United Kingdom · Sales · Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Solutions Architect (Sales)

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, 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.

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Experience bandMid-Level (2-5 years)
Direct reportsNo direct reports
Reports toSenior Solutions Architect
UK framework levelUsually a coordinator, or early in a professional job

Also advertised as Technical Sales Consultant · Pre-Sales Engineer · Sales Engineer

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

Level 5 Award in Managing Sales Technology Systems Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 5 · covers 1 of 1 standard

Level 5 Certificate in Professional Sales Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 5 · covers 1 of 1 standard

Level 5 Diploma in Professional Sales Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 5 · covers 1 of 1 standard

ISP Level 2 Certificate in Professional Sales Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 2 · covers 1 of 1 standard

ISP Level 2 Diploma in Professional Sales Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 2 · covers 1 of 1 standard

ISP Level 2 Award in Understanding Sales Digital Technology Systems Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 2 · covers 1 of 1 standard

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

The units you would start with

Manage Sales Technology Systems Level 5 Award in Managing Sales Technology Systems

Understand Sales Digital Technology Systems ISP Level 2 Certificate in Professional Sales

The future skills this job leans on

Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision

Systems Fluency seeing the whole picture

Your Plan Illustration

Built for Solutions Architect (Sales)

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

Manage Sales Technology Systems Institute of Sales Professionals · covers 1 of 1 standards Level 5
Understand Sales Digital Technology Systems Institute of Sales Professionals · covers 1 of 1 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 a Solutions Architect (Sales)?

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

The new skills this role is being asked for

Advanced Value Realisation & Business Case Development
Proactive Competitive Intelligence & Counter-Positioning

Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

Data Fluencyturning numbers into a decision
Systems Fluencyseeing the whole picture

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 Solutions Architect (Sales) 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

A solutions architect in sales works out how a product can solve a customer's business problems. You explain complex technical features in plain terms, so the solution fits what the customer actually needs.

4What you'd actually use

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

Salesforce Sales Cloud Intermediate

Navigating opportunities, logging activities, pulling standard reports, updating technical notes on accounts. It's our single source of truth for deals.

HubSpot Sales Hub Intermediate

Similar to Salesforce, used for tracking engagements, managing pipelines for smaller accounts, and automating follow-ups. Some teams prefer this.

Reprise / Walnut.io (Interactive Demo Platforms) Intermediate

Delivering standard scripted demos, making minor customisations to pre-built interactive demos for specific client scenarios. You'll be living in these.

Miro / Slack / MS Teams Intermediate

Participating in solutioning sessions, collaborating on whiteboards, communicating with internal teams, and finding information in shared channels. Essential for team work.

Confluence / Notion (Knowledge Base) Intermediate

Finding technical documentation, demo scripts, PoV templates, and contributing your own insights and solutions to the team's knowledge base. It's where we keep all our good stuff.

Lucidchart / diagrams.net Intermediate

Reading and understanding architecture diagrams, making simple edits to existing templates, and creating your own clear, concise solution diagrams for prospects. Your visual communication tools.

Loopio / RFPIO (RFP Automation) Basic

Filling in assigned technical questions in the platform using the existing answer library for RFPs. You'll be contributing to these, not owning the whole thing yet.

5What 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 choice	Coming in	Where you are now	The step above
Demo Customisation	Follows pre-defined scripts, minor tweaks only, requires approval from Senior SA.	Independently customises standard demos, creates new demo flows for common use cases, consults Senior SA on complex customisations.	Designs and builds entirely new demo environments and assets for strategic deals, sets standards for demo customisation across the team.
Proof of Value (PoV) Scoping	Assists Senior SA in documenting PoV criteria, executes specific tasks within a defined PoV plan.	Independently scopes and defines success criteria for standard mid-market PoVs, seeks approval from AE and Senior SA.	Designs complex PoV frameworks for enterprise clients, negotiates PoV scope directly with C-level technical stakeholders.
Technical Solution Design	Presents pre-approved reference architectures, escalates all non-standard technical questions.	Designs and diagrams standard integration architectures for mid-market prospects, recommends best practices for common use cases, consults with Engineering for novel challenges.	Architects bespoke, multi-system enterprise solutions, influences product roadmap based on recurring technical challenges, acts as a peer to customer's enterprise architects.
Customer Communication (Technical)	Responds to technical questions under direct supervision, drafts emails for review.	Independently communicates technical details to prospects, handles technical objection handling, knows when to bring in a deeper expert.	Leads technical discussions with C-level executives and architects, represents the company at industry events, publishes technical whitepapers.

6How 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 (Mid-Market)

The percentage of qualified mid-market opportunities where your technical solution was validated and preferred by the prospect.

Target · 70%+

If you supported 10 qualified mid-market deals in Q2 and 7 of them resulted in a technical 'win' (meaning the customer chose our solution technically), that's a 70% win rate.

Proof of Value (PoV) Completion Rate

The percentage of agreed-upon PoVs that are successfully completed within the defined scope and timeline.

Target · 85%+

You started 5 PoVs this month. If 4 were completed on time and within scope, that's an 80% completion rate. We want to see you push for that 5th one!

Sales Cycle Acceleration

Your contribution to reducing the average time it takes to close a mid-market deal, specifically after your engagement begins.

Target · Reduce average sales cycle by 10 days

If the average sales cycle for mid-market deals is 90 days, and deals you're involved in close in 80 days, you're hitting this. It's about being efficient and clear.

AE Satisfaction Score

Feedback from the Account Executives you work with on your technical support, responsiveness, and overall partnership.

Target · 4.5/5.0 average

After each quarter, AEs will rate your support. Getting consistent 4s and 5s means they trust you and love working with you.

Effective Technical Discovery

Your ability to ask the right questions, uncover genuine technical pain points, and accurately map them to our solution's capabilities, rather than just showing features.

AEs consistently praise your discovery skills in debriefs. You're able to articulate the customer's technical environment and challenges clearly to internal teams. Your PoV scopes are well-defined and address core customer problems.

Solution Storytelling & Persuasion

How well you can translate complex technical details into a compelling business narrative that resonates with both technical and non-technical audiences.

Prospects often comment on how clearly you explained our product. You can adapt your message on the fly to different personas (e.g., a CTO vs. a Head of Sales). Your demos feel less like a feature tour and more like a tailored solution.

Internal Knowledge Sharing

Your contribution to the team's collective knowledge base, helping others learn and improve.

You're adding new, useful content to our Confluence or Notion pages. You're proactively sharing insights from customer calls with the Product team. Junior SAs come to you for advice and you're happy to help them out.

Proactive Problem Solving

Your initiative in identifying potential technical roadblocks in a sales cycle and proposing solutions before they become major issues.

You flag potential integration challenges early in the sales process. You suggest alternative approaches when a customer's request can't be met directly. You don't just escalate problems
you come with options.

7Would you like it

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

What people enjoy

Solving Real-World Technical Puzzles

You get a buzz from dissecting a customer's complex technical environment and figuring out exactly how our product slots in. It's like a daily puzzle, and the 'Aha!' moment when you crack it is genuinely satisfying.

A prospect has a tricky legacy system they need to integrate with. You spend a few hours digging into their docs, sketching out an architecture, and then confidently present a solution that makes their technical team nod in approval. That's your fuel.

Direct Impact on Business Growth

You love seeing your technical efforts directly translate into closed deals and new revenue. You're not just building; you're helping the company grow, and that's a tangible outcome.

You've just wrapped up a PoV that clearly demonstrated £100K in annual savings for a prospect. When the AE tells you the deal closed, you know your work directly contributed to that win.

Continuous Learning & Technical Mastery

You're always keen to learn about new technologies, our product's latest features, or even a competitor's offering. You want to be the best technical expert in the room, and you enjoy the journey of getting there.

Our product team just released a new API endpoint. You're immediately diving into the documentation, testing it out in a sandbox, and thinking about how you can show it off in your next demo.

What frustrates people

The Over-Promise: Your Account Executive, in a moment of passion, promises a feature that doesn't exist. You now have 48 hours to 'creatively solution' a demo for it, or build a workaround on the fly.
The Ghosting after the PoC: You spend 80+ hours building a custom proof-of-concept, get rave reviews, and then the prospect goes completely silent for three weeks. All that effort, seemingly for nothing.
Being the 'Demo Jockey': Sometimes, you'll be treated as a functional tool to simply 'show the product' rather than a strategic partner who can shape the direction of the deal. It can feel a bit repetitive.
Scope Creep in the PoV: The client trying to expand a tightly-scoped Proof of Value into a full-blown, free implementation project, pushing your boundaries and time.
Last-Minute Fire Drills: The 'urgent' request from sales leadership at 4:00 PM on a Friday for a custom demo for a 'game-changing' prospect they just met, completely messing up your weekend plans.

What this role does not give you

A predictable, 9-to-5 schedule every day – sales cycles can be unpredictable, and urgent requests happen.
Deep, hands-on coding or product development – you'll be technical, but not building the core product.
Complete autonomy on every decision – you're part of a sales team, so alignment and collaboration are key.

8Who you work with

Your ability to clearly articulate our product's technical value directly impacts our sales velocity and win rate, especially in the mid-market segment. You're crucial for building confidence in our solution, which means more revenue and happier customers for the business.

Inside the business

Account Executives (your primary partners, you'll be joined at the hip with them)
Product Management (you'll give them crucial customer feedback from the field)
Engineering (for deep-dive technical questions or to understand upcoming features)
Sales Operations (for understanding sales processes and reporting)

Outside the business

Mid-market prospects (technical and business buyers)
Existing customers (for expansion opportunities or reference calls)

9What you need before you start

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

2-3 years of experience in a technical role such as Technical Support, Implementation Consultant, Junior Solutions Architect, or Customer Success Engineer.
Proven ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly to varied audiences.
Demonstrable experience with at least one CRM system (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) and a passion for sales technology.
A solid grasp of cloud computing fundamentals and common IT infrastructure concepts.
Experience delivering presentations or demonstrations to clients or internal teams.

10What to practise next

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

Advanced Cloud Platform Architecture (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect Associate)

More and more of our customers are operating in complex multi-cloud environments, or are building highly distributed applications. You'll need to move beyond basic concepts and be able to design and discuss more sophisticated cloud architectures, security patterns, and cost optimisations.

Serverless Architectures (Lambda, Azure Functions) · Containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes) · Cloud Security Best Practices · Cost Optimisation in Cloud

This quarter: Pick one cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and aim for an Associate-level certification.
Next quarter: Experiment with building a small application or PoC using serverless functions or containers.
Month 4-6: Read up on common cloud migration strategies and challenges.
Month 7-9: Offer to lead internal sessions on cloud best practices for the SA team.

Quick win: Follow cloud thought leaders on LinkedIn, subscribe to their newsletters, and try to understand the 'why' behind new service announcements.

API & Integration Strategy (Advanced)

Our product rarely lives in a vacuum; it needs to connect with dozens of other systems. You'll need to move beyond just understanding how an API works to designing robust, scalable, and secure integration strategies for complex customer environments. This means thinking about data flows, error handling, and authentication at a deeper level.

API Design Principles (RESTful, GraphQL) · Integration Patterns (Event-Driven, Batch, Real-time) · Authentication & Authorisation Protocols (OAuth, SAML) · Data Transformation & Mapping

This quarter: Take a dedicated online course on API design and integration patterns.
Next quarter: Volunteer for a PoV that involves a particularly complex integration challenge.
Month 4-6: Work with our Engineering team to understand our product's API roadmap and capabilities in depth.
Month 7-9: Document a 'best practice' integration pattern for a common customer scenario.

Quick win: When you're doing discovery, ask customers about their existing integration challenges and what tools they use. Start building a mental catalogue of common integration pain points.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up

Attending industry webinars and virtual conferences to stay current on technology trends and sales methodologies.
Participating in online courses or bootcamps focused on cloud architecture, API integrations, or advanced presentation skills.
Engaging with technical communities online (e.g., Stack Overflow, GitHub) to learn from peers and contribute your own knowledge.
Seeking out mentorship from senior members of the Solutions Architecture team or other technical leaders within the company.

12The 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.

Advanced Value Realisation & Business Case Development

Customers are getting smarter, and they don't just want to know what our product does, but how much money it will save or make them. Moving beyond basic ROI calculations to building detailed, defensible business cases will be critical for winning bigger, more complex deals.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Analysis
Return on Investment (ROI) Modelling
Quantifying Business Impact
Executive-Level Business Case Presentation

Proactive Competitive Intelligence & Counter-Positioning

The market is getting more crowded, and knowing our product isn't enough. You'll need to deeply understand our top competitors' technical strengths and weaknesses, not just theoretically, but practically. This allows you to proactively counter their FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) and highlight our unique differentiators.

Competitor Technical Deep Dives
Battlecards & Technical Counter-Arguments
Proactive Differentiation in Demos
Market Landscape Analysis

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

Value-Based Discovery
Proof of Value (PoV) Scoping
Solution Selling & Storytelling
Technical Architecture Mapping
Objection Handling & Re-framing (Technical)

14The 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
Technical Support Engineer
2-3 years
Skills to master
- Deep product knowledge, troubleshooting, customer communication, understanding common technical issues and resolutions.
You're ready to move on when
- Consistently resolving complex customer issues independently.
- Proactively identifying recurring technical problems and suggesting solutions.
- Receiving excellent customer satisfaction scores for your technical assistance.
- Demonstrating an interest in the 'why' behind customer problems, not just the 'how to fix'.
2
Implementation Consultant / Professional Services
2-4 years
Skills to master
- Project management, configuring solutions, understanding customer requirements, managing expectations, hands-on integration experience.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully leading multiple implementation projects from start to finish.
- Becoming the go-to person for specific product configurations or integration challenges.
- Developing strong client-facing communication and problem-solving skills.
- Expressing a desire to be involved earlier in the sales cycle, shaping solutions rather than just deploying them.
3
Junior Solutions Architect / Sales Associate
1-2 years
Skills to master
- Shadowing senior SAs, learning demo delivery, understanding sales processes, basic technical discovery, internal product training.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully delivering standard, scripted demos with minimal supervision.
- Consistently receiving positive feedback from AEs and senior SAs on your support.
- Proactively learning new product features and technical concepts.
- Showing initiative in taking on more complex tasks and customer engagements.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to deeper technical specialism, or into managing a team of solutions architects.

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 Solutions Architect (Sales) is actually changing.

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 Manage Sales Technology Systems, worked against Solutions Architect (Sales).

Manage Sales Technology Systems Level 5

Applied to your work in Solutions Architect (Sales)

This unit aims to equip learners with the knowledge of functional requirements of sales technology systems and how to support users for effective adoption. Learners will be able to monitor system effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and ensure the effective usage of sales technology to optimise sales performance.

How the thinking builds

1 Remember
2 Understand
3 Apply
4 Analyse
5 Evaluate
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.

See Your Progress Grow Illustration

Solutions Architect (Sales)

Value-Based Discovery
Proof of Value (PoV) Scoping
Solution Selling & Storytelling
Technical Architecture Mapping
Objection Handling & Re-framing (Technical)

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.

16The 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

Solutions Architect (Sales) is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

Senior Solutions Architect
3-5 years from this role

This is the natural next step, moving from independently handling mid-market deals to leading complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise opportunities.
- Enterprise Architecture Design Designing solutions for highly complex, distributed customer environments.
- Advanced Competitive Strategy Developing sophisticated counter-strategies against top competitors.
- Solution Portfolio Management Developing and maintaining a library of reusable solution patterns and demo assets.
- Industry Specialisation Becoming a recognised expert in a specific industry vertical (e.g., Finance, Healthcare).

Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, some parts of being a Solutions Architect are repetitive, like drafting RFP responses or digging for prospect intel. Good news: AI is here to take a chunk of that off your plate, freeing you up for the strategic, high-value work you actually enjoy.

Imagine spending less time on grunt work and more time actually solutioning and building relationships. Our AI Productivity Hub is packed with tools and guides specifically for Solutions Architects, helping you automate the boring bits and supercharge your output. Here's a peek at what's waiting for you:

RFP First Draft Automation

AI can ingest a hefty RFP document, parse out all the questions, and then generate a first-pass answer for each one by pulling from our approved content library. Your job shifts from writing from scratch to simply editing and refining. It's a game-changer for RFP-heavy weeks.

Discovery Call Insight Miner

Our AI tools (like those integrated with Gong or Chorus.ai) can analyse transcripts from your discovery calls. It'll automatically identify and tag key customer pain points, competitor mentions, budget conversations, and technical requirements, creating a perfect summary for your demo prep. No more manually scrubbing through hours of recordings.

Pre-Call Prospect Intelligence Briefing

Before a big call, AI can scour a prospect company's website, press releases, financial reports, and key executives' LinkedIn profiles. It then generates a concise, one-page briefing highlighting their strategic initiatives, potential pain points, and existing tech stack. You'll walk into every meeting feeling incredibly prepared.

Technical Follow-Up Summariser

After a complex demo, AI can draft a comprehensive follow-up email for you. It summarises the key solution components discussed, recaps the agreed-upon next steps, and even attaches relevant links to documentation or case studies mentioned during the call. Saves you loads of time on admin.

Common questions

How do you become a Solutions Architect (Sales)?

Common routes in include Technical Support Engineer (2-3 years), Implementation Consultant / Professional Services (2-4 years) and Junior Solutions Architect / Sales Associate (1-2 years). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Solutions Architect (Sales) progress to?

This role can lead on to Senior Solutions Architect (3-5 years from this role), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Solutions Architect (Sales)?

Increasingly, Advanced Value Realisation & Business Case Development and Proactive Competitive Intelligence & Counter-Positioning. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

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.

Solutions Architect (Sales)

Where should we send it?

Two short quizzes about you

Will AI change your work as a Solutions Architect (Sales)?

What's rising in its place

Advanced Value Realisation & Business Case Development

Proactive Competitive Intelligence & Counter-Positioning

Skills this role draws on

Technical

How you actually get there, here

Technical Support Engineer

Implementation Consultant / Professional Services

Junior Solutions Architect / Sales Associate

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

Roles this leads to

One to one, on the work you already do

Everything else the record holds

The career path, and where it branches

Senior Solutions Architect

Where AI is starting to help

RFP First Draft Automation

Discovery Call Insight Miner

Pre-Call Prospect Intelligence Briefing

Technical Follow-Up Summariser

Common questions

Want a read on where you stand?