The Solution Architect is a customer-facing technical and commercial resource within Kardex Solutions responsible for helping the Sales organization identify customer requirements, develop solution concepts, and effectively demonstrate how Kardex Solutions technologies can solve complex distribution and fulfillment challenges.
The role sits at the intersection of sales, solution design, operations, and technology. The Solution Architect engages early in the sales process to understand a prospect's operational challenges, material flows, business requirements, and growth objectives, then translates those requirements into an automation strategy centered primarily around AutoStore, conveyor and material handling technologies, and the broader Kardex Solutions portfolio.
A critical component of the role is making automation understandable and compelling. The Solution Architect will lead customer discovery sessions, solution workshops, product demonstrations, conceptual solution reviews, and technical presentations that enable customers to understand not only how the technology works, but how it improves their operation and delivers measurable business value.
The successful candidate will combine strong knowledge of warehouse operations and automation with the communication skills necessary to engage everyone from warehouse operators and engineers to senior executives.
Partner with Sales to engage prospective and existing customers during the earliest stages of an opportunity.
Lead structured discovery sessions to understand:
Translate operational discussions into clear functional and technical requirements that can be used by Kardex Solutions engineering and solution design teams.
Identify gaps in customer-provided information and work with Sales and the customer to collect the data required to develop an appropriate solution.
Develop high-level automation concepts that address the customer's operational and business requirements.
Evaluate where technologies such as:
can be combined to create an effective end-to-end solution.
Work closely with Kardex Solutions engineering and design teams as opportunities progress from conceptual design into detailed engineering and proposal development.
Help ensure that proposed solutions balance:
Serve as a knowledgeable customer-facing resource for AutoStore opportunities.
Help customers understand concepts including:
Support the Sales team in explaining why a particular AutoStore configuration is appropriate for the customer's operation.
Collaborate with internal engineering resources to ensure assumptions used during early sales conversations align with the final engineered solution.
Support the development and presentation of integrated conveyor solutions connecting AutoStore and surrounding warehouse processes.
Understand and help define material flows including:
Help customers understand how AutoStore, conveyor, software, and peripheral technologies work together as a complete system rather than as individual pieces of equipment.
Develop and deliver compelling demonstrations of Kardex Solutions products and technologies.
Demonstrations may include:
Whenever practical, demonstrations should reflect the customer's actual operation rather than generic functionality.
Translate technical capabilities into clear customer outcomes such as:
Act as a technical partner to Kardex Solutions Sales Managers throughout the opportunity lifecycle.
Participate in:
Help Sales determine whether an opportunity is technically and commercially aligned with the capabilities of Kardex Solutions.
Identify potential technical risks, scope gaps, unrealistic expectations, or solution constraints early in the sales process.
Support the development of clear value propositions and solution differentiators.
Translate complex automation technology into a clear story that customers can understand.
Present solutions differently depending on the audience.
For operations leaders, explain:
For engineering and IT teams, explain:
For executives, explain:
Ensure Kardex Solutions proposals communicate the business outcome of the solution, not simply the equipment being supplied.
Work closely with:
Provide structured feedback to Product Management and Engineering regarding recurring customer requirements and market needs.
Help develop reusable sales tools such as:
Success in this role may be measured through:
The role should ultimately help Kardex Solutions increase win rate, shorten the sales cycle, improve solution quality, and reduce the technical risk associated with opportunities entering engineering.
Experience with one or more of the following is strongly preferred:
Experience working for a material handling integrator, automation provider, consulting organization, or sophisticated distribution operation is highly desirable.
The successful candidate should understand many of the following concepts:
The Solution Architect does not need to perform every aspect of detailed engineering but must possess enough technical depth to identify requirements, develop credible concepts, challenge assumptions, and effectively engage both customers and Kardex engineering specialists.
The ideal candidate is:
Approximately 30–50% travel may be required depending on customer activity.
Travel will primarily support:
The Solution Architect should become involved before a solution is engineered.
The preferred engagement model is:
Qualify → Discover → Define Requirements → Develop Concept → Demonstrate → Validate → Engineer → Propose → Close
The Solution Architect owns the technical-commercial portion of the early stages of this process and acts as the bridge between the customer's operational requirements, the Sales organization, and Kardex Solutions engineering resources.
The objective is simple:
Understand the customer's operation well enough to demonstrate and articulate the right Kardex solution before significant engineering resources are committed.
Kardex is a leading global partner for intralogistics solutions in an attractive and growing market.
The Group offers premium automated products, standardized systems, and life cycle services that guarantee high availability and low total cost of ownership. Kardex provides an intelligent entry into automation with its dynamic storage and retrieval systems, offers integrated material handling systems, small parts storage systems, and automated high-bay warehouses, and acts as a global AutoStore™ partner, offering flexible and modular storage and order fulfillment solutions.
The Group employs around 2,500 people in over 30 countries. Kardex Holding AG has been listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 1989.
