Director, Solutions Architecture (Technical Sales) (Chicago)

Elastic, the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real time, using all their data, at scale — unleashing the potential of businesses and people. The Elastic Search AI Platform, used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500, brings together the precision of search and the intelligence of AI to enable everyone to accelerate the results that matter. By taking advantage of all structured and unstructured data — securing and protecting private information more effectively — Elastic’s complete, cloud-based solutions for search, security, and observability help organizations deliver on the promise of AI.

What is The Role:

Elastic is looking for a Director of Solution Architecture (Technical Sales) to lead the tactical and strategic direction of the Enterprise Solution Architects. This is a senior leadership position focused on overachieving revenue targets, delivering a world-class level of customer experience as well as recruiting, hiring, and developing an industry-leading technical leadership team.

The candidate chosen for this role will work cross-functionally within Elastic and across the partner community to promote and influence strategic product direction, drive competitive differentiation, and nurture a transparent, collaborative presales community. This Solution Architecture leader will partner closely with sales leadership and customer success to build and reinforce durable customer relationships built on value realization and impactful, differentiated customer solutions.

Qualified candidates will possess a strong growth mindset, lead from the front of their organization, translate corporate and sales vision into measurable results, act as an agent for change, and exemplify a customer-first attitude.

Although Elastic is a distributed company, the ideal candidate would be located near one of our offices in San Francisco, Austin, New York City or Chicago.

What You Will Be Doing:

• Lead the Enterprise Solution Architecture organization focused on driving high levels of engagement and performance
• Deliver consistent, foundational, and creative technical presales solutions needed to meet and exceed quarterly and annual sales targets
• Work closely with executive Sales leadership and Sales teams to develop strategic and technical territory and account plans, along with technical tools/programs to support sales campaigns and initiatives
• Lead performance and key talent, ensuring that we are taking the necessary actions to attract and retain top talent, further develop a rich and diverse workforce, and manage performance at all levels
• Jointly own customer success, leveraging best practices and focus to ensure your customers are successful in addressing their business challenges.
• Evangelize the Elastic solutions in industry-recognized forums such as tradeshows and meetups
• Work collaboratively with support, product management, engineering, and other organizations to ensure alignment with your Eastern Regional team and provide process and product feedback, and resolve critical customer situations and ensure your organization is representing the voice of the customer to these organizations inside Elastic
• Be a thought leader to manage growth in the region and organization and be able to help identify areas for innovation and optimization that the growth opportunities create

What You Bring:

• 5+ years of Sales Engineering Leadership experience, including prior second-line experience as a Director leading first-line Managers and Individual Contributing SEs
• 7+ years of Sales Engineering individual contributor experience, or relevant industry experience as an individual contributor
• Experience working and a strong foundational knowledge in the following solution areas is strongly preferred
• Previous experience selling into the Fortune 100 type of strategic accounts
• Experience selling and working with pure cloud-based solutions and/or open source solutions
• Experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and/or Microsoft Azure is preferred, and Solution Architect level certifications are a bonus
• Experience working with ElasticSearch and/or any of Elastic’s technology solutions is preferred
• Technically curious, and able to articulate the value that technology brings to solving customer problems
• Previously led SE organizations larger than 50 people, and over $250M a year in quota coverage
• Proven executive communication skills – written and oral. Ability to communicate complex ideas cross-functionally across all levels both internally and externally
• Ability to lead diverse groups of people and able to challenge and develop the team to exceed their goals both personally and professionally
• Strong ability to inspire others, support an inclusive culture and role model for Elastic’s Source Code
• Travel will be required across the East Region as well as where the business requires it globally.

Additional Information - We Take Care of Our People:

As a distributed company, diversity drives our identity. Whether you’re looking to launch a new career or grow an existing one, Elastic is the type of company where you can balance great work with great life. Your age is only a number. It doesn’t matter if you’re just out of college or your children are; we need you for what you can do.

We strive to have parity of benefits across regions, and while regulations differ from place to place, we believe taking care of our people is the right thing to do.

• Competitive pay based on the work you do here and not your previous salary
• Health coverage for you and your family in many locations
• Ability to craft your calendar with flexible locations and schedules for many roles
• Generous number of vacation days each year
• Increase your impact - We match up to $2000 (or local currency equivalent) for financial donations and service
• Up to 40 hours each year to use toward volunteer projects you love
• Embracing parenthood with a minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave

Different people approach problems differently. We need that. Elastic is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive culture that celebrates different perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law, ordinance or regulation.

We welcome individuals with disabilities and strive to create an accessible and inclusive experience for all individuals. To request an accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email View email address on apply.placed-app.com. We will reply to your request within 24 business hours of submission.

Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws and can view the following posters linked below:

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Poster

Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) Poster

Elasticsearch develops and distributes technology and information that is subject to U.S. and other countries’ export controls and licensing requirements for individuals who are located in or are nationals of the following sanctioned countries and regions: Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, or Russia, including the Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia (The Crimea region of Ukraine, The Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), The Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), Kherson or Zaporizhzhia). If you are located in or are a national of one of the listed countries or regions, an export license may be required as a condition of your employment in this role. Please note that national origin and/or nationality do not affect eligibility for employment with Elastic.

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Compensation for this role is in the form of base salary plus a variable component, that together comprise the On-Target Earnings (OTE). On-Target Earnings (OTE) are based on a 70/30 pay mix (base salary / target variable).

The typical starting OTE range for new hires in this role is listed below. This range represents the lowest to highest OTE we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future.

An employee's position within the OTE range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Elastic believes that employees should have the opportunity to share in the value that we create together for our shareholders. Therefore, in addition to cash compensation, this role is currently eligible to participate in Elastic's stock program. Our total rewards package also includes a company-matched 401k with dollar-for-dollar matching up to 6% of eligible earnings, along with a range of other benefits offered with a holistic emphasis on employee well-being.

The typical starting salary range for this role is:

$161,300—$255,100 USD

The typical starting Target Variable range for this role is:

$69,000—$109,200 USD

The typical starting On-Target Earnings (OTE) range for this role is:

$230,300—$364,300 USD