Senior Solutions Architect

Nerdery • Minneapolis, MN

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Nerdery is a digital product consultancy that partners with clients to grow their business and delight customers through intuitive, thoughtfully designed technology. As Nerds, we solve problems creatively across strategy, design, and technology, impacting some of the world's best brands. We are looking for a Senior Solutions Architect to join our Cloud, Data, and AI Platforms (CDAP) business unit. This role is pivotal in understanding customer needs, turning opportunities into well-qualified solutions, and surfacing technical risks. The Senior Solutions Architect will lead pre-sales efforts using Google Cloud Platform (GCP) technologies, focusing on Data, AI, and Cloud Infrastructure. This involves developing technical architectures, implementation plans, and Statements of Work (SOWs). The role requires a blend of technical proficiency, customer-centricity, and strategic finesse, with the ability to self-direct work across multiple concurrent opportunities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience
• 4-6 years of experience working specifically with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) technologies as a client-facing Solutions Architect
• 8-10 years of overall experience in solutions architecture, technical pre-sales, or technical consulting (inclusive of the GCP experience above), including real implementation experience building and shipping cloud solutions.
• Proven track record of supporting sales teams in closing deals, with demonstrated consultative selling skills.
• Demonstrated success operating as the primary technical solutioning resource for a team or business unit - self-directed, but effective within structured review.
• Expert-level GCP solution architecture across Data, AI/ML, and GenAI (e.g., BigQuery, Dataflow, Composer, Vertex AI, Gemini, agent frameworks), with working breadth across core infrastructure (networking, IAM, Cloud Run, GKE).
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to build rapport with both customers and internal teams
• Daily fluency with AI tools, including terminal-based agentic tools (e.g., Claude Code).
• Highly organized, with a track record of managing many concurrent opportunities inside defined processes.
• Able to push back - on customers and on sellers - while keeping the relationship warm.
• Must be legally authorized to work within the country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status.

Nice To Haves

• Preferred GCP certifications: Professional Cloud Architect, Professional Data Engineer and/or Professional Machine Learning Engineer.
• Experience working within the Google Partner Ecosystem and knowledgeable about partnership incentives models (DAF/PSF).
• Prior experience as the primary or lead Solutions Architect for a team, product line, or business unit, owning pre-sales solutioning.
• Familiarity with public sector compliance and security frameworks (for example FedRAMP, StateRAMP, and CJIS) and data residency requirements, and how they shape solution architecture.
• Familiarity with AI-augmented and agentic software delivery approaches that apply AI tooling across the SDLC to accelerate solutioning and delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead client discovery and qualification from the earliest opportunity calls, serving as the technical front line to qualify deals, identify core requirements, and build customer confidence.
• Manage multiple concurrent opportunities, keeping requests, follow-ups, and deliverables on track within the solutioning process.
• Surface technical red flags early (identity, connectivity, data quality, legacy constraints) to ensure discovery happens efficiently.
• Propose and lead pre-sales Solutions Workshops to define business problems and shape solution options.
• Assess clients' existing workloads and environments to identify opportunities for optimization, modernization, or migration to GCP.
• Design end-to-end solutions tailored to each customer's business requirements, user needs, and technical constraints.
• Architect large-scale Data, AI, and Cloud Infrastructure solutions spanning the breadth of GCP.
• Develop rough-order-of-magnitude estimates early in an opportunity to validate budget and approach.
• Own the first-pass solution and estimate for each opportunity, refining it through structured review and engaging SMEs.
• Create detailed implementation backlogs and expertly crafted SOWs with explicit assumptions to de-risk scopes.
• Partner directly with Account Executives and Partnerships leadership to shape deal strategy, qualification, scoping, and pricing.
• Advise clients across the Google Cloud portfolio as a trusted technical guide.
• Present solutions clearly and compellingly, linking technical capabilities to tangible business benefits.
• Represent Nerdery within the Google partner ecosystem, building relationships and applying partner incentive programs.
• Define the staffing profile each scope implies and partner with delivery to confirm feasibility.
• Facilitate a smooth transition from sales to implementation, orienting delivery teams to the solution design, key assumptions, and open risks.
• Stay current across GCP's evolving portfolio, especially AI/ML and GenAI, as well as emerging technologies and competing platforms.
• Participate in and contribute to marketing and business development activities.

Benefits

• Growth is not only encouraged but expected.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree