Solutions Architect (Pre-sales) – Manufacturing & Automotive
About this role
Automotive and manufacturing enterprises often struggle to extract actionable insights from vast streams of vehicle telemetry, supply-chain data, and factory IoT systems. Databricks addresses this challenge by deploying Solutions Architects to partner with global accounts, translating complex industrial problems into scalable data and AI workflows. This Tokyo-based role drives technical pre-sales strategy, guiding customers through platform adoption and proof-of-concept delivery.
Working alongside account executives and product specialists, this practitioner shapes end-to-end architectures spanning AWS, Azure, and GCP. The ideal candidate blends deep technical fluency in data engineering and machine learning with a hands-on builder mindset, creating custom demos and prototypes that resonate with both engineers and C-level executives. Candidates who thrive in collaborative, customer-facing technical environments and possess fluency in Japanese will find a strong operational fit.
What you will do
- Manage the end-to-end technical pre-sales lifecycle, including discovery, scoping, architecture design, and implementation planning.
- Develop tailored proofs-of-concept, demos, and reference architectures using public cloud platforms and Databricks.
- Engage and influence stakeholders ranging from data engineers to executive leadership by connecting technical design to business value.
- Collaborate across internal functions like product, engineering, and sales to represent customer needs and accelerate platform adoption.
- Identify high-value manufacturing and automotive use cases covering connected vehicles, supply chains, and smart factories.
- Facilitate technical workshops, meetups, and seminars to build regional awareness and share best practices.
What you need
- Professional experience in a technical pre-sales, consulting, or architecture role supporting enterprise clients.
- Technical foundation in data engineering, data warehousing, artificial intelligence, or machine learning.
- Demonstrated capability in designing and implementing solutions across AWS, Azure, or GCP.
- Hands-on coding proficiency in Python or SQL, with a willingness to learn Apache Spark.
- Strong presentation, storytelling, and whiteboarding skills for diverse technical and business audiences.
- Business-professional fluency in Japanese.
Nice to have
- Experience working with leading automotive manufacturers, suppliers, or industrial companies
- Familiarity with connected vehicles, vehicle telemetry, industrial IoT, or smart factory analytics
- Prior work with Databricks, Apache Spark, MLflow, Delta Lake, or lakehouse architectures
- Proficiency in Scala, Java, or R
- Business-level English proficiency
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What languages are required for this role?
Business-professional Japanese is required, and business-level English is preferred.
What does the interview process look like?
The process includes a recruiter screen, hiring manager screen, design and architecture interview, vibe coding interview, a build/demo/pitch presentation, and a reference check.
Who does this position report to?
This role reports to the Manager of Field Engineering.