Technical Solutions Manager - Pre Sales

Job description / Role

Introduction
At IBM, work is more than a job - it's a calling: To build. To design. To code. To consult. To think along with clients and sell. To make markets. To invent. To collaborate. Not just to do something better, but to attempt things you've never thought possible. Are you ready to lead in this new era of technology and solve some of the world's most challenging problems? If so, lets talk.

Your Role and Responsibilities

A Technical Solutions Management professional is responsible for the development and sales of IBM Infrastructure Services solutions and value directly to customers. By using a combination of IBM and non-IBM offerings, services, labor, assets, hardware, and software products, the Technical Solution Manager (TSM) leads the creation of the value proposition, the solution and associated cost cases for complex, multi-year opportunities which meet the customer's requirements and assist in solving their business problems.

- The technical directions established by the Technical Solution Manager are the foundation of IBM's solution and heavily influence sales, human resource, contract and delivery strategies for the engagement. The Technical Solution Manager owns the definition of the technical solution and is the primary source of engagement management and solution design for the given deal.
- This is a client facing job role, the Technical Solution Managers are expected to spend 40-70% of their time in face-to-face discussions with IBM clients.
- They are responsible for the development and sales of IBM Strategic Outsourcing solutions directly to clients.
- They lead multinational, multiple discipline teams of subject-matter experts, using a combination of IBM standard and custom solutions and they orchestrate the development of complex, multiple year, custom solutions and associated cost cases, all with the goal to ensure consistent delivery of high quality services and/or solutions which meet client business and technical requirements and fulfill IBM's obligations.
- Their leadership provides the foundation of the IBM solution that influences our sales teams, human resources, C&N and delivery strategies for the engagement. TSMs own the definition of the services solutions, are accountable for the overall success of the engagement and are the primary source of IBM Global Services engagement management and solution design around the world and across all product and technical disciplines.
- The TSM works in conjunction with the larger pursuit team (Sales, HR, C&N, Delivery, Pricing, Risk, etc) to deliver a winning solution.

Key activities and responsibilities include:

- Articulating the business and technical value of our solutions and products to senior managers and technical decision makers (within IBM and our customers).
- Positioning our technical solutions in competitive scenarios.
- Liaise between our worldwide and regional technical leaders.
- Own and drive technical solution strategy and design.
- Propagate technical Infrastructure Services solution assets and best practices.
- Remove technical barriers and motivate teams.
- Drive competitive winnable deals in the Middle East & Africa region.
- Responsible for the development of competitive cost cases for complex, multi-year opportunities which meet the customer's requirements
- Responsible for understanding country specific requirements, and "localizing" global best practices.
- Create and use intellectual capital to solve diverse client issues in an innovative way.

Requirements

Required Technical and Professional Expertise

- Self-motivated and have the ability to network across a broad team.
- Comfortable in both a technical dialogue (understanding the customer's IT infrastructure and technical objectives) as well as a business dialogue (explaining the TCO reductions or ROI benefits of our solutions).
- Understand different IT infrastructure service towers (e.g. Systems, Network, Mobility, Resiliency, Security) along with governance and the integration between such service towers.
- Understand IT managed services on-premise, off-premise and hybrid and able to present the overall solution to Enterprise customers to CxOs agreement.
- Strong written and verbal communication, including technical writing skills.

Preferred Technical and Professional Expertise

- IT Architect experience or similar delivery role.

About the Company

For more than six decades, IBM Middle East & Pakistan has played a vital role in shaping the information technology landscape of the region. Today, IBM is part of the region's technological fabric, solving real-world business and societal challenges, through its offices in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Pakistan, and also a diversity of centers across the region.

Within the region, IBM currently has groundbreaking initiatives in cloud computing, analytics, mobile, security, as well as nanotechnology, eGovernment, healthcare and many more, collaborating with leading educational institutes and governments. IBM supports hundreds of clients to drive transformation through technology, contributes to regional research & development programs and has an active Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program.

Reinvention is a keyword in the company's history and, today, IBM is much more than a "hardware, software, services" company. IBM is now emerging as a cognitive solutions and cloud platform company.