Senior Solutions Architect - Presales

Job Summary

The DataPelago Solution Architect will serve as the technical partner to customers throughout the pre-sales and early-adoption journey . Working closely with the DataPelago Account Executive, NetApp AI sales teams, and NetApp Account Executives, this person will identify customer workloads, design potential solutions, lead hands-on technical evaluations, and translate customer requirements back to DataPelago's engineering and product teams.

This role extends beyond traditional demonstrations and standard solution configuration. The Solution Architect will help determine where the technology creates the greatest value, drive proof-of-concept (PoC) execution, establish measurable success criteria, and move early customer interest into a successful technical evaluation and deployment.

The ideal candidate will combine deep technical expertise in modern data architectures and distributed data processing with the agility and ownership needed in a startup environment. The individual will help establish technical practices and field engagement models that can integrate into NetApp as DataPelago matures.

Location: Raleigh, North Carolina

About DataPelago and NetApp

DataPelago is building a new data-processing platform applying accelerated computing for the AI era. Its technology is designed to accelerate analytics and AI workloads by bringing high-performance compute closer to enterprise data.

Following its acquisition by NetApp, DataPelago combines the ownership, pace, and influence of an early-stage company with NetApp's global customer reach, resources, and enterprise relationships. DataPelago will continue operating with a focused, startup-style model while it builds a scalable business and go-to-market motion.

This is a zero-to-one environment. We are looking for builders who are energized by ambiguity, move quickly, work directly with customers, and take ownership beyond traditional role boundaries. The strongest candidates will ideally bring experience from both early-stage companies and established organizations. They will know how to build with speed while also creating the processes, partnerships, and operating discipline needed to scale successfully within a larger enterprise.

Job Responsibilities

• Partner with DataPelago and NetApp Account Executives to identify and qualify technically compelling customer opportunities.

• Participate in early customer conversations initiated by NetApp sellers and translate initial interest into structured technical discovery.

• Understand customers' existing architectures, performance bottlenecks, operational constraints, and desired outcomes.

• Design and communicate solution approaches using DataPelago technology.

• Develop and deliver technical presentations, demonstrations, workshops, and proof-of-concept plans.

• Work hands-on with customers during technical evaluations and help remove barriers to adoption.

• Translate complex product capabilities into clear technical and business value.

• Collaborate closely with DataPelago engineering and product teams to address customer requirements and provide field feedback.

• Create reusable solution patterns, discovery questions, technical qualification criteria, competitive guidance, and evaluation methodologies.

• Support early production deployments where continuity between pre-sales discovery and customer implementation is important.

• Build the technical content, processes, and relationships required to scale DataPelago through NetApp's broader field organization.

Qualifications & Education

• 12+ years overall experience

• Strong technical experience in databases, data processing, analytics platforms, cloud architecture, or a related area.

• Hands-on experience with distributed data-processing technologies such as Apache Spark, Flink, Trino, Hadoop, or similar frameworks. Strong Apache Spark experience is particularly desirable.

• Understanding of enterprise data engineering and analytics workloads, including ETL/ELT, data preparation, batch and stream processing, SQL-based analytics, and large-scale data transformation.

• Proficiency in SQL and Python, with experience analyzing workloads, diagnosing performance bottlenecks, and troubleshooting distributed data-processing environments.

• Familiarity with modern data architectures and platforms, including data lakes, lakehouse, cloud object storage, Databricks, Snowflake, and major cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.

• Experience in a customer-facing technical role such as Solution Architect, Sales Engineer, Field Architect, consultant, or customer-facing engineer.

• Ideally, experience in both an early-stage technology company and a larger enterprise organization.

• Experience collaborating with enterprise Account Executives and field technical teams.

• Ability to evaluate early customer leads and assess technical fit, use-case clarity, and readiness for deeper engagement.

• Experience supporting complex evaluations, proofs of concept, or early production deployments.

• Strong communication skills with technical practitioners, architects, business stakeholders, and executives.

The target salary range for this position is 197,200 - 255,200 USD. The salary offered will be determined by the candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and education and may be outside of this range. The range is based on 'On Target Earnings’ (OTE) representing the total potential earnings, which is the sum of the base salary and potential commission earned when performance targets are achieved. Final compensation packages are competitive and in line with industry standards, reflecting a variety of factors, and include a comprehensive benefits package. This may cover Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement or Pension Plans, Paid Time Off (PTO), various Leave options, employee stock purchase plan, and/or restricted stocks (RSU’s). These offerings are subject to regional variations and governed by local laws, regulations, and company policies. We will provide detailed information about the specific benefits for your region during the recruitment process.

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We are all about helping customers turn challenges into business opportunity. It starts with bringing new thinking to age-old problems, like how to use data most effectively to run better - but also to innovate. We tailor our approach to the customer's unique needs with a combination of fresh thinking and proven approaches.

At NetApp, we embrace a hybrid working environment designed to strengthen connection, collaboration, and culture for all employees. This means that most roles will have some level of in-office and/or in-person expectations, which will be shared during the recruitment process.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

NetApp is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability or genetic information, pregnancy, protected veteran status, and any other protected classification.

Why You'll Thrive at NetApp

At NetApp, you won't wait for the perfect moment—you'll make it. The early planning, the extra thought, the bold idea that turns good into great: That's how our people operate and how we continue to push the boundaries of data infrastructure.

NetApp is the trusted partner for organizations transforming data into opportunity. As the only enterprise-grade storage service natively embedded in Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, we empower customers to run everything from traditional workloads to enterprise AI with unmatched performance, resilience, and security.

Our culture

We celebrate mold breakers, bold thinkers, and problem solvers. We reward initiative, impact, and ownership. We provide flexibility so you can balance professional ambition with your personal life. Here, differences are not just welcomed—they drive everything we do.

If you're ready to innovate, rise to the challenge, and own every moment - make your next move your best one. Apply now.

Submitting an Application

To ensure a streamlined and fair hiring process for all candidates, our team only reviews applications submitted through our company website. This practice allows us to track, assess, and respond to applicants efficiently. Emailing our employees, recruiters, or Human Resources personnel directly will not influence your application.

AI Disclosure

For select roles, some stages of our hiring process may use artificial intelligence tools to help evaluate applications and candidate selection. These tools support—rather than replace—human decision-making.