UK

United Kingdom · Sales · Entry Level (0-2 years)

Associate Solutions Consultant

As an Associate Solutions Consultant, you turn technical complexity into clear, compelling stories that spark customer interest.

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, a real day, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

See how AI is changing this job, and get the full read by email.

Start my free AI Fluency module

As an Associate Solutions Consultant, a good place to start on Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration (Basic) is Using and Checking AI Tools in Daily Work, a free Future Fluency module at Level 3. You'd practise using everyday AI tools on real tasks from your own week, and checking what they produce before you use it.

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Keep this job description

Where should we send it?

One email: what AI is changing in this job, the new skills it asks for, where it leads, and where to start free. With a link back here. Nothing else follows unless you confirm your address.

Your employer, or 'self-employed'

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  • Experience bandEntry Level (0-2 years)
  • Direct reportsNo direct reports
  • Reports toSolutions Consulting Manager
  • UK framework levelUsually someone starting out, or keeping a process running

Also advertised as Junior Pre-Sales Engineer · Technical Sales Associate · Solutions Support Specialist · Sales Engineer in Training

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in what real qualifications cover

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

ETCAL Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Engineering Technical Support ETC Awards Limited · Level 3 · covers 2 of 13 standards
EAL Level 3 Diploma in Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering - Technical Support Technician (Development Competence) Excellence, Achievement & Learning Limited · Level 3 · covers 1 of 13 standards
EAL Level 3 NVQ Extended Diploma in Engineering Technical Support Excellence, Achievement & Learning Limited · Level 3 · covers 1 of 13 standards
ISP Level 2 Certificate in Professional Sales Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 2 · covers 1 of 13 standards
ISP Level 2 Diploma in Professional Sales Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 2 · covers 1 of 13 standards
ISP Level 2 Award in Understanding Sales Digital Technology Systems Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 2 · covers 1 of 13 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Providing Technical Sales and Marketing Support for Engineering Activities ETCAL Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Engineering Technical Support
Understand Sales Digital Technology Systems ISP Level 2 Certificate in Professional Sales

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
Change Fluency taking people through change
Systems Fluency seeing the whole picture
Your Plan Illustration

Built for Associate Solutions Consultant

2 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Providing Technical Sales and Marketing Support for Engineering Activities ETC Awards Limited · covers 2 of 13 standards Level 3
  2. Understand Sales Digital Technology Systems Institute of Sales Professionals · covers 1 of 13 standards Level 2
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as an Associate Solutions Consultant?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

How the AI economy is changing work like this

A broad read on this kind of work, not an analysis of this job on its own. Roles that share a pattern get the same answer here.

Fading: AI does more of this

AI is starting to handle routine tasks like drafting internal emails and summarising content, freeing you from some of the busywork.

→
Rising: worth more because of AI

Your ability to interpret and apply AI-generated insights becomes more crucial, as judgement and context are irreplaceable.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration (Basic)
  • Deeper Solution Architecture (Initial Concepts)
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Associate Solutions Consultant plan as you set up, starting with the free AI Fluency module. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

Ready to pay? Subscribe for £70 a month

Keep this read. One email with what AI is changing in this job, the new skills it asks for and where to start free. Nothing else follows unless you confirm your address.

3What this role really is

We see you

You wonder if AI will eventually handle all the technical queries, leaving you with fewer moments to shine. Yet, you know that the human touch in understanding customer needs can't be fully replicated.

An Associate Solutions Consultant helps customers understand how a product solves their problems during the sales process.

4A day in the life

Not a job advert. A real day, built from what this role actually holds.

08:45
You start your day by reviewing the demo environment, ensuring everything is up-to-date and ready for the day's calls.
11:00
During a sales call, you expertly field a tricky technical question, helping the prospect see how the product fits their needs.
14:30
You collaborate with a Senior Solutions Consultant to customise a demo, learning new techniques to highlight product strengths.
16:00
You document common customer queries in Confluence, contributing to the team's growing knowledge base.

5What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

CRM Platform (Salesforce/HubSpot) Intermediate

Navigating to understand deal context, logging your demo activities, finding key contact information, and pulling standard reports on opportunities you're supporting. You'll be in it daily.

Demo & PoC Platforms (Demostack, Consensus, custom sandboxes) Intermediate

Delivering pre-scripted demos using our established tools and following PoC protocols. You'll learn how to reset environments and ensure they're ready for the next call.

Proposal/RFP Software (RFPIO/Loopio) Basic

Using these tools to find and input answers to assigned RFP questions by searching our content library. It's about efficient information retrieval.

Collaboration & Knowledge Tools (Slack/MS Teams, Confluence/Notion, Miro) Intermediate

Using Slack/Teams for internal deal communication, finding product information in Confluence/Notion, and occasionally helping with basic solution diagrams in Miro during team brainstorms.

Value Engineering Tools (Excel, DecisionLink) Basic

Populating pre-built ROI calculators in Excel or a dedicated platform with data gathered during discovery calls. You won't be building models, just using them.

6What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Product Feature Explanation Explain standard, documented features and their benefits. Escalate complex or undocumented features to a Senior SC. Independently explain most features, including nuances and common workarounds. Consult with Product on future roadmap items. Define how features address specific, complex customer problems, including advanced use cases and integrations. Influence Product on feature prioritisation.
Demo Customisation Deliver pre-scripted demos. Make minor, guided adjustments to data or user names within a defined sandbox environment. Customise demo flows and data to align with specific customer use cases identified during discovery. Design simple custom scenarios. Architect entirely new demo environments and scenarios to showcase unique value propositions for strategic accounts. Build reusable custom assets.
Technical Solution Design No independent solution design. Document customer technical requirements and escalate to a Senior SC for proposed solutions. Propose standard technical architectures and integration patterns. Seek review from a Senior SC for complex scenarios. Design complex, multi-system technical solutions, including integration points and data flows. Present and defend these to customer technical teams.
RFP/RFI Response Answer assigned questions by pulling content directly from the knowledge base (RFPIO/Loopio). Flag content gaps. Draft detailed answers for complex technical questions. Identify content gaps and propose new content. Review junior SC contributions. Lead the overall RFP response strategy, including narrative, technical accuracy, and coordination across departments. Own content library improvements.

7How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Technical Win Rate (Supported Deals)
The percentage of deals you've technically supported that ultimately close.
Target · >70% on deals where you've actively contributed demos or technical answers.

If you supported 10 deals and 7 of them closed, that's a 70% technical win rate. We're tracking your influence, not just the AE's closing ability.

Demo Quality Score
Internal feedback from Account Executives on the clarity, relevance, and engagement of your product demonstrations.
Target · Average score of >4.5/5 from AE feedback.

An AE rates your demo a 5/5 for clarity and a 4/5 for relevance. We'll look at the average across all your demos to see where you're shining and where you might need a bit more polish.

RFP Question Contribution
The number of assigned Request for Proposal (RFP) questions you accurately and completely answer using our knowledge base.
Target · Successfully answer 50+ RFP questions per quarter with 98% accuracy.

You're assigned 15 questions for an RFP, and you correctly complete 14 of them by pulling information from Confluence. That's a great start.

Product Feature Knowledge Assessment
Your understanding and ability to articulate core product features and their benefits.
Target · Achieve >85% on internal product knowledge quizzes or practical assessments.

After a new product release, you'll take a short quiz on the new features. Getting 90% shows you're keeping up and understanding the details.

Learning & Development Engagement
Your proactive approach to learning the product, sales methodologies, and pre-sales best practices.
  • You're regularly completing assigned training modules, asking thoughtful questions during team calls, seeking out feedback from senior SCs, and actively participating in product deep-dives. You're also starting to identify areas where you need to improve and asking for resources.
Team Collaboration & Support
How effectively you work with Account Executives and other Solutions Consultants.
  • AEs consistently praise your responsiveness and willingness to help. You're seen as a helpful, positive presence on deals, proactively offering to assist with tasks like demo setup or finding specific product information. You're also happy to jump in and cover for others when needed.
Discovery Call Participation & Quality
Your ability to listen, ask clarifying questions, and identify basic customer needs during initial discovery calls.
  • During joint calls with AEs, you're not just quiet
  • you're actively listening and occasionally asking relevant, open-ended questions that help uncover more information. Your manager notes that you're improving at connecting product features to stated customer problems, even if it's still a bit rough around the edges.
Documentation & Knowledge Sharing
Your contribution to keeping our internal knowledge base up-to-date and accessible.
  • You're consistently adding new, relevant information to our Confluence pages after learning something new, or updating existing content when you spot an inaccuracy. You're also good at finding answers in the existing knowledge base before asking others, which saves everyone time.

8Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Learning & Growth

You'll be constantly soaking up new information about our product, our customers' industries, and sales techniques. Every day brings a new challenge and a chance to expand your technical and commercial understanding.

Spending an hour after a tricky demo to research the specific customer industry, then asking your manager how you could have better positioned our solution.

Making an Impact (Early Stage)

You'll see your direct contributions lead to successful demos and positive customer feedback, knowing you're helping to move deals forward from the very beginning.

An AE tells you that your clear explanation of a feature was the reason the prospect decided to move forward to a deeper technical discussion.

Problem Solving

You'll regularly encounter new technical challenges or customer requirements that require you to think creatively about how our product can fit, even if it's just a small part of a bigger puzzle.

A prospect asks for a specific integration during a demo, and you figure out a plausible (even if basic) way it could be achieved, explaining the 'how' to the customer.

What frustrates people
  • The 'Can you just hop on a call?' Ambush: Being asked to jump on a demo with zero prep time or context, forcing you to do discovery live in front of the client. It's stressful.
  • Repetitive, Low-Value Demos: Being used as a 'demo jockey' for unqualified leads that the AE hasn't properly vetted, which feels like a waste of your valuable time and energy.
  • Product Gaps & Bugs: Having to explain or work around known product limitations or bugs in front of a potential customer. It's not always fun defending something that isn't perfect.
  • The Ghosting: Spending time on a custom demo or initial technical discussion, only for the prospect to go completely silent afterwards. It's a part of sales, but it stings.
What this role does not give you
  • Full autonomy over deal strategy or complex technical architecture (not yet, anyway).
  • Direct management of a team or significant budget responsibility.
  • The ability to completely dictate the product roadmap or engineering priorities (you'll have input, but not final say).
  • A predictable, unchanging daily routine. Expect variety and some last-minute changes.

9Who you work with

This role directly impacts our sales pipeline by ensuring technical credibility from the very first interaction. You're the one who makes sure prospects don't just hear about our product, but truly understand its potential. Your efforts help qualify leads, build trust, and ultimately contribute to new revenue generation. Think of it as laying the technical groundwork for every successful sale.

Inside the business
  • Account Executives (your primary partners)
  • Solutions Consulting Team (your mentors and colleagues)
  • Product Management (to understand the roadmap and new features)
  • Sales Operations (for process and CRM questions)
Outside the business
  • Prospective Customers (technical and business users)
  • Partners (occasionally, on joint sales efforts)

10What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • A genuine interest in technology and how it solves business problems.
  • Some prior experience (0-2 years) in a customer-facing role, ideally in a technical support, sales development, or junior consulting capacity, or a relevant degree.
  • The ability to communicate clearly and confidently, both verbally and in writing, in English.
  • A strong desire to learn and grow, with a proactive attitude towards self-development.
  • Basic proficiency with common office software (e.g., Microsoft Office Suite, Google Workspace).

11What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Value Articulation

Moving beyond just explaining features, you'll need to quantify the business impact. This means understanding financial models and how to build a compelling business case.

ROI Calculation · TCO Analysis · Business Case Development

  • This month: Shadow a Senior SC on a value engineering call. Ask them to explain their financial model.
  • Next quarter: Take an online course on basic business finance or financial modelling in Excel.
  • Month 6: Try to build a simple ROI calculator for a common customer use case, even if it's just for practice.

Quick win: Start asking AEs about the 'why' behind a deal – what's the customer hoping to achieve financially? How will our product help them save or make money?

12Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly engage with product documentation and release notes to stay up-to-date on new features.
  • Shadow senior Solutions Consultants on a variety of calls and demos, actively taking notes and asking questions afterwards.
  • Participate in internal training sessions on sales methodologies and presentation skills.
  • Attend industry webinars or read relevant tech blogs to broaden your understanding of the market and customer challenges.
  • Practise your demo delivery regularly, either to peers or by recording yourself and reviewing it.

13The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration (Basic)

AI is already changing how we do pre-sales, especially with drafting content and summarising information. Learning how to talk to AI models effectively will make you incredibly efficient.

  • Effective Prompting
  • Context & Constraints
  • Output Validation

Deeper Solution Architecture (Initial Concepts)

As you progress, you'll move beyond standard demos to understanding how our product fits into a customer's broader technical ecosystem. This means grasping more complex integration patterns and system designs.

  • Integration Patterns
  • Cloud Concepts
  • Data Flow Diagrams

14What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Discovery & Qualification (Basic)
  • Solution Selling Methodologies (Awareness)
  • Proof of Concept (PoC) / Proof of Value (PoV) Management (Support)
  • Technical Scoping & Architecture (Conceptual)
  • Competitive Intelligence & Differentiation (Awareness)
  • RFP/RFI Response Strategy (Contribution)

15The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Sales Development Representative (SDR) / Business Development Representative (BDR)

    1-2 years

    Skills to master

    • Understanding the sales cycle, initial client qualification, objection handling, and effective communication. You'll already have a good grasp of what makes a lead 'good'.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently exceeding your meeting-booked targets.
    • Demonstrating a strong interest in the technical aspects of the product.
    • Receiving positive feedback from AEs about the quality of leads you generate and your understanding of their needs.
  2. 2

    Technical Support Analyst / Customer Success Associate

    1-3 years

    Skills to master

    • Deep product knowledge, troubleshooting complex issues, customer empathy, and clear technical explanation. You'll know our customers' pain points inside out.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently resolving complex customer issues efficiently.
    • Receiving high customer satisfaction scores for your technical explanations.
    • Proactively identifying opportunities where the product could solve broader business problems, not just individual tickets.
  3. 3

    Recent Graduate (Computer Science/Engineering/Business IT)

    0-1 year (entry straight from university)

    Skills to master

    • Foundational technical knowledge, problem-solving abilities, and a strong academic record. You'll need to quickly learn the commercial side of things.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Strong academic performance in relevant technical or business-focused degrees.
    • Participation in technical projects or internships where you've had to explain your work.
    • A clear passion for connecting technology with business outcomes.

16How people get here · where they go next

Came from
Sales Development Representative (SDR) / Business Development Representative (BDR)
1-2 years
You mastered the art of client qualification and developed a keen interest in the technical side of the product.
You are here
Associate Solutions Consultant
Entry Level (0-2 years)
An Associate Solutions Consultant helps customers understand how a product solves their problems during the sales process.
Goes to
Solutions Consultant (Level 002)
2-3 years in the Associate role
This role involves independently managing deals and crafting more sophisticated Proof of Concepts.

The long view: This role can lead to senior solutions consulting work, or into product management, technical account management or account management.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Associate Solutions Consultant is actually changing.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Providing Technical Sales and Marketing Support for Engineering Activities, worked against Associate Solutions Consultant.

Providing Technical Sales and Marketing Support for Engineering Activities Level 3

Applied to your work in Associate Solutions Consultant

The objective of this unit is to enable learners to provide technical sales and marketing support for engineering activities, including providing technical information to customers and preparing marketing materials. Learners will also understand the importance of customer needs and different marketing strategies within the engineering sector.

The Coach Last time, we talked about handling unexpected technical questions during demos.

You Yes, I remember. It was quite challenging.

The Coach Let's build on that by practising with a real scenario from your next call, focusing on how you can guide the conversation back to the product's strengths.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

A year from now

A year from now, you confidently lead demos that not only showcase the product but also resonate deeply with customers' unique challenges.

See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Associate Solutions Consultant
  • Discovery & Qualification (Basic)
  • Solution Selling Methodologies (Awareness)
  • Proof of Concept (PoC) / Proof of Value (PoV) Management (Support)
  • Technical Scoping & Architecture (Conceptual)
  • Competitive Intelligence & Differentiation (Awareness)
  • RFP/RFI Response Strategy (Contribution)
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

17The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Associate Solutions Consultant is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. Solutions Consultant (Level 002)

    2-3 years in the Associate role

    This is the natural next step, where you'll start owning more deals independently and running your own smaller Proof of Concepts.

    • Independent Discovery & Qualification Leading discovery calls and deeply understanding customer needs without constant supervision.
    • Full PoC/PoV Management Designing, executing, and presenting the results of Proof of Concept engagements.
    • Advanced Technical Scoping Translating complex business requirements into detailed technical solution designs.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be honest, pre-sales can involve a lot of repetitive tasks. But what if you could offload some of that grunt work to AI and focus on what you do best: building relationships and solving real customer problems? Our team is already using AI to make life easier, and you'll be trained on these tools from day one.

AI isn't here to replace you; it's here to make you incredibly efficient. Think of it as having a tireless assistant that handles the mundane, so you can spend more time on strategic thinking, deeper discovery, and delivering truly impactful demos. We're talking about automating the boring bits so you can focus on the exciting stuff.

RFP Auto-Responder

Imagine an AI that reads an entire Request for Proposal (RFP), understands the questions, and then drafts answers based on our company's huge knowledge base. You won't be writing from scratch; you'll be editing, refining, and adding your personal touch, saving you hours of tedious work on each RFP. It's like having a super-fast research assistant.

Discovery Call Insight Miner

Ever struggle to take perfect notes during a fast-paced discovery call? With AI tools like Gong.io, every call is recorded and transcribed. The AI then analyses the conversation, pulling out key pain points, competitor mentions, budget signals, and even suggesting follow-up actions. You can focus 100% on listening and engaging, not furiously typing.

Prospect Research Assistant

Before an important demo, you need to know who you're talking to. Our AI assistant can quickly generate a concise brief on the prospect's company. It'll pull info on their tech stack (from job postings), recent financial performance (from earnings calls), and strategic initiatives (from press releases). This means you walk into every meeting much better prepared, without spending ages on manual research.

Personalized Demo Script & Email Crafter

Based on the notes from your CRM and discovery calls, AI can draft a tailored demo script that focuses specifically on the prospect's use case and industry. It can also whip up a technical follow-up email summarising the value points you showed. This frees you up to rehearse and perfect your delivery, rather than spending ages on initial drafting.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become an Associate Solutions Consultant?

Common routes in include Sales Development Representative (SDR) / Business Development Representative (BDR) (1-2 years), Technical Support Analyst / Customer Success Associate (1-3 years) and Recent Graduate (Computer Science/Engineering/Business IT) (0-1 year (entry straight from university)). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can an Associate Solutions Consultant progress to?

This role can lead on to Solutions Consultant (2-3 years in the Associate role), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for an Associate Solutions Consultant?

Increasingly, Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration (Basic) and Deeper Solution Architecture (Initial Concepts). These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

Read the Zavmo manifesto to understand how you will be taught Meet your tutors

Or try another one

18Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 2

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

 More jobs in sales

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.
If you leave this industry

The skills built in this role apply beyond one product or sector. They can lead into product management, using market insight gathered from customer conversations. They can lead into technical account management, supporting customers after the sale. They can also lead into sales roles such as account executive, backed by technical knowledge.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my free AI Fluency module What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.