Platform Architect

The Platform Architect is a senior technical leader responsible for shaping platform-level architecture, enabling complex sales motions, and clearly articulating platform value through high-quality technical assets and storytelling. Operating at the intersection of architecture, technical sales, and enablement, this role drives cross-product consistency, connects sellers to the right technical resources, and provides hands-on support for a broad set of platform products to help customers understand why and how the platform delivers differentiated outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

1. Cross-Product Architecture Leadership

• Lead and facilitate cross-product technical and architecture discussions across sales teams.
• Define and communicate platform-level architectural patterns, integration strategies, and reference architectures.
• Ensure architectural consistency, interoperability, and alignment across products.
• Serve as a technical authority for complex, multi-product platform solutions and architectural decisions.

2. Technical Sales Support & Platform Enablement

• Provide technical sales support for platform- and brand-level opportunities from discovery through validation.
• Translate customer business and technical requirements into scalable, secure, and supportable platform architectures.
• Partner closely with sellers to drive platform adoption, differentiation, and expansion.
• Lead/participate in customer-facing workshops, executive briefings, technical reviews, and solution design sessions.

3. Asset Creation

• Create and maintain reusable, high-impact technical assets that support platform selling.
• Ensure assets are accurate, current, accessible, and aligned to platform strategy and roadmaps.
• Partner with product, engineering, and marketing to scale and continuously improve assets.
• Track and improve asset adoption and effectiveness across the field.

4. Technical Storytelling

• Craft clear, compelling narratives that connect platform capabilities to customer outcomes and value.
• Simplify complex architectures into executive-ready stories without losing technical rigor.
• Tailor stories for executives (value/risk), architects (patterns/tradeoffs), engineers (implementation), and sellers (positioning/differentiation).
• Establish reusable storytelling frameworks and act as a recognizable platform "voice" internally and externally.

5. Resource Orchestration & Field Support

• Identify, engage, and connect platform sellers with the right specialists, engineers, and product resources at the right stage of the sales cycle.
• Orchestrate cross-functional technical engagement to accelerate deal velocity and improve solution quality.
• Promote knowledge sharing and best-practice reuse across sales, product, and engineering teams.

6. Deep Technical Expertise & Product Focus

• Provide deep technical sales and architectural support for a defined set of products within the platform.
• Maintain expert knowledge of platform capabilities, integrations, dependencies, and roadmaps.
• Support proofs of concept, pilots, and advanced evaluations; capture and relay field insights to product teams.

7. Post-Sales Support

• Provide architectural guidance and technical oversight for customers after initial deployment to ensure long-term platform stability, value realization, and successful adoption.
• Help customers optimize and evolve their existing technology footprint by identifying architectural improvements, integration opportunities, and modernization paths.
• Support account teams in resolving advanced technical challenges by partnering with engineering, product, and support organizations.
• Conduct periodic architecture reviews and roadmap discussions to ensure the platform continues to meet customer business and technical goals.
• Capture learnings from customer environments to inform product improvements, best practices, and future platform assets.

Technical & Architectural

• Significant experience in platform, solution, or enterprise architecture, ideally in customer-facing contexts.
• Proven ability to design and explain multi-product, integrated platform solutions.
• Deep understanding of modern architectures (cloud, APIs, data, security, integration, automation).

Asset Creation & Storytelling

• Demonstrated experience producing technical assets for sales/field enablement (diagrams, reference architectures, decks, whitepapers, demos).
• Strong technical storytelling-written, visual, and verbal-with executive-level presence.
• Ability to distill complex technical concepts into simple, outcome-oriented narratives and visuals.

Collaboration & Influence

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to influence without authority across matrixed organizations.
• Comfortable operating as a trusted advisor with customers, sellers, and product/engineering leaders.

Preferred technical and professional experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Proficiency in a wide range of IBM's technology solutions.
• Experience in technical sales, pre-sales architecture, or platform evangelism roles.
• Familiarity with enterprise architecture frameworks and best practices.
• Background working with large-scale, multi-tenant platforms or partner ecosystems.
• Experience defining enablement frameworks and measuring asset adoption.

IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, caste, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, veteran status, or other characteristics. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

At IBM Global Sales, we bring together innovation, collaboration, and expertise to help clients solve their most complex business challenges. Working across industries and geographies, you'll partner with colleagues, clients, and partners to co-create solutions that drive digital transformation and lasting impact.Success in Global Sales is built on curiosity, empathy, and collaboration. You'll connect technical understanding with strong people skills, building trusted relationships and shaping solutions that improve business and society. With world-class onboarding, continuous learning, and a supportive culture, IBM offers the tools and opportunities to grow your career. Join us and be part of a global team that's passionate about driving innovation and making a difference.