Customer Success Architect

POSITION DETAILS: Position Title: Customer Success Architect Reports to (POSITION): Head of Managed Services Team: Customer Success Unit Department: Services PURPOSE OF JOB: The Customer Solutions Architect (CSA) is the senior technical and strategic owner of the customer’s service and technology direction, responsible for defining, maintaining, and governing the customer’s unified technical roadmap across all contracted and adjacent services.

Operating as the authoritative technical voice of the customer, the CSA ensures clarity of direction, reduction of technical risk, and alignment of service delivery and commercial activity to a single, coherent strategic plan. The role provides expert technical leadership, strategic architectural guidance, and senior‑level engagement to help customers realise their long‑term outcomes, prevent fragmentation, and drive value across their cloud, infrastructure, and service investments.

CSAs work closely with Customer Success Managers, Support, Account Management, Pre‑Sales, and Specialist practices to ensure that all engagements, initiatives, and opportunities follow one roadmap and one direction. They act as escalation prevention partners, risk identifiers, and senior advisors to the customer, ensuring that technical decisions, design choices, and prioritised programmes are aligned with target‑state architecture and business objectives.

Leveraging deep expertise across cloud, infrastructure, security, and platform, the CSA provides strategic insight into upcoming technology changes, architectural implications, operational risks, and optimisation opportunities. They contextualise these insights for customers and guide decision‑making at both technical and executive levels. In this role, the CSA is accountable for: Creating and governing the customer’s technical roadmap Establishing a single technical narrative across all service lines Ensuring alignment of delivery, architecture, and strategic objectives Shaping renewal and pre‑renewal technical direction Reducing risk, technical debt, and inconsistent guidance Leading senior/executive technical conversations and decisions This position is ideal for individuals who combine architect‑level expertise with strategic consulting skills, have strong customer presence, and excel in driving clarity, reducing complexity, and enabling confident decision‑making across complex service landscapes.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: Technical Roadmap Ownership Own the customer’s single, authoritative technical roadmap, defining current state, target state, sequencing, and long-term direction. Act as the technical voice of the customer, translating business outcomes into architectural and service priorities. Strategic Architectural Leadership Provide strategic architectural guidance across cloud, infrastructure, security, and platform maturity, ensuring decisions align to roadmap intent.

Govern and gatekeep technical initiatives to prevent fragmentation, ensuring all engagements follow the “one customer, one roadmap” principle. Identify, interpret, and articulate technical risks, constraints, and dependencies, converting them into clear business impact narratives. Executive Level Engagement & Influence Lead executive-level technical conversations, influencing C-suite and senior stakeholders with clarity, confidence, and expert insight.

Build strong relationships across senior technical and business stakeholders, becoming the trusted advisor and long-term strategic partner. Technology Insight & Advisory Maintain deep awareness of relevant technology trends and changes, contextualising their impact for each customer’s environment and strategy. Engage in roadmap-aligned solution shaping, ensuring initiatives are sequenced, value justified, and linked to customer priorities.

Cross-Functional Alignment & Collaboration Collaborate with Customer Success Managers and Technical Service Success Managers to ensure consistent customer experience, aligned communications, and coherent service delivery. Ensure clear cross-functional alignment with Sales, Pre-Sales, Support, Delivery, and specialist practices to deliver a unified approach to customer strategy. Governance, Assurance & Strategic Oversight Provide senior oversight and context into service governance, feeding objective, evidence-based insights into CSM reviews and operational forums.

Provide architectural assurance during projects and change, ensuring designs and decisions map back to the approved technical direction. Guide and challenge both internal and customer teams when decisions deviate from agreed strategy, ensuring alignment to long-term outcomes. Renewal Support & Value Realisation Support renewal and pre-renewal activities by shaping the technical value narrative, summarising delivered outcomes, and validating readiness.

Drive reduction of technical debt, risk exposure, and operational inefficiencies through roadmap-driven planning and prioritisation. Continuous Improvement & Future State Planning Surface architectural and service-related opportunities, ensuring they are validated and routed correctly for progression. Continuously evolve customer strategies, ensuring their environments remain modern, secure, scalable, and aligned to best practice architectures.

CORE COMPETENCIES & SKILLS Demonstrates authoritative architectural expertise across cloud, infrastructure, security, and platform maturity. Communicates complex technical concepts clearly and confidently to senior technical and non-technical stakeholders. Shapes and governs a unified customer technical roadmap with rigour, clarity, and strategic foresight. Translates business outcomes into technical direction and long-term architectural priorities.

Identifies, interprets, and articulates technical risks, constraints, dependencies, and their business impact. Influences C-suite and senior decision-makers with strong presence, strategic thinking, and outcome-focused reasoning. Maintains up-to-date knowledge of relevant emerging technologies, trends, and platform changes, and contextualises their impact for customers. Builds trusted, long-term advisory relationships with senior customer stakeholders.

Provides architectural assurance and challenge to ensure all initiatives align with roadmap direction and best practice principles. Collaborates seamlessly across CSA, CSM, Support, Delivery, Sales, and specialist practices to ensure a unified customer experience. Applies data-driven and evidence-based thinking to shape decisions, guide governance, and prioritise customer outcomes. Demonstrates a disciplined approach to technical governance, gatekeeping, and prioritisation frameworks.

Ensures clarity and consistency across all communications, artefacts, and customer-facing narratives. Works effectively in complex environments, balancing strategic vision with practical technical detail. Shows resilience, adaptability, and professional maturity when navigating ambiguity, conflict, or competing priorities. WIDER TEAM NETWORK (WHICH TEAMS WILL THE POSITION WORK WITH DIRECTLY AND WHO WILL THEY RELATE TO EXTERNALLY) Internal Account Management Teams Presales Services (Support, Managed & Professional) Technical Specialists CSU External Customers, Vendors & Partners QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE, & SKILLS: Years of Experience 5+ Years of Experience for an IT Value-Added Reseller/MSP Essential MEASURES & GOALS (HOW WILL THE SUCCESS OF THE PERSON IN THIS POSITION BE MEASURED – WHAT ARE THE EXPECTED OUTPUTS) OBJECTIVE MEASURE FREQUENCY Clear ownership and governance of the customer’s unified technical roadmap Roadmaps produced, maintained, and updated on schedule Roadmap milestones accurately reflected and aligned across teams Quarterly Reduction of technical risk, architectural debt, and misaligned initiatives Documented reduction in identified risks Fewer escalations linked to architectural gaps Decrease in unapproved or off roadmap activities Quarterly Consistent, strategic engagement with senior technical and business stakeholders Completed senior/executive engagement sessions Positive feedback from stakeholders Evidence of influence on customer technical direction Monthly / Quarterly Improved service coherence and elimination of fragmented customer experience Reduction in conflicting guidance Increased alignment across CSA, CSM, and Delivery Fewer duplicated internal/external conversations Quarterly Effective identification, interpretation, and routing of technical opportunities Number and quality of validated opportunities passed through CSU intake% accepted and progressed Timeliness of identification Monthly Architectural assurance and alignment during projects and change % of initiatives confirmed as roadmap aligned Reduction in design related rework Adherence to architectural guardrails Quarterly Strengthened renewal and pre renewal technical readiness Completion of technical value narratives Roadmap validated renewal position Demonstrated clarity of “what’s next” for the customer Quarterly / Annual Improved platform maturity and customer technical posture Measurable progression in customer maturity areas (security, resilience, platform optimisation) Closure of long-standing technical gaps Quarterly Contribution to value realisation and long-term outcomes for the customer Documented outcomes delivered vs. plan Customer recognition of architectural impact Link between roadmap execution and customer goals Quarterly Internal alignment and contribution to CSU governance model Adherence to CSU frameworks Meaningful architectural insights fed into governance and service reviews Cross team alignment achieved Monthly / Quarterly