Principal Solutions Architect - FSI

The DataDirect Networks Principal Solutions Architect role blends deep technical expertise with a strong consultative approach to helping customers build and scale AI, ML, and HPC solutions. This position plays a key role in connecting DDN’s AI and data platform technologies to real customer business challenges — helping organizations improve performance, reduce latency, increase operational efficiency, and accelerate time-to-insight. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES - Serve as a trusted advisor to customers by understanding their AI, data, and infrastructure challenges and recommending tailored solutions. - Design scalable AI and data architectures that support long-term growth, performance, and operational efficiency. - Partner closely with Sales, Engineering, Product, and Marketing teams to support customer engagements and influence strategy. - Lead technical presentations, demos, proof-of-concepts, and customer workshops throughout the sales cycle. - Support partner and alliance relationships across cloud providers, OEMs, integrators, and hyperscalers. - Deliver enablement and technical training to internal teams and external partners. - Stay current on AI, data infrastructure, and competitive market trends to effectively position DDN solutions. WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR - Strong background in AI/ML infrastructure, data engineering, AI application development, or technical consulting. - Experience with modern AI technologies including LLMs, RAG, inference, neural networks, vector databases, and AI pipelines. - Hands-on familiarity with tools and frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, NVIDIA Enterprise Suite, NeMO, and NIMs. - Ability to communicate effectively with both technical teams and executive stakeholders. - Experience supporting complex customer engagements in a pre-sales or solution consulting environment. - Strong presentation, relationship-building, and strategic problem-solving skills. PREFERRED BACKGROUND - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, AI, Data Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience). - Experience working with cloud providers, strategic alliances, and partner ecosystems. - Background in technical sales engineering, AI consulting, or customer-facing architecture roles. - Understanding of AI infrastructure optimization, scalability, and data center performance considerations