UK

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

Solutions Consultant

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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Free to start: a plan built for this role, and a Future Fluency module to try first. No card.

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

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

Also advertised as Sales Engineer · Pre-Sales Consultant · Technical Account Manager (Pre-Sales focus)

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

No confident skill match yet for Solutions Consultant. The closest we hold is below.

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

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
Automation Fluency building AI into how work runs
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Your Plan Illustration

Built for Solutions Consultant

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

  1. Manage Sales Technology Systems Institute of Sales Professionals · covers 1 of 1 standards Level 5
  2. 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 Consultant?

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

The new skill this role is being asked for

  • AI-Powered Sales Workflow Integration
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 Solutions Consultant plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

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

Start my Solutions Consultant plan, free Ready to pay? Subscribe for £70 a month

3What this role really is

A Solutions Consultant shows prospects how a product solves their problems, working alongside a sales team. The work involves studying a customer's technical setup, understanding their challenges, and building solutions that fit their needs. It means acting as a link between engineers and customers, turning technical detail into something customers can see working for them.

4What you'd actually use

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

Salesforce (Lightning) Advanced

Navigating Opportunities, logging all activities, updating technical fields, running basic reports on your pipeline, and ensuring data hygiene for accurate forecasting. You'll also help AEs with proper data entry for technical fields.

Seismic / Highspot / Guru (Sales Enablement) Expert

Locating, customising, and presenting pre-approved technical decks, case studies, and demo scripts. You'll also contribute to creating new technical content and updating existing materials based on market feedback.

Reprise / Walnut (Interactive Demos) Advanced

Building complex, customised interactive demos from scratch, often using prospect-specific data or scenarios. You'll also use these tools to deliver flawless 'canned' demos when appropriate.

AWS / Azure / GCP (POC Environments) Intermediate

Spinning up and managing templated POC environments in the cloud, configuring them to meet prospect requirements, and troubleshooting any technical issues that arise during the evaluation.

Slack / MS Teams (Collaboration) Expert

Participating in team channels, providing quick updates on deal progress, asking for help from peers, and coordinating with Product/Engineering on customer-specific issues or feedback.

Jira / Confluence (Project & Knowledge Management) Expert

Acting as the primary author of technical handoff documents in Confluence. You'll also create detailed Jira tickets for the Product team based on customer feedback and track the status of those requests.

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 choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Demo Customisation Delivers scripted 'canned' demos; minor customisation with guidance. Independently builds complex, customised demos from scratch, tailoring to prospect's specific use case and data. Defines best practices for custom demo creation; coaches junior SASEs on advanced customisation techniques.
POC Scoping & Execution Spins up templated POC environments with detailed guidance; follows pre-defined success criteria. Scopes, builds, and manages multi-week POCs independently, defining success criteria with prospects and troubleshooting issues. Designs and oversees strategic POC programmes; handles highly complex, multi-system integrations for POCs; manages cloud budget for pre-sales.
Technical Objection Handling Escalates most technical objections to a senior SASE or manager. Handles routine technical objections confidently; knows when to escalate novel or highly complex issues. Anticipates and proactively addresses complex technical objections; develops company-wide strategies for common objections.
Product Feedback to Engineering Provides basic customer feedback to senior SASEs or Product team upon request. Collects detailed product feedback from prospects; translates business needs into clear technical requirements for Product/Engineering (e.g., creating detailed Jira tickets). Influences product roadmap based on aggregated market and customer feedback; acts as a key liaison between Sales and Product leadership.

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
The percentage of deals where our solution was technically preferred by the prospect's team, regardless of the final commercial outcome.
Target · 80%+

If you supported 10 deals that went to a technical evaluation, and 8 of those prospects confirmed our solution was technically superior, that's an 80% technical win rate.

Supported Opportunities
The number of qualified sales opportunities you actively engage with, from discovery calls to POCs.
Target · 40+ per quarter

You'll typically be juggling around 10-15 active deals at any given time, meaning roughly 40 new engagements each quarter.

POC Success Rate
The percentage of Proof of Concepts (POCs) that meet the mutually agreed-upon success criteria with the prospect.
Target · 90%+

You run 10 POCs in a quarter. If 9 of them successfully hit all the agreed technical and business milestones, that's a 90% success rate.

Demo Feedback Score
Average score from feedback surveys collected from prospects after your product demonstrations.
Target · 4.5/5.0+

After 15 demos in a month, the average rating from prospect feedback forms (covering clarity, relevance, and engagement) is 4.6.

AE Partnership & Trust
How effectively you partner with your Account Executives, becoming their trusted technical advisor and an extension of their sales motion.
  • AEs consistently bring you into deals early
  • they trust your technical qualification and demo delivery
  • positive feedback in 1:1s with your manager
  • you're seen as a proactive, rather than reactive, partner.
Product Feedback Quality
The clarity, detail, and actionable nature of the product feedback you gather from prospects and relay to our Product team.
  • Product Managers actively seek your input
  • your Jira tickets for product gaps are well-received and clear
  • you can articulate the 'why' behind customer requests, not just the 'what'.
Technical Acumen & Problem Solving
Your ability to quickly grasp complex technical environments, diagnose problems, and architect appropriate solutions on the fly.
  • You can whiteboard solutions during calls
  • you confidently answer unexpected technical questions
  • you proactively research new features or competitor tech to stay sharp
  • you're the go-to person for specific technical questions within your team.
Customer Credibility & Rapport
The level of trust and respect you build with technical and business stakeholders at prospect companies.
  • Prospects ask for you by name
  • they share sensitive technical details with you
  • they introduce you to other key decision-makers
  • positive comments in post-demo feedback about your expertise and approach.

7Would you like it

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

What people enjoy
Solving Complex Technical Puzzles

You get a real buzz from diving deep into a prospect's architecture, figuring out their pain points, and then designing a solution that truly fits. It's about the intellectual challenge of making disparate systems work together or optimising an inefficient process.

Spending an afternoon mapping out a prospect's legacy system integration with our platform, then presenting a clear, step-by-step migration plan that gets their technical team nodding in agreement.

Making the Complex Simple

You love taking our incredibly powerful (and sometimes complicated) product and explaining it in a way that anyone, from an intern to a CEO, can understand and get excited about. It's the satisfaction of seeing the 'lightbulb moment' in a prospect's eyes.

Crafting a custom demo that focuses purely on a prospect's specific use case, cutting out all the irrelevant features and using their own data to show immediate, tangible value.

Direct Impact on Business Growth

You're not just a technical expert; you're a crucial part of closing deals. You feel a sense of accomplishment when your technical presentation or successful POC directly leads to a new customer signing up, knowing you played a vital role in the company's success.

Successfully leading a multi-week POC that directly results in a £100K deal closing, and seeing your name on the internal 'closed-won' announcement.

What frustrates people
  • Being pulled into endless demos for deals that the Account Executive hasn't properly qualified, feeling like your time is wasted.
  • Discovering a known product bug or a feature gap during a critical demo, which can derail the whole presentation.
  • The dreaded 'Can you just hop on this call in 5 minutes?' request from an AE, leaving you no time to prepare or understand the context.
  • Achieving the 'technical win'—where the prospect's tech team loves our solution—only to lose the deal on price or contract terms.
  • Trying to prepare for a crucial customer call but finding the CRM (Salesforce) notes are vague, incomplete, or simply non-existent.
What this role does not give you
  • A predictable, unchanging daily routine – every prospect is different, every problem is unique.
  • Guaranteed closure on every deal you technically win – commercial factors are often beyond your control.
  • An environment where you solely focus on deep, long-term technical development without customer interaction.
  • Complete control over the sales process – you're a partner to the AE, not the sole decision-maker.

8Who you work with

This role directly impacts our revenue targets by securing the 'technical win' in sales cycles. You'll reduce sales cycle length by effectively demonstrating value and de-risking the purchase for prospects. Your work also provides crucial feedback to our Product and Engineering teams, helping shape future product development based on real customer needs and competitive insights.

Inside the business
  • Account Executives (your primary partners)
  • Product Management (you'll feed them customer insights)
  • Sales Operations (for pipeline tracking and reporting)
  • Customer Success (for smooth handovers post-sale)
Outside the business
  • Technical teams (IT, Engineering, Security) within prospect companies
  • Business stakeholders (Department Heads, Project Managers) at prospects
  • Executive sponsors (CTOs, CIOs) at larger accounts

9What you need before you start

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

  • At least 2 years of experience in a technical pre-sales role (e.g., Junior Solutions Consultant, Technical Support Engineer with customer-facing experience, or a Developer who's moved into a client-facing role).
  • A proven track record of delivering engaging technical presentations and product demonstrations to diverse audiences.
  • Hands-on experience with at least one major CRM system (Salesforce preferred) for managing sales activities and pipeline.
  • Demonstrable experience in scoping and executing Proof of Concepts (POCs) or similar technical evaluations.
  • A solid understanding of cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and how modern applications are built and deployed.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to simplify complex technical jargon for business users.

10What to practise next

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

Advanced Cloud Architecture & Security

Customers are deploying increasingly complex, multi-cloud environments, and security concerns are paramount. You'll need to move beyond basic cloud concepts to discuss advanced architecture patterns, hybrid cloud strategies, and detailed security implementations with confidence.

Serverless & Containerisation · Zero Trust Architectures · Cloud Cost Optimisation

  • This quarter: Complete an advanced certification in one major cloud provider (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect Associate, Azure Administrator).
  • Next 6 months: Actively seek out POCs that involve complex multi-cloud integrations or advanced security requirements.
  • Month 7-9: Present a 'deep-dive' session to your team on a complex cloud architecture pattern and how our product fits in.

Quick win: Spend an hour each week reading the technical blogs from AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. Just understanding the new terminology will help.

Data Integration & API Strategy

Our product often sits within a larger ecosystem of customer tools. You'll need to become an expert in discussing complex data flows, API integrations, and how our platform can become the 'single source of truth' or seamlessly exchange data with other critical systems.

RESTful API Design & Best Practices · ETL/ELT Processes · Event-Driven Architectures

  • This month: Get hands-on with our product's API documentation. Build a small script to interact with it.
  • Next quarter: Lead a customer discussion purely focused on API integration strategy, without relying on an engineer.
  • Month 4-6: Research common integration patterns in our industry and present how our product addresses them to the team.

Quick win: Identify a common integration challenge a prospect has and map out a high-level API integration diagram for it. Practice explaining it simply.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Attend industry conferences and webinars relevant to our product space and target customer industries.
  • Actively participate in online technical communities and forums to stay current with new technologies and trends.
  • Engage in peer-to-peer learning within our Solutions Consulting team, sharing best practices and challenging each other.
  • Take advantage of our internal training programmes on new product features, sales methodologies, and presentation skills.
  • Seek out opportunities to mentor junior team members or new hires, as teaching is often the best way to solidify your own understanding.

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.

AI-Powered Sales Workflow Integration

Our competitors are already using AI to automate large parts of the sales engineering workflow, from RFP responses to personalised demo scripts. Solutions Consultants who can effectively use these tools will significantly outproduce their peers and provide a much richer customer experience.

  • Prompt Engineering for Sales
  • AI-driven Discovery Analysis
  • Automated Content Generation & Curation

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Solution Selling & Value Engineering
  • Technical Discovery & Qualification
  • Proof of Concept (POC) / Proof of Value (POV) Management
  • Competitive Technical Differentiation
  • Requirements Gathering & Translation

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. 1

    Junior Solutions Consultant / Associate Sales Engineer

    1-2 years

    Skills to master

    • Deep product knowledge, basic demo delivery, technical discovery fundamentals, internal stakeholder navigation.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently delivers flawless 'canned' demos.
    • Can answer 80% of common technical questions without escalation.
    • Proactively identifies and documents customer technical requirements.
    • Receives positive feedback from senior SASEs on support provided.
  2. 2

    Technical Support Engineer / Professional Services Consultant

    2-3 years

    Skills to master

    • Deep technical troubleshooting, understanding customer environments, translating technical issues into business impact, client communication.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully resolved complex customer technical issues independently.
    • Demonstrates strong ability to explain technical concepts clearly to non-technical clients.
    • Expresses a strong desire to move into a sales-oriented role.
    • Has some experience with product implementation or configuration.
  3. 3

    Software Developer / Solutions Architect

    3-4 years

    Skills to master

    • Product architecture, coding skills (if applicable), understanding of software development lifecycle, problem-solving, desire for external interaction.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Has built or designed significant software components or systems.
    • Demonstrates excellent communication skills, particularly in explaining technical designs.
    • Expresses a strong interest in the commercial side of technology and customer engagement.
    • Has experience presenting technical concepts to internal or external stakeholders.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to a senior technical specialist role such as Principal Solutions Consultant, a management role leading a team of consultants, or a move into product management.

16Pay and demand

Pay & demand

Typical pay £60,288 a year Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 (provisional), under the Open Government Licence v3.0

The figure is the median for full-time employees in the ONS occupation this job title codes to (IT business analysts, architects and systems designers), from the April 2025 survey, about six months old when published, as ASHE always is. It is that occupation's middle, not this role's. Half earn more.

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 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 Manage Sales Technology Systems, worked against Solutions Consultant.

Manage Sales Technology Systems Level 5

Applied to your work in Solutions Consultant

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. 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.

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See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Solutions Consultant
  • Solution Selling & Value Engineering
  • Technical Discovery & Qualification
  • Proof of Concept (POC) / Proof of Value (POV) Management
  • Competitive Technical Differentiation
  • Requirements Gathering & Translation
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

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

  1. Senior Solutions Consultant

    3-5 years from this role

    Level 3 (Senior)

    • Complex Deal Leadership Owning the technical strategy for the largest, most complex, and highest-value deals.
    • Subject Matter Expertise Becoming the go-to expert in a specific product area, industry vertical, or technical domain.
    • Product Roadmap Influence Proactively gathering and synthesising market insights to influence our product development strategy.
    • Competitive Strategy Developing and refining 'battle cards' and technical competitive strategies for the team.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, a Solutions Consultant's job is packed. You're juggling demos, POCs, RFPs, and trying to keep your AEs happy. The good news? AI isn't here to replace you; it's here to make you ridiculously efficient. We're investing in tools that cut out the boring, repetitive stuff so you can focus on what you do best: solving complex customer problems and winning deals.

Imagine spending less time on tedious admin and more time on high-value activities like deep technical discovery or crafting that perfect custom demo. Our AI productivity hub is designed specifically for Solutions Consultants, giving you access to tools that streamline your workflow and supercharge your output. It's about working smarter, not just harder.

Automated RFP First Pass

Fed up with RFP Spreadsheet Hell? Our AI can ingest complex RFPs and security questionnaires, automatically populating 70-80% of the answers from our internal knowledge base (think Guru or Confluence). Your role shifts from writing hundreds of lines to simply editing and refining the AI's output, saving you hours of soul-crushing work.

Real-Time Competitive Intelligence

Stay ahead of the competition without spending hours researching. AI monitors competitor reviews (like G2), technical documentation, and forum discussions. It then synthesises this data into real-time 'battle cards' and Slack alerts, highlighting new feature launches or emerging customer complaints you can use to your advantage in a demo.

Personalised Demo Preparation

Move beyond the 'canned' demo. Our AI analyses CRM data—things like prospect industry, specific role, and noted pain points—to suggest a tailored demo flow, key talking points, and relevant customer stories. This means you walk into every demo knowing exactly what resonates with that specific prospect, making your presentations far more impactful.

Intelligent Call Synthesis & Handoff

No more frantic note-taking during discovery calls. AI records, transcribes, and summarises your technical discussions. It automatically identifies key requirements, action items, and product gaps, then generates a draft summary for the CRM and even a pre-formatted Jira ticket for the Product team. Imagine getting 30-45 minutes back after every call!

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Solutions Consultant?

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

Where can a Solutions Consultant progress to?

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

What new skills matter most for a Solutions Consultant?

Increasingly, AI-Powered Sales Workflow Integration. 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 3

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 as a Solutions Consultant transfer to other technical roles. These include Solutions Architect, Customer Success Manager for technical accounts, and Product Marketing, where the ability to explain technical features in plain terms is useful.

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 Solutions Consultant plan, free 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.