Consulting Solution Architect - IBM Mainframe, Z Systems Hardware Support Specialist

📋 Description

• • As a Consulting Solution Architect specializing in IBM Mainframe and Z Systems Hardware Support, you will be a pivotal technical pre-sales resource, dedicated to crafting and delivering comprehensive, high-impact solutions for CDW's diverse customer base.
• • This role demands a consultative approach, where you will act as a trusted advisor, guiding customers through complex technical landscapes and aligning CDW's service offerings with their strategic business objectives.
• • You will be instrumental in developing and maintaining robust relationships with customers, internal sales teams, and delivery organizations, ensuring CDW's continued growth in the IBM Mainframe services sector.
• • A core responsibility involves providing expert technical guidance for the planning, deployment, operation, and ongoing support of IBM Z Systems environments, ensuring optimal performance, reliability, and alignment with business needs.
• • You will collaborate closely with customers to understand their long-term goals and unique challenges, translating these into actionable assessment and service solutions, including architecture design, optimization strategies, technology health checks, deployment services, and advisory services.
• • Your expertise will be crucial in supporting partner product sales, meticulously scoping service offerings, and authoring detailed Statements of Work (SOWs) that clearly define project scope, deliverables, and timelines.
• • You will analyze intricate technical and competitive considerations, proactively defining strategies to meet and exceed customer expectations throughout the sales cycle, ensuring solutions are not only technically sound but also strategically aligned with customer aspirations.
• • Maintaining strong, strategic relationships with customers, internal sales leadership, and delivery management is paramount, positioning you as a go-to expert and a key driver of business expansion.
• • Cultivating and nurturing relationships with strategic partners is also a key facet of this role, requiring you to maintain a minimum of five partner technical certifications to demonstrate ongoing expertise and commitment.
• • You will actively grow your influence within your assigned territory by engaging deeply with vendors, partners, customers, and sales teams, establishing yourself as a strategic advisor and a recognized expert among your peers.
• • As a subject matter expert across multiple product and solution families, you will contribute valuable content to CDW's marketing initiatives, including LinkedIn posts, blog articles, and online magazine contributions, enhancing CDW's thought leadership.
• • You will play a proactive role in driving outreach initiatives, leading technical enablement projects, and providing crucial coaching and mentoring to other Solution Architects, Solution Executives, and Field Sellers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and development.
• • Mentoring and coaching fellow solution architects on best practices for engaging with coworkers and customers will be essential, ensuring a consistent and high-quality approach to client interactions and internal collaboration.
• • On the technical front, you will provide ongoing, non-defect technical support for IBM zSystems hardware and associated software components, ensuring seamless operations.
• • You will deliver essential education and technical guidance to system programmers and customer technical staff, keeping them informed about the latest IBM zSystems features and capabilities.
• • Your support will extend to solution development activities, encompassing architecture design, migration planning, implementation oversight, and post-deployment support, ensuring successful project lifecycles.
• • You will actively participate in problem analysis and escalation processes, coordinating effectively with IBM and internal teams to guarantee swift and efficient issue resolution.
• • In pre-sales and solution support, you will work hand-in-hand with CDW Sales Specialists and technical teams to bolster pre-sales efforts related to IBM zSystems servers.
• • You will contribute significantly to solution design discussions, helping to architect technically robust and customer-centric IBM zSystems solutions.
• • Developing and delivering compelling presentations, detailed technical documentation, and comprehensive project plans will be key to supporting customer engagements and crafting winning solution proposals.
• • This role requires a proactive, self-starting individual capable of performing high-quality work independently, with a deep understanding of industry-specific challenges, regulations, and best practices.
• • You will leverage your strong analytical and problem-solving skills to design and communicate comprehensive solutions that address customer requirements and business challenges, building consensus around the optimal technical approach.
• • Excellent communication and presentation skills are vital for engaging with customers, articulating technical concepts clearly, and building trusted relationships.
• • The role necessitates a willingness to travel up to 25% or as needed to support customer engagements and strategic initiatives.