Principal Solutions Architect

Overview --------

ePlus Technology, inc. is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Principal Architect specializing in High Performance Compute (HPC) & AIInfrastructure Design to join our presales team in the Bay Area. In this critical role, youll be the technical expert responsible for understanding customer needs, designing robust and scalable HPC / AI solutions, and articulating their value proposition to a diverse range of clients. Youll focus on the latest HPC / AI technologies from leading compute vendors such as NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Lenovo, HPE, and Dell, alongside high-performance storage solutions like VAST Data, Pure Storage (FlashBlade), NetApp, and Hammerspace. Youll also work with critical MLOps platforms, NVIDIA's AI Enterprise software stack, and advanced GPU orchestration tools, ensuring our clients can tackle their most demanding computational and AI/ML challenges.

Your Impact ------------

The essential functions of this position include:

• Technical Presales Leadership: Act as the primary technical presales resource for HPC / AI opportunities, engaging with customers from initial discovery to solution proposal and design.
• Solution Design & Architecture: Design and architect complex HPC / AI solutions, including compute clusters (CPUs, GPUs, interconnects), high-performance storage systems, networking, and related infrastructure.
• Customer Engagement: Conduct technical presentations, workshops, and white boarding sessions with clients to deeply understand their unique HPC and AI/ML requirements, workflows, and performance objectives.
• Technical Authority: Serve as a subject matter expert on HPC and AI/ML infrastructure trends, technologies, and best practices, providing insights and recommendations to both internal teams and external customers.
• Vendor Collaboration: Work closely with key technology partners such as NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Lenovo, HPE, Dell, VAST Data, Pure Storage, NetApp, Hammerspace, and staying current on product roadmaps, new features, and integrated solutions.
• Proof-of-Concept (POC) Support: Support technical validation efforts, including designing and overseeing proof-of-concept engagements to demonstrate solution capabilities and performance.
• Proposal Development: Contribute to the technical sections of proposals, Statements of Work (SOWs), and bills of material (BOMs), ensuring accuracy and alignment with customer needs.
• Competitive Analysis: Stay informed about the competitive landscape in the HPC and AI/ML infrastructure market and articulate ePlus unique differentiators.
• Knowledge Transfer: Share knowledge and best practices with the broader ePlus sales and engineering teams.

Qualifications --------------

• Bachelor's degree preferred
• 5+ years of applicable technical pre-sales engineering experience
• Specific Technical Focus:
• Demonstrated expertise in High Performance Compute (HPC / AI) architectures, including parallel processing, distributed computing, and relevant software stacks.
• Vendor Knowledge: Hands-on experience and architectural understanding of HPC / AI solutions from leading compute vendors such as NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Lenovo, HPE and Dell.
• Storage Expertise: Strong understanding and practical experience with high-performance storage solutions, with specific emphasis on all-flash, parallel file systems (e.g., Lustre, BeeGFS), global namespace (like Hammerspace), and next-generation storage architectures (like VAST Data, Pure Storage, and NetApp).
• Networking Knowledge: Familiarity with high-speed networking technologies used in HPC / AI environments (e.g., InfiniBand, high-speed Ethernet, RoCE v2).
• Operating Systems: Proficiency with Linux-based operating systems commonly used in HPC / AI environments.
• Containerization: Familiarity with containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) for HPC and AI/ML workloads.
• AI/ML Expertise: Comprehensive understanding of the AI/ML lifecycle and stack, including familiarity with MLOps platforms (e.g., Weights & Biases, MLflow, Kubeflow).
• Expertise in LLM models and inference techniques like RAG and fine-tuning.
• AI/ML Cloud Knowledge: Familiarity with leading AI/ML Cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and a readiness to deepen expertise in their HPC and AI/ML specific offerings (e.g., AWS SageMaker, AWS Bedrock, Azure HPC / AI, Google Cloud AI Platform).
• Cluster Management & Orchestration: Understanding and familiarity with HPC / AI cluster management and workload orchestration platforms (e.g., Slurm, Kubernetes, NVIDIA Run:ai), including monitoring tools (e.g., Bright Cluster Manager (BCM), Prometheus, Grafana) is a plus.
• Customer-Facing Experience: Proven ability to build strong relationships with clients, act as a trusted advisor, and prior experience at a customer or in a presales or customer-facing technical consulting role at a VAR or technology vendor.
• Problem-Solving: Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable solutions.
• Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Position Specifics -----------------

• The initial base salary range for this position is expected to be between $170,000 and $190,000 annually.
• The final base salary offered will be determined by multiple factors, including, but not limited to, job-related knowledge, depth of experience, skills, certifications, and geographic location.
• In addition to the base salary, our compensation structure may include other components such as commissions and discretionary bonuses.
• ePlus offers a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits (including 401(k) eligibility, employee stock purchase program and various paid time off benefits, such as vacation, sick time, and personal leave), dependent on the position offered.
• Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an offer of employment is extended.
• ePlus Benefits highlights can be viewed here.
• If hired, employee will be in an "at-will position" and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.