Sever & Cloud Presales Engineer

About the role

We are seeking a technically competent and customer-oriented Server & Cloud Presales Engineer to support our sales team in designing, proposing, and delivering enterprise server, storage, virtualization, and cloud infrastructure solutions.

The successful candidate will be responsible for understanding customer requirements, developing technical solution architectures, preparing technical proposals and bills of quantities (BOQs), conducting product presentations, and supporting tender submissions. This role requires close collaboration with the sales team, technology vendors, distributors, project management, and technical delivery teams to ensure that proposed solutions meet customer requirements, technical specifications, and commercial objectives.

Key responsibilities

Technical Presales and Solution Design

• Engage with customers to understand their business requirements, existing IT infrastructure, workloads, performance requirements, and future expansion plans.

• Design and propose enterprise server, storage, virtualization, backup, disaster recovery, and cloud infrastructure solutions.

• Develop high-level and low-level solution designs, architecture diagrams, technical specifications, and bills of materials.

• Recommend suitable hardware, software, licensing, and cloud services based on customer requirements, scalability, availability, security, and budget.

• Design and propose on-premises, public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud solutions.

• Assess customer workloads and infrastructure requirements to recommend appropriate sizing, capacity, performance, and resource allocation.

• Conduct technical assessments, infrastructure reviews, proof of concepts (POCs), and product demonstrations where required.

• Identify technical risks, dependencies, integration requirements, and implementation constraints during the presales stage.

Server, Storage, and Virtualization Solutions

• Design and propose enterprise server platforms, including rack servers, blade servers, and hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI).

• Develop storage solutions covering SAN, NAS, all-flash storage, software-defined storage, and enterprise data storage platforms.

• Propose virtualization and workload consolidation solutions using technologies such as VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, and other relevant virtualization platforms.

• Design high-availability, fault-tolerant, and scalable infrastructure architectures to support business-critical applications.

• Propose backup, data protection, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions.

• Evaluate hardware compatibility, system requirements, capacity planning, and performance considerations.

• Support infrastructure refresh, data centre modernization, server migration, and virtualization projects.

Cloud Solution Design

• Design and propose cloud infrastructure solutions based on customer requirements, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and relevant managed cloud services.

• Develop solutions using cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud where applicable.

• Propose hybrid cloud and multi-cloud architectures integrating on-premises infrastructure with public cloud platforms.

• Support cloud readiness assessments, workload migration planning, cloud sizing, and infrastructure modernization initiatives.

• Evaluate cloud consumption models, resource sizing, subscription requirements, and cost optimization opportunities.

• Recommend appropriate solutions for cloud backup, disaster recovery, business continuity, identity integration, monitoring, and security.

• Work with cloud vendors and service providers to validate technical feasibility, pricing, service requirements, and solution architecture.

Sales Support and Customer Engagement

• Work closely with the sales team to qualify opportunities and develop suitable technical solutions.

• Participate in customer meetings, technical discussions, solution workshops, and presentations.

• Translate customer business requirements into technical architectures and commercially viable proposals.

• Explain solution features, benefits, technical advantages, and business value to customers.

• Support the sales team in identifying upselling and cross-selling opportunities across servers, storage, virtualization, cloud services, and related ICT products.

• Provide technical support throughout the sales cycle, from opportunity qualification to contract award.

Proposal, Tender, and Commercial Support

• Prepare technical proposals, BOQs, BOMs, solution diagrams, equipment specifications, and scope of work documents.

• Review RFPs, RFQs, ITTs, and tender documents to identify technical requirements, compliance criteria, and project deliverables.

• Prepare technical compliance matrices and responses to customer questionnaires and tender requirements.

• Coordinate with vendors and distributors to obtain product specifications, quotations, special pricing, licensing information, and technical support.

• Assist the sales team in preparing solution costing, commercial proposals, and project margin assessments.

• Evaluate alternative products and solution architectures to provide competitive proposals while maintaining technical compliance and commercial viability.

• Ensure that proposed hardware, software, subscriptions, licences, and services are appropriately specified and documented.

Vendor and Technology Partner Management

• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of server, storage, virtualization, cloud, and data centre technologies.

• Liaise with technology vendors, distributors, and cloud service providers for product updates, technical consultation, pricing, and presales assistance.

• Participate in vendor briefings, technical training, certification programmes, and partner enablement activities.

• Support the development of the company's server and cloud solution portfolio and technical capabilities.

• Build effective working relationships with key technology partners to strengthen solution competitiveness.

Project Handover and Technical Coordination

• Conduct technical handovers to project management and implementation teams after project award.

• Ensure that solution architecture, technical assumptions, scope of work, licensing, sizing, and customer requirements are clearly documented.

• Support delivery teams in clarifying proposed designs and resolving presales-related technical issues.

• Identify potential scope gaps, additional requirements, and implementation risks before project commencement.

• Ensure that proposed solutions are technically feasible, commercially aligned, and deliverable within the agreed project scope.

Technical Knowledge and Skills

Prefer candidate possess relevant knowledge or experience in the following areas:

Enterprise Server & Storage

• Enterprise rack servers, blade servers, server sizing, CPU, memory, and capacity planning.

• SAN, NAS, all-flash storage, storage networking, and data protection.

• Enterprise infrastructure platforms from HPE, Dell Technologies, Lenovo, or equivalent vendors.

Virtualization and Data Centre

• VMware vSphere and related virtualization technologies.

• Microsoft Hyper-V and Windows Server.

• Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), software-defined infrastructure, and workload consolidation.

• High availability, disaster recovery, backup, and business continuity.

Cloud Platforms

• Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and/or Google Cloud.

• Cloud infrastructure sizing, pricing, subscriptions, and resource estimation.

• Cloud migration, hybrid cloud integration, and workload modernization.

• Cloud backup, disaster recovery, monitoring, and cost optimization.

Supporting Technologies

• Windows Server, Linux, Active Directory, identity integration, and enterprise infrastructure services.

• Infrastructure security, access control, encryption, and compliance considerations.

• Networking fundamentals, including IP addressing, VLANs, routing, and connectivity between on-premises infrastructure and cloud platforms.

• Technical documentation, architecture diagrams, tender responses, and solution presentations.

Qualification & requirements

• Diploma or Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cloud Computing, or a related field.

• Preferably 2–5 years of experience in server, storage, virtualization, cloud infrastructure, technical presales, or related ICT roles.

• Candidates with hands-on infrastructure engineering or system administration experience who wish to transition into presales are encouraged to apply.

• Experience designing infrastructure solutions and preparing technical proposals, BOQs/BOMs, and tender documentation.

• Understanding of enterprise IT infrastructure architecture, virtualization, storage, backup, and cloud computing.

• Good communication, presentation, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to engage with customers, vendors, distributors, and internal stakeholders professionally.

• Commercial awareness and an understanding of hardware pricing, software licensing, cloud subscriptions, and project costing.

• Ability to manage multiple opportunities and meet tender and proposal deadlines.

• Willingness to travel for customer meetings, site surveys, workshops, and project-related activities when required.

Preferred Certifications

Cloud

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Solutions Architect Expert.

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate or Professional.

• Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer or Professional Cloud Architect.

Server, Storage, and Virtualization

• Relevant HPE, Dell Technologies, Lenovo infrastructure certifications.

• VMware certifications relevant to virtualization and private cloud.

• Microsoft Windows Server or hybrid infrastructure certifications.

Backup and Data Protection

• Relevant certifications from Veeam, Veritas, Commvault, or other enterprise backup vendors.