Customer Solution Architect at Nokia

Job description

The Customer Solution Architect (CSA) is the E2E Technical Authority and customer interface within the Customer Team (CT).
He is responsible for defining the technical sales strategy towards his designated customer(s) in close collaboration with their CTs, optimally adapted towards their vision, requirements and needs.

The CSA exemplifies the Sales Solutioning Team Mission

“Build and grow a leading position with key customers with consistent high-quality designs and solutioning. Demonstrate innovation, technology leadership, customer intimacy, leveraging best-in-class solutions across the whole Nokia portfolio to the benefit of his customer. Ultimately the CSA aims that their customer(s) have the best designed networks in the industry.”
The CSA has three main responsibilities for their respective customer(s). These are 

• drive Network Evolution,
• lead the presales Solutioning Team, and
• ensure Solutioning Quality.
• Drive Network Evolution – Everything that needs to happen today, tomorrow, next quarter, in the next 5 years in his/her customer’s network. Within this
• Produce and maintain a customer end-to-end Network Evolution Plan (all technologies)
  Consistently feed and grow the sales funnel with good short and long-term planning and network design
  Identify technical decisions or insertion points that have vendor disrupting potential and proactively engage with the customer to shape the decision in Nokia's favor.
• Lead Solutioning Team – The CSA is responsible to lead and have the right (multi-BG/CO/Services) Presales Team in place for his/her customer.
  • The CSA creates the most effective multi-BG solutions for our customers with the right solutioning Teams, so that our customers’ networks continuously evolve towards the best in the industry and Nokia’s market share is maximized.
• Ensure Solutioning Quality – The CSA is responsible for E2E presales Solutioning and the Quality thereof for his/her customer.
  • The CSA ensures high quality solutioning to drive profitability and customer satisfaction. With professional E2E solutioning he/she identifies new (x-sell) opportunities, and engages the customer aligned with the CT to grow funnel and order intake.

To this end, the CSA has built an extensive proven network within the customer and Nokia business groups, based on trusted relationships with key decision makers at various levels. Through his network and broad technical knowledge of the Nokia Solution Practices and Product portfolios, he actively steers the customer’s mindshare in favor of Nokia, and influences Nokia product, solutions, and services portfolio developments when required to foster new business opportunities.

The CSA further has the knowledge, experience, and competencies to execute the following activities

• Build strong customer relationships with customer organizations in line with the Customer Team Head and Account Managers
• Arrange technical customer workshops and drive technical negotiations
• Technical Sales thought leadership with a mindset of the evolution of the customer’s network. Build vision for the customer and win Nokia mindshare
• Orchestrate, lead and win the value based technical / techno-commercial customer dialogue (in close cooperation with CT Head, AM’s and BL’s)
• Build customer intimacy as main technical customer interface to relevant key customer stakeholders and tech-based business excellence
• Supports each regional sales leader with strategic topics
• Orchestrate day-to-day content based customer engagements including BG support commitments
• Lead to order
• Develop customer technology strategies and campaigns
• Build a high-value Opportunity Funnel per account across portfolio
• Position the entire Nokia portfolio
• Build winning customer propositions and drive the portfolio from a customer needs perspective
• Region portfolio requirements based on customer needs towards BG
• Contribute actively to CSA Community as part of the Corporate and CO E2E offices.
• The CSA has a solid understanding of telecommunications and the complete Nokia Product and Services Portfolio. He is continuously up-skilling himself in the E2E Practice and Product Solutions, spanning all Nokia Business Groups i.e. Mobile Networks, IP and Optical Networks, Fixed Networks, and Applications and Analytics. The CSA knows one topic well (topic depth), and is the go-to person for that topic in Team/Market
• The CSA is able to work well in the CSA Team. He/She lives a culture of supporting and motivating his CSA peer network, sharing best practices, and is willing to be part of a winning (elite) team culture
• The CSA has an advanced level of presentation, communication, negotiation, consultative and value based sales, and ’Getting Things Done’ capability
• The CSA has strong planning, strategy and execution skills
• The CSA has strong leadership skills and maintains a strong industry network in and outside of Nokia
• The CSA is a champion for Quality, has strong solution quality skills and continuously seeks to learn and improve.