Principal Solutions Architect - Infrastructure Services

About UsSince 1989, SHI International Corp. has helped organizations change the world through technology. We've grown every year since, and today we're proud to be a $16 billion global provider of IT solutions and services.Over 17,000 organizations worldwide rely on SHI's concierge approach to help them solve what's next. But the heartbeat of SHI is our employees - all 7,000 of them. If you join our team, you'll enjoy: Our commitment to diversity, as the largest minority- and woman-owned enterprise in the U.S. Continuous professional growth and leadership opportunities. Health, wellness, and financial benefits to offer peace of mind to you and your family. World-class facilities and the technology you need to thrive - in our offices or yours. Job SummaryWe are seeking a seasoned technical leader to join our organization as Principal Solutions Architect, Infrastructure Services. This is a senior individual contributor role responsible for leading the technical strategy and customer engagement model for our Integration Services practice. The Principal will serve as the organization's foremost subject matter expert on rack-scale integration, owning the end-to-end technical relationship with our largest and most strategic customers.This role is pivotal to our next phase of growth. The Principal will be directly responsible for onboarding our next large rack-scale customer, setting the standard for how we engage, advise, and deliver. Working at the intersection of sales, engineering, and service delivery, this individual will shape how the market perceives our integration capabilities and ensure that every customer interaction reflects operational excellence and deep technical authority.The ideal candidate brings extensive experience building or scaling an integration services practice, a commanding knowledge of data center infrastructure and AI/ML hardware, and the executive presence to engage confidently with senior technical and business stakeholders.The Principal operates as the technical orchestrator for strategic engagements, ensuring alignment between customer objectives, architectural best practices, and organizational delivery capabilities before execution begins. While accountable for architectural integrity and customer advisory leadership, detailed domain design and execution remain owned by the appropriate presales, SME, and delivery teams.Role DescriptionStrategic Technical Leadership Serve as the principal subject matter expert and technical authority for the Integration Services practice, setting the vision for how we architect, propose, and deliver rack-scale solutions. Define and evolve the technical strategy for integration services, including reference architectures, service methodologies, and standards of delivery excellence. Represent the organization as a senior technical voice in executive briefings, industry events, and strategic customer engagements. Provide thought leadership on emerging trends in rack-scale computing, AI infrastructure, liquid cooling, and next-generation data center design. Customer Onboarding & Executive Engagement Own the end-to-end technical onboarding experience for large-scale strategic customers, from initial engagement through production handoff. Lead design reviews, solution workshops, and architecture sessions with customer engineering and leadership teams. Serve as the senior escalation point and trusted advisor for customers during onboarding, ensuring commitments are met and expectations are exceeded. Establish white-glove engagement protocols that become the repeatable standard for onboarding future enterprise and hyperscale customers. Proactively identify risks, dependencies, and technical blockers and drive cross-functional resolution with urgency. Advise customers on best practices, architectural tradeoffs, and implementation considerations, ensuring transparent alignment between customer expectations and SHI delivery capabilities prior to execution. Technical Presales & Advisory Provide expert-level technical advisory to customers on rack-scale designs, infrastructure architecture, GPU compute configurations, and AI/ML hardware selection. Lead the development of technical proposals, statements of work, solution architectures, and bills of materials for complex, high-value engagements. Act as a senior generalist presales resource across infrastructure, networking, storage, and AI workloads, capable of leading any technical conversation with authority. Evaluate and qualify new opportunities from a technical feasibility and delivery readiness perspective. Domain presales and SME teams retain responsibility for detailed solution artifacts (e.g., BOMs, rack designs, and configuration deliverables), with the Principal providing architectural oversight and validation. Sales Partnership & Revenue Impact Partner with the sales leadership team as a strategic technical counterpart, directly contributing to pipeline development, deal strategy, and competitive positioning. Participate in and lead customer-facing meetings, RFP responses, technical deep-dives, and proof-of-concept engagements alongside account executives. Translate complex customer requirements into actionable delivery plans for the integration services and engineering teams. Develop and maintain executive-level sales collateral, reference architectures, case studies, and technical documentation for the practice. Operational Excellence & Practice Development Champion a culture of flawless execution, establishing the quality bar for integration deliverables and customer communications. Drive continuous improvement in integration processes, tooling, and service offerings based on customer feedback and delivery learnings. Mentor and elevate junior technical resources, building bench strength within the integration services organization. Collaborate with product, engineering, and operations leadership to inform roadmap priorities and capability investments. Behaviors and Competencies Problem-Solving: Can proactively identify and take ownership of complex problem-solving initiatives, initiate preventative measures, collaborate with others to find solutions, and drive successful outcomes. Communication: Can effectively communicate complex ideas and information to diverse audiences, facilitate effective communication between others, and mentor others in effective communication. Adaptability: Can lead others through change, help teams adapt to new directions, and create a culture open to change. Leadership: Can take ownership of complex team initiatives, collaborate with others in decision-making processes, and drive team performance. Teamwork: Can build and lead multiple teams, fostering a cooperative environment and ensuring effective communication between team members. Self-Motivation: Can take ownership of complex personal or professional initiatives, collaborate with others when necessary, and drive results through self-motivation. Skill Level Requirements Proficiency in overseeing and directing projects to completion, ensuring goals are met, resources are utilized efficiently, and stakeholders are satisfied - Intermediate Ability to systematically identify, document, and manage the technical needs and specifications of a project by engaging with stakeholders and analyzing business objectives to ensure successful project outcomes - Intermediate Ability to define, design, build, and maintain robust systems and solutions by leveraging systems and infrastructure effectively - Intermediate Ability to write, debug, and maintain code in various scripting and programming languages to automate tasks and develop software solutions - Intermediate Ability to understand and manage various infrastructure components (firewalls, load balancers, hypervisors, storage, monitoring, security) and use orchestration tools to develop comprehensive technical solutions - Intermediate Ability to develop detailed Statements of Work (SOWs) and drive revenue growth through professional services engagements - Intermediate Extensive experience working on large scale IT projects related to design, deployment and configuration - Intermediate Other Requirements Completed Bachelor's Degree or relevant work experience 10+ years of progressive experience in technical sales, solutions architecture, presales engineering, or integration services within data center or IT infrastructure. Deep, demonstrated expertise in rack-scale integration, including server, storage, networking hardware, and large-scale data center design and deployment. Proven track record of leading customer onboarding or complex implementation programs for enterprise or hyperscale accounts. Strong command of AI/ML infrastructure, including GPU compute platforms, high-performance networking (InfiniBand, RoCE), and advanced cooling solutions. Executive presence with the ability to engage C-level and VP-level stakeholders on both technical and business topics. History of directly influencing revenue outcomes through technical sales leadership and strategic customer relationships. Exceptional communication, presentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills. Willingness to travel occasionally Preferred Qualifications Prior experience building or significantly scaling an integration services practice at a large integrator, VAR, or OEM (e.g., SHI, CDW, Insight, Dell, HPE, Lenovo, or similar). Hands-on experience across the full integration lifecycle: configuration, imaging, cabling, burn-in testing, quality assurance, packaging, and logistics. Familiarity with DCIM tools, infrastructure automation frameworks, and integration workflow management at scale. Relevant industry certifications in vendor technologies (e.g., Dell, HPE, Cisco, NVIDIA, Juniper). Experience engaging with hyperscale, sovereign cloud, or large public sector customers. Background in standing up new service lines, developing go-to-market strategies, or launching integration capabilities in a growing organization. The estimated annual pay range for this position is $250,000 - $350,000 which includes a base salary and bonus. The compensation for this position is dependent on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and market location and, therefore, will vary from individual to individual. Benefits may include, but are not limited to, medical, vision, dental, 401K, and flexible spending.Equal Employment Opportunity - M/F/Disability/Protected Veteran Status

Created: 2026-03-06