Consulting Solutions Architect - Modernization, Bay Area
NetAppAbout the role
LOCATION
Candidates must be based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Candidates outside of this region will be automatically disqualified.
JOB SUMMARY
NetApp is seeking a Senior Value Engineering Consultant (IC5) to join our Modernization Solution Architect team. In this highly strategic role, you will help customers make confident, data-driven technology investment decisions by translating NetApp solutions into measurable business value. You will operate at the intersection of technology, finance, and executive strategy, partnering with sales teams and customers to quantify outcomes such as Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), Return on Investment (ROI), Net Present Value (NPV), and risk reduction. Your work will directly influence deal strategy, accelerate pipeline progression, and position NetApp solutions around business outcomes versus solution cost.
This role is critical to advancing NetApp’s shift toward value-led selling, enabling larger, more strategic, and more durable customer engagements.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Customer Engagement & Value Discovery
- Proactively partner with account teams to engage customers early in the sales cycle and shape opportunities using value engineering frameworks
- Facilitate discovery discussions to uncover customer business drivers, financial constraints, and decision criteria
- Translate customer challenges into quantifiable cost, risk, and growth impact
Financial Modeling & Business Case Development
- Build and deliver financial models including:
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Net Present Value (NPV)
- Cash flow and lifecycle analysis
- Quantify the cost of inaction and articulate the financial impact of current state vs. future state
- Develop clear comparisons across alternatives (status quo, incremental change, modernization, consumption models, competition)
Value-Based Solution Alignment
- Partner with Solution Architects to connect technical architecture decisions to measurable business outcomes
- Translate technical capabilities into financial and strategic impact aligned to executive priorities
- Ensure solutions are optimized for value (balancing cost, performance, flexibility, and risk)
Executive Communication & Deliverables
- Create and present executive-level deliverables, including:
- Value business cases
- Financial analyses and models
- Customer value narratives and presentations
- Communicate effectively with senior stakeholders including CFOs, CIOs, and procurement leaders
- Deliver outputs that are transparent, defensible, and aligned to customer-validated assumptions
Deal Strategy & Outcome Influence
- Influence deal strategy and win rates by anchoring conversations on economic impact rather than product features or pricing
- Position NetApp solutions against alternatives by highlighting lifecycle value, flexibility, and risk mitigation
- Support complex, multi-year, and subscription-based sales motions (e.g., Keystone, as-a-service models)
Enablement & Scalable Impact
- Develop reusable frameworks, templates, and tools to scale value engineering across the field
- Enable account teams with value-based selling techniques, financial storytelling, and discovery frameworks
- Contribute to ongoing improvements in value engineering methodologies and processes
QUALIFICATIONS
- 8–12+ years of experience in Solution Engineering, Consulting, Value Engineering, or related roles
- Demonstrated experience building and presenting financial models (TCO, ROI, NPV)
- Strong ability to connect technical solutions to business and financial outcomes
- Executive-level communication and presentation skills
- Experience supporting complex enterprise sales cycles
- A passion for coaching, enabling, and training other internal resources to maximize impact at a company level
- Familiarity with lifecycle management and modernization strategies
- Experience developing sales frameworks, tools, or enablement programs
Preferred Skills & Experience
- Experience with subscription, consumption, or as-a-service models (e.g., STaaS/Keyst
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