Senior Technical Pre-Sales Architect – Managed Cloud Services (Japan)

Job Description

The Technical Pre-Sales Architect plays an important role supporting the intersection of Sales, Architecture, and Delivery, contributing to the growth of SAS Managed Cloud through high-quality solution design, technical validation, and collaboration across teams.

This is a development-focused architecture role, working as part of a global enablement capability.

• Support the shaping of opportunities through structured technical input
• Contribute to solution design aligned to SAS standards and Managed Cloud capabilities
• Ensure solutions are feasible and aligned with delivery and operational expectations
• Build capability across architecture, sales engagement, and delivery alignment

You will work closely with Customer Advisory, Professional Services, and Managed Cloud teams globally, contributing to consistent solution outcomes, reducing delivery risk, and supporting reuse of best practices across regions.

• Fluent in English and Japanese
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience)
• Experience in technical architecture, pre-sales, or solution engineering roles
• Proven experience supporting complex, enterprise-scale sales cycles
• A 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

• Experience defining or applying architecture governance frameworks and standards
• Solid knowledge of SAS platforms and enterprise architecture within managed cloud environments
• Experience creating reusable assets (blueprints, patterns, whitepapers)
• Strong background in customer enablement, workshops, and consulting engagements
• Strong problem solving, communication, decision-making and interpersonal skills
• Cloud platform knowledge and certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP)

Why this role matters

This role is central to

• Driving profitable growth in SAS Managed Cloud Services
• Improving consistency and scalability of solutions globally
• Reducing delivery risk through stronger architecture discipline
• Enabling teams through high-quality, reusable technical content

You will have the opportunity to influence

• How we design solutions
• How we enable our teams
• How we deliver value to customers at scale

Nice to meet you

We’re a leader in data and AI. Through our software and services, we inspire customers around the world to transform data into intelligence—and questions into answers.

As part of our continued growth and investment in SAS Managed Cloud Services (MCS), we are expanding our Global Enablement and Sales Support capability across Japan and the Globe.

• Support the design of scalable, secure, and cost-effective SAS Managed Cloud architectures across opportunities
• Translate business requirements into structured technical solution components aligned with customer and operational needs
• Contribute to architecture artefacts including high-level designs, sizing inputs, and supporting documentation
• Participate in architecture discussions and validation activities

• Provide technical credibility within sales cycles, contributing to solution positioning and proposal development
• Support the translation of customer requirements into technical solutions and articulating these within proposals
• Contribute to customer engagements including presentations, workshops, and technical discussions
• Assist in RFP/RFI responses and other proposal-related activities

• Ensure proposed solutions are aligned with delivery capabilities and Managed Cloud operational constraints
• Collaborate with delivery teams to validate assumptions and identify dependencies
• Support smooth transition from pre-sales into implementation and managed operations
• Identify technical risks and escalate where appropriate, contributing to mitigation approaches

• Apply structured architecture design approaches, including requirements capture and design validation
• Follow established architecture standards, patterns, and governance frameworks
• Participate in design reviews and quality assurance processes
• Contribute feedback to improve consistency and repeatability of solution approaches

• Contribute to the development and reuse of technical assets, including:
• Solution components
• Architecture artefacts
• Pre-sales supporting materials
• Support adoption of standard approaches and best practices across opportunities
• Participate in knowledge sharing and enablement activities

• Work closely with Account Executives, Customer Advisory, and delivery teams to support opportunity execution
• Build effective working relationships across global teams
• Participate in customer discussions with guidance from senior architects as needed
• Develop technical and architectural capability across SAS technologies and SAS Managed Cloud Services
• Guide and advise stakeholders on appropriate design approaches, methodologies and technologies to support the required business outcomes

• Tokyo, Japan (Hybrid)
• Hybrid working model with moderate travel based on business needs

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