Senior Solutions Architect

Are you an experienced Senior Solutions Architect professional looking to join a cutting-edge IT Services & Solution Provider? Do you want to join a locally and nationally award-winning company? Nth Generation has placed within theBest Places to Work in San Diego,has been recognized nationally by Inc Magazine'sBest Places to Work,and has a perfect score onGlassdoor. We are a company that prides ourselves in our vision, mission, and values! For more information check out our website at nth.com/careers. • Nth's Vision:To deliver AWESOME in everything we do! • Nth's Mission:To provide transformational technology solutions and services that enable our clients to achieve optimal results. • Nth's Values:Ethics, Success, Relationships, Learning, Innovation. • We believe that our employees are our greatest asset! Our strong team of talent, awesome culture, excellent employee tenure, consistent growth, and long-standing client and partner relationships are a direct result of our vision, mission, and values! Benefits & Perks:We believe that happy employees make for happy clients and offer the following benefits & perks: • Competitive pay • Employee Recognition and Service Award Programs • 401(k) Retirement Plan & Discretionary Profit Sharing • Discretionary Profitability Bonus, dependent upon company profitability • Paid Vacation, Holidays & Sick/Personal Time • Group Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, STD, LTD • Flexible Spending Account • Voluntary Supplemental Insurance • Employee Assistance Plan • Complementary Costco Business Membership • Supplemental Pet Plans • Employer-provided Identity Protection & Financial Wellness Coverage • Fun celebratory events throughout the year!! POSITION SUMMARY This position provides on-site client consulting, pre-sales support, technical assistance, design and architecture of hardware and software products related to cutting edge Datacenter Infrastructure, technical assistance, and support of Nth's product offerings as needed. This position performs on-site and remote client Pre-Sales activities & consulting projects covering enterprise servers, storage, and networking technologies in addition to at least three or more of the following disciplines: • Server, Storage & Network Virtualization & Consolidation (focused primarily on HPE, but other OEMs such as Dell, Nutanix, and Red Hat are a plus) • End User Computing: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Mobile Device Management • Private, Public, and most importantly: Hybrid Clouds • Enterprise Data Protection and Data Management Solutions, such as ILM • Disaster Recovery, Business Continuance and Data Migrations • Enterprise Networking • Security and Regulations Compliance As a Senior Solution Architect, we expect our staff to maintain technical competence in at least three of the disciplines listed above in order to provide an excellent customer experience in the delivery of enterprise-grade solution designs, proposals, demonstrations and proof-of-concept (POC) engagements. The Senior Solutions Architect is expected to work closely with other Nth delivery engineers and solution architects, as a student and a mentor as well as a trouble shooter depending on the need and level of experience. This also suggests that this position will be involved with the more complex designs and installations as a technical team leader and coach, to make sure that each solution is delivered and implemented in the way it was designed and may be adapted as needed to provide the optimal solution for our clients. Primary duties include the design, architecture and validation of installations or upgrades of hardware and software products, technical assistance, client training and support of company product offerings, while always maintaining the Nth Corporate Culture (seeAppendix A). The individual in this position may be required to work at different times of the day, including nights and weekends, as needed and without prior notice. The Senior Solutions Architect willbe expected to spend the majority of time performing tasks at client sites or attending technical training sessions.This is a Salaried Exempt position. Reporting Structure: This position reports to the Director, Services Solutions & PMO, who will be the primary supervisor. This position may also take direction from any of Nth's senior management team and from an assigned project manager which may vary on each client project. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES, include, but not limited to, the following: • Consults, Architects, Plans, Designs and Validates Integrated Solutions which meet clients' requirements. • Serves as a champion for HPE's "Converged Infrastructure" and "Converged Cloud" stories. • Develops a Bill of Materials (BOM) and a detailed Scope of Work (SOW) on highly qualified sales opportunities from interactions with the client, as well as, other Nth Architects, Nth CTO, Nth Inside Sales Nth Sales Team, and 3rd Party teams as needed, for complex hardware and software solutions. Uses Sales Builder or other tools to develop detailed configurations and solution diagrams. • Leads complex technical projects from a pre-sales engineering perspective under the guidance of Nth Project Management. Client projects may vary in length from a few days to long-term projects of weeks or even months. • When applicable, provides on-site installation and troubleshooting services for clients, which may require working nights and weekends. Most client work will be focused on server, storage, networking, and virtualization. • Prepared to work in multi-platform environments with focus on HPE Product Lines and Nth's top OEM partners. Should have a strong expert understanding of at least one operating system along with a basic understanding of Microsoft Windows. Strong experience with multi-vendor Operating Systems (both Windows and multi-vendor UNIX platforms). • Performs on-site post installation quality check, to ensure specifications as outlined in the SOW are met. • When providing consulting services, ensures clients are up-to-date with documentation of work completed on a daily basis. • Proactively provides feedback relating to hardware and software products or client issues to other staff members. Knowledge sharing is critical to the team being able to provide the best value-add for our clients. • Conducts formal and informal presentations of technical concepts to the clients as part of pre- and post- sale support efforts, as needed. • Generates reports describing technical problems encountered and suggested solutions. • Engages with Enterprise Backup Solutions centered on software products from CommVault, Veeam, HPE, Zerto and others. • Provides phone support for resolution of client problems relating to hardware and/or software issues, as directed by the Project Manager or Professional Services Manager. Acts as point of contact for questions posed by clients. This will include special contracted phone support services, under which our clients have purchased a block of hours. • Carries cell phone and makes best effort to always respond in a timely manner to calls and emails from the office during business hours and may be occasionally called after business hours. • Troubleshoots and generates reports describing technical problems encountered and suggests solutions. • Keeps accurate records and notes regarding all client projects, including timekeeping, documentation, project plans, trip reports and status reports. • Provides own transportation and has a reliable vehicle, which is available at all times for immediate dispatch. • Flexible with demands on time and able to deal with frequent and last-minute scheduling changes. • A "strong work ethic" with the ability to flex and extend efforts whenever a customer engagement or sales opportunity requires it. This position may require more than 40 hours of work per week, plus occasional night and weekend work, according to the customer's scheduling needs. • Able to work during Nth Generation's core hours of operation, from 8:00am to 5:00pm. • Flexible to work before or after hours if there are last-minute requirements to perform tasks. • As business and operational demands dictate, additional duties may be assigned and expected to be performed. ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES, include, but not limited to, the following: • Prepares solutions for NthLabs, as needed. • Assists in documentation and writing the curriculum for client facing events, as needed. • Provides instruction for NthLabs, training sessions, and hands-on technical sessions, as needed. • Assists the Integration team, in integrating and configuring systems, as needed. • Assists the Professional Services and Technical Engineering teams with tech-edits, troubleshooting, configurations, and research, as needed. TRAINING REQUIREMENTS • Attends 2 or more weeks of technical training per year, which may be out-of-town or out-of-state. • Attends ongoing training to keep current knowledge base on products we support. • Maintains current certifications, achieves new certifications and stays up-to-date on certifications for new products or services, as directed by Management. QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable an otherwise qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions. Education and / or Experience Typically requires: • A bachelor's degree in computer engineering or related field, or equivalent experience. • A minimum of 5 years of relevant technical experience with Server Virtualization, Consolidation, Storage Virtualization and Backup solutions. • Knowledge in Multiple OS, Storage, and Enterprise Backup Solutions (EBS) certifications. Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities • Able to exercise tact and diplomacy in dealing with clients. • Ability to learn and retain knowledge of a wide variety of technical information requests and responds quickly to information requests. • Ability to organize and prioritize work assignments, travel schedules, and presentation requests in an unstructured environment. • Highly developed communications skills for interacting with clients effectively. Is able to independently handle difficult client situations. • Ability to maintain a courteous, professional manner with clients at all times and work well under stress. • Ability to interface internally with all departments and externally with outside sales, clients, and partners. • Ability to work effectively under remote supervision. Language Skills • Ability to read, analyze, and interpret common scientific and technical journals, financial reports, and legal documents. • Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community. • Ability to write speeches and articles for publication that conform to prescribed style and format. • Ability to effectively present information to top management as well as technical or engineering decision makers. • Ability to Develop, Create and respond to Technical Requests for Proposals (RFP's). • Ability to Design and Create Complex Server & Storage Assessment Documents as well as Disaster Recovery Plans. Mathematical Skills • Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference. • Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations. • Ability to apply information from data collection tools (such as Storage Essentials, DR Scout, etc.) and create graphs and charts in Excel for Clients presentations and reports. Certificates, Licenses, Registrations • HPE APP and APC certifications. HPE ASE or MASE is a plus. • VMware VTSP, VCP or more advanced certifications. • Dell technical certifications are helpful, not required. • Other certifications related to Nth's current OEM partners (as listed on nth.com) are also relevant. • Driver's License PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential function of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be provided to enable an otherwise qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions. Position requires manual dexterity to perform word processing and computer-related tasks. Able to see, hear and talk. Able to lift 50lbs regularly. Able to drive an automobile. WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential function of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be provided to enable an otherwise qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions. APPENDIX A Nth Corporate Culture • Has a positive "can do" attitude with clients and co-workers. Takes ownership of problems and thinks outside of the box, to find creative solutions, quickly resolve problems and help clients maintain a consistently high degree of uptime. • Works quickly and efficiently to solve problems. • Does not take unnecessary risks when performing tasks. Always operates in a professional and courteous manner. Always strives to be a model citizen and truly believes in the motto "The Customer is Always Right!" • Always goes the extra mile to get the job done completely. Does not cut corners or put off documentation or paperwork and understands that teamwork and sharing knowledge is essential to both the company's and one's own personal success. Cheerfully assists others when asked, even if outside of the job description. • Collaborates well with other employees and client staff. Speaks up when necessary to make sure that proper procedures are followed by all workers and ethical business practices are adhered to at all times. • Projects a positive, friendly attitude, and does not complain to clients, vendors, partners and co-workers. Contributes to the morale of those around and does not put oneself or another's physical safety in jeopardy.