Senior Solutions Architect, EMEA (Remote, UK)

As a Senior Solutions Architect at Grafana Labs, your main responsibilities will include providing specialized business and technical consultation to customers, managing the customer onboarding lifecycle, and delivering training sessions. You'll be the go-to resource for high-priority customers, offering tailored solutions to meet their complex requirements. Additionally, you'll collaborate with internal teams to ensure alignment and adherence to best practices, making sure clients receive consistent value from our products.

To qualify for the Senior Solutions Architect role at Grafana Labs, candidates should have at least 5 years of experience in deployment teams, a deep understanding of observability tools including Grafana, and proficiency with Kubernetes and cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, or Azure. Strong communication skills and project management abilities are also crucial for effectively engaging with customers and translating technical requirements into actionable solutions.

Unlike traditional sales roles, the Senior Solutions Architect at Grafana Labs focuses on providing genuine, consultative support to clients rather than pushing sales quotas. This role emphasizes building lasting relationships with customers, guiding them through their technical challenges, and ensuring their satisfaction and success with Grafana's suite of products.

A Senior Solutions Architect at Grafana Labs requires a mix of technical skills, including expertise in observability practices, experience with Grafana products (like Grafana, Loki, and Tempo), and familiarity with Kubernetes and other cloud platforms. Being hands-on with data visualization and analytics tools, as well as understanding the difference between metrics, logs, and traces, is fundamental in delivering effective consulting.

The work environment for a Senior Solutions Architect at Grafana Labs is highly collaborative yet flexible, as this is a remote position. The company values a diverse workforce and encourages creativity and passion in its team members. You’ll work closely with various internal teams while directly engaging with customers, making it essential to have a proactive approach and a strong team spirit.

When answering this question, highlight your familiarity with observability practices and any specific tools you've used, particularly Grafana and related products. Provide examples of how you've implemented these tools in past projects to visualize metrics, logs, or traces effectively.

Discuss your strategies for building relationships with customers, such as active listening, understanding their needs, and providing tailored solutions. Mention specific examples when you successfully turned a challenging customer interaction into a positive outcome.

This question is aimed at understanding your grasp of modern cloud architectures. 'Pets' refer to servers that are treated with care and nurtured, while 'cattle' describes disposable, scalable instances. Discuss how this concept influences your design and deployment of cloud solutions.

Talk about the tools and methodologies you use for managing projects, such as Agile or Scrum, and how they help track project timelines and stakeholder engagement. Provide examples of how these techniques led to successful project implementations.

In your response, outline the project details, the challenges faced, and the strategies you implemented to overcome them. Highlight your role as a Senior Solutions Architect and how your technical expertise contributed to the project's success.

It's important to show your commitment to continuous learning. Talk about your methods for staying informed, such as attending industry conferences, participating in webinars, or engaging with communities that focus on observability and related technologies.

Discuss your approach to managing expectations by implementing clear communication from the start. Provide an example of a time you navigated a similar situation, focusing on how you ensured customer satisfaction through revisions or ongoing support.

Reflect on common challenges, such as data integration or analysis and usage of complex visualization features. Talk about how your expertise as a Senior Solutions Architect can help alleviate these challenges through tailored consulting and training.

Share specific instances where you implemented ideas or solutions that enhanced the team's effectiveness or productivity. Whether it was through introducing new tools, refining processes, or fostering a collaborative culture, aim to convey your proactive nature.

This is your chance to express your passion for the company and its mission. Discuss your admiration for Grafana’s impact in the industry, your excitement about working in a remote first culture, and how your goals align with the company’s vision.