Enterprise Architect

Charlotte Metro, NC (and surrounding ~150-mile radius)

Cypress Technology Advisors is focused on helping organizations architect, deploy, and optimize modern infrastructure, cybersecurity, and AI solutions. We are seeking an Enterprise Architect to own the technical side of the sales cycle and the technical relationships within a portfolio of strategic accounts. This is the most senior role on the Pre-Sales Architect career path: a cross-domain, account-level technical leader who translates client business priorities into solutions Cypress can confidently sell and successfully deliver.

This is primarily a pre-sales role. The Enterprise Architect is proactive rather than reactive: expected to build relationships with technical and executive stakeholders well enough to uncover opportunities through ongoing engagement, not just respond once an opportunity has already surfaced. The role also carries light involvement after the sale: staying connected enough through delivery to protect the original solution intent, and re-engaging for major design questions, scope changes, executive checkpoints, or escalations, without becoming the project's unofficial delivery engineer or project manager.

The Account Executive owns account strategy, the overall client relationship, and opportunity close. The Enterprise Architect partners with the Account Executives and is an active contributor to account strategy and opportunity close and owns the technical relationships and technical perspective within the account.

• Build trusted relationships with technical and executive stakeholders before a specific opportunity exists.
• Regularly engage clients in person, including onsite meetings, executive briefings, partner events, and other informal interactions.
• Understand the client's technology environment, key initiatives, pain points, strategic vendors, important stakeholders, and where Cypress can add value.
• Proactively identify opportunities through curiosity and ongoing client conversations.
• Bring technical insight and ideas into account planning with the Account Executive.
• Challenge a requested product or solution when another approach better addresses the client's needs.
• Maintain independent technical judgment rather than acting as an order-taker for Sales or an OEM.
• Understand how infrastructure, cybersecurity, and AI technologies relate and integrate so clients can realize the full value of their investments.

Lead technical discovery across domains rather than handing it off to Delivery.

• Understand the client's business drivers, desired outcomes, current environment, technical requirements, pain points, and constraints.
• Lead technical discovery and whiteboarding sessions, including cross-domain and advisory workshops.
• Design solutions that address client requirements without unnecessary complexity.
• Identify dependencies, assumptions, risks, and areas requiring deeper technical expertise.
• Know when to engage another Cypress architect, Delivery SME, OEM, or partner.
• Move opportunities forward quickly without allowing unnecessary technical perfection to become a sales-cycle bottleneck, while never compromising BOM or scope accuracy.

The Enterprise Architect owns the technical accuracy of what Cypress proposes and sells, including:

• Solution architecture and technical approach
• Technical scope, BOM completeness and accuracy, and appropriate sizing
• Licensing and solution dependencies, and required components
• Assumptions and technical risks
• SOW development and technical content, and keeping solution/BOM information and SOWs current

OEMs and distributors may assist with BOM development, but accountability for its accuracy remains with the architect. The architect is also responsible for giving Delivery enough information to produce an accurate level-of-effort estimate.

• Lead technical discovery conversations and whiteboard solutions collaboratively with clients.
• Facilitate Cypress workshops, including cross-domain and advisory sessions.
• Present technical recommendations clearly, adjusting the level of detail to the audience.
• Communicate risks, assumptions, and tradeoffs directly, and build credibility without relying on product jargon.
• Lead conversations with CIOs, CISOs, and other executives, translating effectively between business priorities and technology decisions.
• Build strong working relationships with technical teams at Cypress's…