Senior Presales Solutions Architect

Salary: £65,000 - 65,000 per year

Requirements:

• Significant consulting, pre-sales or architecture experience across infrastructure, cloud, network, security or education technology
• Strong experience working in an MSP or similarly multi-customer technical environment
• Strong architecture capability, including the ability to apply design principles and reference architectures to end-to-end solutions
• Broad technical awareness across infrastructure and cloud, with particular depth in at least one key domain: network, cloud, identity, security or endpoint management
• Experience leading complex discovery and translating ambiguous customer requirements into clear, practical solutions
• Excellent presentation and stakeholder-management skills, including the ability to influence senior decision-makers
• Demonstrable experience contributing to proposals, bids, tenders, RFPs or framework submissions
• Strong commercial awareness, including solution shaping, risk management, pricing input and value articulation
• Excellent documentation skills, including solution designs, diagrams, scopes of work and proposals
• Confidence to challenge designs, assumptions and approaches constructively
• A collaborative leadership style, with the ability to coach colleagues and work effectively as part of one team
• Experience working with schools or multi-academy trusts is desirable
• Knowledge of DfE standards, NCSC guidance, KCSIE, Cyber Essentials or education safeguarding requirements is desirable
• Experience of design governance, reference architecture development or technical standards ownership is desirable
• Experience supporting framework opportunities and strategic public-sector bids is desirable

Responsibilities:

• Lead complex discovery across multiple schools, sites, stakeholder groups and technical domains
• Design end-to-end solutions spanning network, cloud, identity, endpoint, security, safeguarding, backup, compliance and operational monitoring
• Apply our reference architectures and relevant DfE, NCSC and KCSIE guidance to solution design
• Lead the technical contribution to strategic bids, tenders, framework opportunities and high-value projects
• Produce high-quality solution documentation, including high-level designs, diagrams, scopes of work, assumptions, responsibilities, acceptance criteria and migration approaches
• Present recommendations confidently to senior leadership teams, governors, trust leaders and technical steering groups
• Adapt technical communication for non-technical decision-makers and technical specialists
• Work with Sales and Finance to shape commercially viable and competitively positioned solutions
• Validate delivery effort, dependencies, sequencing, migration plans and cutover feasibility with Implementation Services
• Work with Systems Operations to ensure every proposal is operationally ready, resilient, secure and supportable
• Identify design, delivery, operational and commercial risks early, recommending practical mitigations
• Peer-review solution designs, proposals, scopes and assumptions created by other members of the Solutions team
• Coach and mentor Pre-Sales Solutions Architects in discovery, design quality, documentation and presentation skills
• Improve reference architectures, solution standards, templates and the solutions catalogue
• Challenge bespoke approaches where a repeatable, supportable standard solution would deliver a stronger customer outcome

Technologies:

• Architect
• Cloud
• Network
• Security
• Active Directory
• Aruba
• Azure
• Cisco
• Hyper-V
• IAM
• Support
• macOS
• Microsoft 365
• Office 365
• VPN
• VMware
• Windows
• iOS

More:

We are Dataspire, partnering with schools and multi-academy trusts to build dependable, high-performing technology environments that help schools operate securely and efficiently while enabling teachers and students to make the most of technology. This is a Senior Pre-Sales Solutions Architect role based in Manchester with hybrid working, three days per week in our office, a salary of £60,000 to £69,000, and full-time hours of 37.5 per week. We offer 32 days annual leave including bank holidays, an additional paid Christmas shutdown day, your birthday off, on-site parking, optional branded workwear, an Employee Assistance Programme, a Pluralsight licence, protected learning time, vendor-led training, monthly one-to-ones, structured continuing professional development, and clear progression towards Lead Solutions Architect. We are a Mental Health at Work Committed organisation and a Disability Confident employer, committed to creating a working environment where everyone feels supported, valued and able to perform at their best.

last updated 32 week of 2026