Job description / Role

Employment: Full Time

Work Area: Presales
Expected Travel: 0 - 10%
Career Status: Professional
Employment Type: Regular Full Time

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

SAP started in 1972 as a team of five colleagues with a desire to do something new. Together, they changed enterprise software and reinvented how business was done. Today, as a market leader in enterprise application software, we remain true to our roots. That's why we engineer solutions to fuel innovation, foster equality and spread opportunity for our employees and customers across borders and cultures.

SAP values the entrepreneurial spirit, fostering creativity and building lasting relationships with our employees. We know that a diverse and inclusive workforce keeps us competitive and provides opportunities for all. We believe that together we can transform industries, grow economics, lift up societies and sustain our environment. Because it's the best-run businesses that make the world run better and improve people's lives.

ROLE DESCRIPTION:

The Presales Expert Job Profile can take 3 different paths:

- Presales Solution Expert
- Presales Customer Solution Manager
- Enterprise Architect

Presales Solution Expert Role:

- The Presales Solution Expert identifies, understands, and defines customer needs in order to develop and maintain standard product demonstrations and materials to close business and increase revenue. Provides additional support to account executives and conducts demonstrations for strategic purposes, including tradeshows and SAPPHIRE. The Presales Expert is considered one of the most knowledgeable Presales persons on a given solution in the Business unit they support.

Deal Execution / Demonstration Lead Tasks:

- Responsible for highly complex / visible pre-sales and/or post-sales support of company products/systems.
- Provides advanced-level technical support to complex sales presentations and product demonstrations.
- Provides answers to customer / internal SAP team inquiries concerning advanced solution topics.
- Provides software development and consultation to prospective customers.
- Supports regional and offshore Demo Architect teams to build demos based upon customer requirements to demonstrate feasibility of the application, often requiring rapid prototyping.
- Will participate in demo system design, planning and spec-out configuration requirements if needed.
- Participate in new product release input, testing and training of peers.

Strategic Tasks:

- Quickly establishes oneself as the thought leader of the VAT and fine tunes account strategy.
- Guides team in creation of overall theme & competitive differentiation (value wedges)
- Executes vigorous dry runs on strategic deals and customer engagements.
- Effectively transitions engagement to implementation partner / Field Services
- Is proactive in sharing their knowledge with the greater presales community through Solution Hubs or other enterprise social media where collaboration takes place.

Presales Customer Solutions Manager Role:

- The Presales Customer Solutions Manager (PCSM) leads and manages all Presales engagements for a given set of opportunities aligned to a group of sales teams. S/he works with the sales teams to support sales strategies by engaging the appropriate Presales team. A Presales Customer Solutions Manager must possess strong solution selling and value-based selling skills, and be able to mentor and coach the assigned presales team members in support of sales cycles.

Deal Execution Tasks:

- Be the single point of contact for Sales into the Presales organization in support of their sales opportunities.
- Collaborate with sales management and sales account executives to plan account strategies through participation in informal and formal account reviews.
- Work directly with each Sales AE to assess the right time to engage presales resources and approve/deny the use of presales specialists in those sales opportunities.
- Assign the right presales team members to work each qualified sales opportunity in their territory (assign the VAT team).
- When appropriate, assign a Solution Captain to an opportunity.
- Maintain intimate knowledge and status of each sales opportunity where Presales team members are being used and raise "red-flags" to the Sales Management when obstacle's arise in the account.
- Personally get engaged in supporting the key deals in the territory through customer interactions and presentations where qualified.
- Utilize CRM and other Presales BI reports to provide feedback to sales on the effectiveness of Presales in supporting their accounts.
- Enforce consistent presales processes, including CRM-based opportunity management, dry-runs and discovery sessions, to ensure superior demos and presentations.
- Monitor the impact of each presales team member throughout each sales cycle in order to fairly compensate each once the deal closes.
- Maintain high-level knowledge of SAP's entire solution suite and key competitors.

Business Development Tasks:

- Collaborate with the sales team to identify whitespace opportunities.
- Be resourceful and creative in using Design Thinking processes to expand deals and create new opportunities in dormant accounts.

Enterprise Architect Role:

- The Enterprise Architect is a senior presales position who provides direct support to the sales and presales in the development and execution of strategies for SAP's Innovation platform of solutions in complex and strategic sales opportunities.
- The Solution Architect must be able to articulate for a customer the values of SAP's innovative platform across all 5 SAP market categories (Cloud, Mobile, Database & Technology, Applications and Analytics) and must also serve as a subject matter expert in one or more of these categories.
- As a solution expert, he/she will provide advanced solution knowledge and assist the local presales with qualifying customer technical needs, developing and presenting customer solutions and architecture roadmap, assisting with proposals and demos. The Architect must also possess strong solution selling and value-based selling skills, and Design Thinking skills. He/she often will hold Solution Captain/Lead role on complex opportunity and ensure that the various presales members working on the deal are coordinating their efforts to maximum impact, and that the solution strategy fits with the customer needs. The architect also serves as a champion for assigned solution(s) and provides knowledge transfer to presales colleagues as needed.

Sales Execution Tasks:

- Support complex and strategic deals across the market unit and region in order to achieve SAP targets for software license revenue.
- Collaborate with local sales and presales teams to plan account strategies through participation in informal and formal account reviews.
- Be the subject matter expert and provide advanced presales support for one or more of 5 SAP market strategies and assigned solution(s).
- Interact with customers through executive meetings, discovery conversations, solution demonstrations, executive presentations and follow-up discussions.
- Reinforce the business value of SAP solutions through creation of compelling presentations, demonstrations and participation in Design Thinking / IVE engagements
- Stay up to date with the latest SAP solutions as well as industry trends.
- Maintain a close understanding and appreciation of competitive solutions.
- Share in-depth knowledge and experience with local presales teams.

Requirements

WORK EXPERIENCE

- 8+ years of presales experience
- 5 + years of solution specialist (or equivalent customer facing) experience in areas appropriate to the job
- Demonstrates 10+ successful engagements
- Expert knowledge/expertise on end to end processes/solution matching
- Experience in sales and sales processes
- Excellent presentation and communication skills English: proficient
- Business level local language: expert Fluent English spoken and written

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATION / SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

- Bachelor equivalent: minimum requirement
- Master equivalent: optional
- MBA / Ph.D.: optional

WHAT YOU GET FROM US

Success is what you make it. At SAP, we help you make it your own. A career at SAP can open many doors for you. If you're searching for a company that's dedicated to your ideas and individual growth, recognizes you for your unique contributions, fills you with a strong sense of purpose, and provides a fun, flexible and inclusive work environment - apply now .

SAP'S DIVERSITY COMMITMENT

To harness the power of innovation, SAP invests in the development of its diverse employees. We aspire to leverage the qualities and appreciate the unique competencies that each person brings to the company.

SAP is committed to the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity and to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and/or mental disabilities

Successful candidates might be required to undergo a background verification with an external vendor.

About the Company

Headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, SAP is the world's largest business software company with more than 51,500 employees at sales and development locations in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Our global development approach focuses on distributing development across the world in strategically important markets. A global network of SAP Labs spanning Bulgaria, Canada, China, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, and the United States, enables SAP to operate locally, yet organize globally.

As the global technology research unit of SAP, SAP Research significantly contributes to SAP's product portfolio and extends SAP's leading position by identifying and shaping emerging IT trends through applied research and corporate venturing. SAP Research has highly skilled teams in 11 research centers worldwide.

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