, and relevant certifications.
Identify scope, compatibility, pricing, schedule, and delivery risks before commitment.
Build productive relationships with customers, sales teams, partners, and delivery resources.
Maintain organized records and communicate status and issues clearly.