Itron is innovating new ways for utilities and cities to manage energy and water. We create a more resourceful world to protect essential resources for today and tomorrow. Join us.
Itron is seeking a dynamic and experienced Manager of Solution Architects (SAs) to lead a high-impact customer-facing team within our Sales and Pre-Sales organization. This role is designed for a strategic sales-focused leader who thrives in a player-coach capacitybalancing direct engagement in strategic pursuits with the development and enablement of a growing team.
The Manager of Solution Architects partners closely with Enterprise / Client Executives to co-create compelling feasible and commercially aligned solutions that drive customer success. This leader ensures that the SA team translates Itrons technology roadmap and value into clear actionable solution narratives reducing reliance on Product Management for messaging and enabling direct articulation of capabilities and outcomes.
This role requires a collaborative mindset technical fluency across Itrons portfolio and a commitment to continuous improvement innovation and customer-centricity.
Duties and Responsibilities
Leadership & Team Development
Lead coach and mentor a geographically distributed team of Solution Architects.
Operate as a playercoach actively supporting high-value pursuits while fostering team growth and scalability.
Develop and maintain a structured onboarding and training program to ensure team readiness and portfolio fluency.
Promote cross-training and knowledge sharing to reduce single points of dependency.
Establish and uphold quality standards for architectural clarity solution alignment and technical storytelling.
Define and track KPIs related to solution quality responsiveness readiness and influence on bookings.
Strategic Pursuit Support
Serve as Solution Owner for select strategic opportunities modeling best practices in customer engagement.
Collaborate with Enterprise Client Executive and Client Executives to shape solution architectures value positioning scope and win themes.
Provide final technical review of Solution Definitions architecture diagrams and RFP responses.
Contribute to Opportunity Review Board documentation with clear feasible and commercially aligned technical content.
Proactively identify and communicate risks and architectural tradeoffs.
Methodology & Process Excellence
Build and maintain a centralized repository of reusable architecture patterns templates and messaging frameworks.
Define and implement standard operating procedures (SOPs) and RACI models for SA engagement and cross-functional collaboration.
Partner with Deal Desk Product Solution Engineers (PSEs) Technical Solution Engineers (TSEs) and Sales Specialists to streamline proposal development.
Ensure solution narratives emphasize customer outcomes integration clarity and use-case alignment.
Foster a culture of documentation repeatability and continuous improvement.
Cross-Functional Alignment
Maintain strong relationships with Product Business Units (PBUs) to ensure roadmap clarity and product readiness.
Deliver timely updates to the SA team and provide structured customer feedback to influence future product direction.
Collaborate with PSEs and TSEs to ensure demo and architecture alignment with customer needs.
Engage Professional Services early to validate solution feasibility and ensure seamless handoff.
Align consistently with Sales Specialists Value Architecture and Global Managed Services (GMS) teams.
Solution & Portfolio Expertise
Maintain broad fluency across AMI DI / Grid Edge MDMS network technologies and partner ecosystems.
Equip SAs to clearly articulate the differentiated value of AMI 2.0 including regulatory justification and measurable outcomes.
Ensure team proficiency in explaining both the what and the how of AMI 2.0 including architectural enablers and operational workflows.
Guide strategic positioning through competitive and regulatory awareness.
Required Skills & Experience
10 years of experience in solution architecture technical pre-sales or enterprise architecture roles.
3 years of leadership or mentorship experience in a technical or sales environment.
Proven success in supporting complex technical sales pursuits with a customer-first mindset.
Deep expertise in AMI DI / Grid Edge MDMS and network architecture.
Exceptional communication and customer-facing storytelling skills.
Bachelors degree in engineering computer science information systems or a related field.
Demonstrated ability to lead with authenticity accountability and agility in a collaborative environment.
Preferred Skills & Experience
Experience working with regulated utilities and understanding industry dynamics.
Proven ability to influence and collaborate with Product Business Units.
Familiarity with proposal tools such as Loopio.
Participation in DI / AMI industry groups or meter schools.
Passion for innovation and continuous improvement in solution development.
Travel : This role requires up to 50% travel to support business needs
Physical Demands : Typical office environment with no unusual physical requirements.
Benefits Info :
This position also includes a competitive benefit package including; financial social health and wellbeing programs paid vacation 401k matching employee stock purchase program hybrid work schedule and more!
The successful candidates starting salary will be determined based on permissible non-discriminatory factors such as skills and experience and may vary by location. The base salary range is $125000 $279000. This position is eligible for our sales incentive program.
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Itron is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workforce and providing an authentic workplace experience for all employees. If you are excited about this role but your past experiences dont perfectly align with every requirement we encourage you to apply the end you may be just who we are looking for!
The successful candidates starting wage will be determined based on permissible non-discriminatory factors such as skills and experience.
Itron is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. If you require an accommodation to apply please contact a recruiting representative at 1- or email .
Itron is transforming how the world manages energy water and city services. Our trusted intelligent infrastructure solutions help utilities and cities improve efficiency build resilience and deliver safe reliable and affordable service. With edge intelligence we connect people data insights and devices so communities can better manage the essential resources they rely on to live. Join us as we create a more resourceful world :
Required Experience :
Manager
Key Skills
Business Process,VMware,Cloud,HTML5,Windows,Project managements,AWS,Infrastructure,Web Services,JQuery,Java,Computer Engineering,Solutions design,Technical Solutions,Analytics
Employment Type : Full-Time
Experience : years
Vacancy : 1
Monthly Salary Salary : 125000 - 279000
Solution Architect • Austin, Texas, USA