Senior Cloud Technical Architect

As part of continued growth and investment in SAS Managed Cloud Services (MCS), SAS is expanding its Global Enablement and Sales Support capability across EMEA and globally.

About the job

The Senior Technical Architect – Managed Cloud Services plays a critical role at the intersection of Sales, Architecture, and Delivery, supporting the growth of SAS Managed Cloud through high-quality solution design, global enablement, and architectural leadership.

This is not a traditional pre-sales architecture role.

You will:

• Shape and influence complex opportunities
• Define and govern architecture standards and patterns
• Ensure solutions are viable from pre-sales through to delivery and operations
• Drive enablement and capability uplift across global teams

You will work closely with Customer Advisory, Professional Services, and Managed Cloud teams globally, helping to scale best practices, reduce delivery risk, and improve consistency across regions.

This is a high-visibility role with the opportunity to impact both customer success and internal capability at scale.

Architecture Leadership & Solution Design

• Lead the design of scalable, secure, and cost-effective SAS Managed Cloud architectures across complex opportunities.
• Translate business requirements into robust technical solutions aligned with customer and operational needs.
• Provide technical leadership within sales cycles, shaping solution strategy and deal positioning.

Sales-to-Delivery Alignment & Risk Mitigation

• Ensure proposed solutions are commercially viable and operationally deliverable.
• Act as a key bridge between sales and delivery teams to align expectations and reduce execution risk.
• Support successful transition from pre-sales into implementation and managed operations.

Architecture Governance & Standards

• Apply and promote structured architecture design processes (e.g. requirements capture, architecture artefacts, design reviews).
• Lead architecture validation and quality assurance activities across opportunities.
• Contribute to the evolution of architecture standards, patterns, and governance frameworks.

Global Enablement & Capability Development

• Lead and deliver enablement initiatives across global Sales, Customer Advisory, and Delivery teams.
• Develop and curate technical content within the MCS Enable platform (e.g. architecture blueprints, whitepapers, best practices).
• Drive adoption of new capabilities, services, and standards across regions.

Reusable Assets & Thought Leadership

Create and maintain reusable intellectual property, including:

• Solution blueprints
• Architecture patterns
• Pre-sales assets and enablement materials
• Contribute to internal and external thought leadership through presentations, workshops, and publications.

Stakeholder Engagement & Influence

• Build trusted relationships with Account Executives, technical stakeholders, and senior customer representatives.
• Provide consulting-level guidance on architecture, strategy, and best practices.
• Influence deal strategy and customer direction through credible technical leadership.

Team Contribution & Mentorship

• Mentor and support the development of less experienced architects.
• Contribute to a culture of knowledge sharing, continuous improvement, and technical excellence.
• Participate in global collaboration across regions and functional teams.

Required qualifications

• Significant experience in technical architecture, pre-sales, or solution engineering roles.
• Deep knowledge of SAS platforms and enterprise architecture within managed cloud environments.
• Proven experience supporting complex, enterprise-scale sales cycles.
• Strong commercial awareness and ability to align technical solutions to business outcomes.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in a global, matrixed environment.
• Equivalent combination of related education, training and experience may be considered in place of the above qualifications.

Additional competencies, knowledge and skills

• Adaptability - Maintaining effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work responsibilities or environment (e.g., people, processes, structure, or culture); adjusting effectively to change by exploring the benefits, trying new approaches, and collaborating with others to make the change successful.
• Communication - Conveying information and ideas clearly and concisely to individuals or groups in an engaging manner that helps them understand and retain the message; listening actively to others.
• Decision Making - Identifying and understanding problems and opportunities by gathering, analyzing, and interpreting quantitative and qualitative information; choosing the best course of action by establishing clear decision criteria, generating and evaluating alternatives, and making timely decisions; taking action that is consistent with available facts and constraints and optimizes probable consequence.