Professional Services Business Development Manager (BDM)

Arista Networks•Columbus, OH

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Professional Services Business Development Manager (PS BDM) is a vital cross-functional role within the Arista Networks Professional Services organization. This position requires a blend of sales and technical expertise to manage the PS Pre-Sales process. The PS BDM will collaborate closely with Arista Sales teams to identify opportunities, engage directly with Customers to present service capabilities, and partner with Legal and Finance to negotiate contract terms. Internally, the role involves aligning with Product Management (PLM) on strategy and coordinating with Resource Planning for seamless project handoff. The PS BDM is responsible for growing and managing the PS pipeline through close interactions with Customers, Sales, Arista Professional Service Advisors, Marketing, and PLM. Key activities include PS services presentations, identifying network solutions for data center, campus, and SD-WAN, creating responses to RFPs, and positioning customized solutions for Customers. The role also involves working closely with PS Technical Leads and engineers to scope engagements and with PS resource planning. Success will be measured by pipeline building, increased close rates, Customer and Sales team satisfaction, and increased PS awareness within the Sales organization and with Customers.

Requirements

Minimum 10+ years providing and selling professional services solutions preferably for data center, campus, SD-WAN networking migrations and deployments.
Experience in managing Customers through the sale and delivery of large projects in the Enterprise or Service Provider markets
Strong writing, presentation and contract negotiation skills
Previous experience with writing Statements of Work (SOW) and responding to RFP requests
G Suite Tools, Kantata, SalesForce CRM tool usage skills required.
Able to travel nationally and internationally, as required

Nice To Haves

MBA or Technical Degree (e.g., Bachelor of Science) or equivalent preferred, along with ongoing network vendor products training/certifications.
PMI or project management-related certifications are desirable
Strong management experience – Account planning, developing solutions for complex projects, team building and conflict management
Excellent communication skills with both Customers and internal technical and sales teams with heavy emphasis on presentations, negotiations and contracting
Sales leadership experience, organizational and motivational skills
Strong writing skills primarily in articulating a proposed solution and representing process and tasks in contracts/statements of work
Strong business skills related to budgeting, financial and legal reviews, contracting, purchasing
Strong knowledge in Customer verticals, UCN solutions and professional services-led delivery engagements
Knowledgeable in high-performance networking and switching systems
Knowledgeable of Salesforce pipeline management, project management and reporting tools

Responsibilities

Markets/promotes/positions PS offerings to Customers, Partners and Sales Teams
SME on PS Pre-Sales: Positioning, Proposals, Process & Pricing
Oversees: Pricing, contractual documents, PS Sales pipeline, proposal generation, scope delivery, scoping questions, SOW document generation and other artifacts depending on the sales stage
Monitors post-sales deliverables for consistency in content with the solutions sold and feedback on pre-sales process
Negotiates business terms and contracts – lead PS interface w/ Legal and Finance
Leads, mentors and guides PS pre-sales engagements
Reviews and provides pricing & discounting to management
Business reviewer/approver of contracts
Pre-sales pipeline reporting and overall PS pre-sales status reporting
Provides awarded project handoff to PS PMs and delivery resource planning
Monitors response times and deliverable quality
Trained on Arista Sales methodologies and solutions
Respond to Professional Services sections of RFPs
Perform Customer presentations of PS Solutions
Lead the needs analysis and outline process flows for PS delivery options
Craft proposals, SOWs and contracts
Create innovative, yet realistic solutions, to meet Customers’ needs
Have a working knowledge of the PS deliverable metrics and capabilities
Effectively manage multiple requests for Professional Services Pre-Sales support
Create and manage scoping teams to effectively address Customer requirements
Oversee and manage regional PS pipeline
Integrate and propose additional Arista Networks services and products to Customers when appropriate, such as formal training, maintenance contracts, resident engineering services, etc.
Effectively and collaboratively work with Sales and PS Delivery
Review master agreements and coordinate with Sales Ops, Legal, Finance and others as required
Lead PS Pre-Sales team to improve the pre-sales process and generate and update the appropriate templates and artifacts to allow the business to grow in a scalable way