Senior Pre-sales Solution Architect

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AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY

AsiaPacific (APAC) and Greater India Region (GI)

PURPOSE & SCOPE OF THE ROLE

The role ofsolution architect will require to strategically co-operate with the SchneiderElectric Country Teams, the expert Hub teams and other key stakeholdersinvolved in the sales process (Sales, Marketing, Solution, etc) to create astrong pipeline of qualified opportunities and to promote Digital GridSolutions.

Key tosuccess will be your ability to position yourself as technical leader, activelycollaborate with the rest of the team and the local network of partners.Technical selling will be expected to grow existing business relationships andto support them through technical discussions with installed base customers andto initiate new customer connexions on topics such as: Grid Control, IT/OTconvergence, Asset management, Service offers, Partners offer implementation,Cyber security, etc.)

· Prescribe solutions for theSchneider Electric Digital Grid business in APAC & GI.

TheDigital Grid suite of solutions includes offering from the 2 Digital Grid Lines of Business (LoB)

o Grid Operations Management – EcoStruxure Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS), Distributed Energy Resource Management (DERMS),Advanced Gas Management System (AGMS), EcoStruxure Transmission Management System (EMS)

o Grid Information Management – EcoStruxure ArcFM, EcoStruxure Grid Asset Performance, AiDash (partner)

Aspart of this role you will be required to work as part of the sales team to prescribethese solutions to meet customer needs and demands.

· Lead opportunity influence and definition of customer’s main business drivers and prescribe Digital Grid solutions to meet the customer’s needs

Aspart of the role you will be responsible for understanding the customer’sbusiness drivers, pain points and long-term vision and then positioning the Digital Grid suite of offers to best meet these requirements. As part of this engagement you will be expected to discuss not only the product, but implementation, warranty, support and maintenance and commercial environment to prescribe an overall environment that is mutually beneficial to SE and the utility.

· Key to success will be collaboration with the Digital Grid APAC & GI Sales team, LoB Product Centers, Execution (RSC)and Customer Management Team (CSM)

As a solutions architect you will need to work closely with Digital Grid sales heads and tendering teams (including Execution and CSM as needed). The Digital Gridsales heads have overall responsibility for the account strategy, whilst thetendering team are responsible for preparing the response to the customertender. Ensuring SE solutions are prescribed in line with the overall salesstrategy and this message is presented as part of the offer to the customer iskey to success.

RESPONSIBILITIES

· Technical leadership responsibility for pre-sales activities of complex software solutions destinedfor utility customers

· Cooperate with all stake holders in given geography to have support in preselling, tendering and execution phases of the opportunity. Act as one team with utility sales people in each country

· Coach and train customer sales teams and Schneider Electric country management in pitching and selling Digital Grid

· Lead strategic influence initiative with key accounts

· Act as technical leader of given accounts

· Map, assess and target key utilities in digital transformation

· Lead demand creation plan at key targeted utilities:

o Pitch initial value proposition at C level

o Build business case for C Level and for operation management

o Lead innovation workshops sponsored by C level

o Identify opportunities to sell Contribute solutions

o Prescribe solutions

· Responsible for the full tendering process including

o Working with the regional sales team to understand the customer’s needs and requirements

o Providing feedback.

o Lead the design and documentation of proposed customer solutions based on defined requirements and liaising with the Center of Excellence (CoE’s) to identify the best offering to meet the customer’s requirements

o Reviewing customer’s requirements(commercial & technical) to identify SE non-compliances andnon-conformities with SE commercial expectations (e.g. T&C’s payment milestones, delivery timeline, etc).

o Leading activities during the bid clarification stage (e.g. preparing responses to customer questions andpreparing SE for Proof of Concept (PoC) tests)

· Leadership responsibilities during the tender RFI stage and providing technical guidance to other members of the team

o Prepare project analysis, design, functional and interface specification documentation

o Providing tendering and resource forecasts to the sales teams and CoE’s

o Coordinate with Regional Solution Centre’s (RSC) to identify global DGresources to be used for project tendering.

· Share information with the LoB’son customer requirements, trends and gaps in SE offer.

Improve hit rates and secure order intake:

· Ensure that successful Technical Commercial strategy is defined and implemented for key opportunities:

o Select most competitive execution setup

o Validate potential partnerships

o Finalize differentiating value proposition

o Validate offer and confirm potential deviations

o Help define price targets

· Coaching of in country teams and key stakeholder (structure way to tackle relationship mapping of our customer’s Decision Makers)

· Be opportunity leader for targeted projects

· Close deals

KPIs:

· Pipeline Growth and Hit Rate

· Order intake

· Order split between ARR, Software and Services

· Demand creation at targeted accounts:

· Number of C level meetings and of innovation Workshops

· Pipeline generated by targeted accounts

Competency & Experience

· Minimum 5 years of experience in the Utility industry (DSOs, TSOs)

· Deep knowledge of utilities software business & utility projects

· Knowledge of Utilities market drivers, knowledge on country regulations

· Experience designing and implementing solutions for one or more utilitydomains

· Successful experience in technical selling (participating) at least one of the utility software solutions for 5 years

· 5 years’ experience as technical leader or leading tendering &technical teams to capture Medium & Large sizes software bids

· 5 years track records in C level meeting: Value prop pitching and Selling

· Secure with C Level and lead Innovation workshops

· Ability to build up systems approach from various angles and develop complex story

· Experience in Geographical Information Systems (ESRI), automation, microgrids, renewables would be a strong plus

· Ability to coordinate several tasks at the same time

· Strong time-management and organizational skills

· Skilled in all MS tools, with great presentation skills

· Strong and effective communication, writing, and computer skills are essential

· Strong Knowledge of RFP and proposal process

· Experience with marketing professional services and familiarity with industry terms, contracts, deliverables and processes