Solutions Architect Associate

Cleo • Chicago, IL

9d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Solutions Architect Associate is the technical owner of the sales cycle for small and mid-market customers with standard use cases such as trading partner compliance, EDI onboarding, and B2B supply chain connectivity. Working with Sales, this role leads discovery, scopes solutions, delivers demonstrations or proofs of concept, and hands off to Customer Success and Professional Services.

The role requires customer-facing technical experience, the ability to manage a deal independently, and the ability to explain EDI and supply chain requirements to business owners and IT managers. The Solutions Architect uses expertise across the team and organization, along with AI and other tools, to improve outcomes for prospects and Cleo. The position also involves explaining Cleo’s AI-powered capabilities accurately and using AI tools in day-to-day pre-sales work.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• At least 2 years in pre-sales, solutions engineering, implementation, technical support, or another customer-facing technical role in a B2B SaaS, iPaaS, EDI, or supply chain software environment.
• Working knowledge of EDI, including X12 or EDIFACT, and common B2B protocols such as AS2 and SFTP.
• Understanding of core supply chain processes, including Order-to-Cash and Procure-to-Pay.
• Working knowledge of REST/SOAP APIs and JSON/XML data structures.
• Demonstrated ability to independently run discovery calls, demonstrations, and POCs and manage the technical track of a sales cycle from start to close.
• Comfort using AI tools in daily work and clearly explaining AI-powered product capabilities to customers.
• Working knowledge of supply chains, trading partner compliance programs, and common systems of record sufficient to advise small and mid-market customers on standard use cases.
• Ability to explain AI-powered capabilities accurately, connect them to customer problems, and recognize the limits of those capabilities.

Nice To Haves

• Hands-on experience with AI/ML-powered SaaS features, including LLM applications, agentic AI workflows, or intelligent automation.
• Familiarity with systems common at small and mid-market companies, such as accounting packages and mid-market ERPs.
• Familiarity with retail or distribution trading partner compliance programs.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical side of the sales cycle for standard use cases, from initial discovery through close, in partnership with Sales.
• Conduct discovery sessions with prospective and existing customers to gather business and technology requirements and identify where AI-powered capabilities may deliver value.
• Explain Cleo’s business case to business owners, IT managers, and operations leads at small and mid-market organizations.
• Recommend and scope standard integration patterns for prospects’ ERP or accounting systems and trading partner requirements using Cleo reference architectures and templates.
• Demonstrate the value of Cleo solutions through presentations and demonstrations, both on-site and remotely.
• Complete technical sections of RFI/RFPs and security questionnaires.
• Explain Cleo’s AI capabilities accurately in customer conversations.
• Use AI tools throughout the sales cycle and in daily work, including researching concepts, understanding customer scenarios, refining discovery hypotheses, and producing customer-facing assets and demonstration proof points.
• Manage a high volume of concurrent opportunities with short sales cycle times.
• Identify opportunities outside standard patterns and flag them early to Sales and Solutions leadership for appropriate qualification and staffing.
• Collaborate with Product Management by sharing voice-of-the-customer feedback and patterns observed across prospect engagements.
• Partner with Customer Success and Professional Services to ensure smooth post-close technical handoffs, with clear customer architecture and use-case documentation.
• Build reusable assets, demo scripts, and POC frameworks for the SA knowledge base to scale pre-sales team capacity.
• Use and validate AI-generated work, including discovery preparation, call summaries, demo and POC builds, and customer documentation, before sharing it with customers.
• Explain the capabilities and limits of Cleo’s AI-powered product features credibly to technical and business audiences without overstating them.

Benefits

• Compensation of $75,000 to $85,000 plus bonus potential.
• Healthcare, dental, and vision coverage.
• Flexible PTO.
• 401(k) match.
• FSA and HSA options.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Paid parental leave.
• Hybrid work environment.
• Accelerated title and salary growth potential.
• Supportive culture that encourages life-work balance.
• Fun and energetic work environment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level