Principal Solutions Architect - FSI

This is an incredible opportunity to be part of a company that has been at the forefront of AI and high-performance data storage innovation for over two decades. DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a global market leader renowned for powering many of the world's most demanding AI data centers, in industries ranging from life sciences and healthcare to financial services, autonomous cars, Government, academia, research and manufacturing.

"DDN's A3I solutions are transforming the landscape of AI infrastructure." – IDC 

“The real differentiator is DDN. I never hesitate to recommend DDN. DDN is the de facto name for AI Storage in high performance environments” - Marc Hamilton, VP, Solutions Architecture & Engineering | NVIDIA 

DDN is the global leader in AI and multi-cloud data management at scale. Our cutting-edge data intelligence platform is designed to accelerate AI workloads, enabling organizations to extract maximum value from their data. With a proven track record of performance, reliability, and scalability, DDN empowers businesses to tackle the most challenging AI and data-intensive workloads with confidence. 

Our success is driven by our unwavering commitment to innovation, customer-centricity, and a team of passionate professionals who bring their expertise and dedication to every project. This is a chance to make a significant impact at a company that is shaping the future of AI and data management. 

Our commitment to innovation, customer success, and market leadership makes this an exciting and rewarding role for a driven professional looking to make a lasting impact in the world of AI and data storage. 

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

Base Salary Range: $200,000 - $224,000
In addition to base salary, this role is eligible for variable compensation (commission). 

DDN has a very strong orientation towards these 4 characteristics and any successful employee will demonstrate these capabilities: 

Self-Starter - Takes independent action to identify and solve problems. Seeks out relevant information needed to make decisions. Gets involved with new initiatives. 

Success/Achievement Orientation - Delivers quality results consistently. Targets, achieves (or exceeds) measurable results. Sets challenging goals, focuses on critical priorities, and is accountable. 

Problem Solving - Recognizes problems and responds with a systematic assessment that identifies and addresses cause of issue. Practical, realistic, and resourceful. 

Innovative - Builds and improves key business processes that enhance the effectiveness of DDN. Generates new ideas, challenges the status quo, and solves problems creatively.

DataDirect Networks, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, sex stereotyping, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected Veteran Status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

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