How to apply for SAP Solutions Architect - Sales & Pre-Sales

About Protera

Protera is an SAP and IT managed services firm founded in 1998 with over 25 years of cloud and SAP expertise. They serve SAP-centric organizations in manufacturing, financial services, CPG & retail, life sciences, and energy, and they run a proprietary automation platform called CloudVantage (ProSuite and TeraAI). Their stated culture values curiosity, impact, authenticity, and celebration, and they describe themselves as small enough to listen, large enough to deliver.

About the role

This SAP Solutions Architect role is a senior, client-facing position that partners with the sales organization throughout the deal cycle. You will translate prospect and customer business requirements into SAP solution architectures covering RISE with SAP, S/4HANA migration, Functional AMS, SAP Basis and technical operations, SAP BTP, and hyperscaler-hosted managed services. You own the technical narrative in presentations, proofs of concept, and RFP/RFI responses.

A typical day

A typical day might include a discovery call with a prospect to understand their SAP landscape and pain points, followed by time building a solution architecture or slide deck for an upcoming presentation. You could also be drafting an RFP response, scoping a proof of concept with a hyperscaler partner, or briefing the sales team on technical risks and differentiators. Since the role is remote and US-based, expect a mix of video calls with prospects, internal deal reviews, and independent architecture work.

Who Protera is looking for

• 10+ years designing and running enterprise SAP landscapes, with hands-on depth in at least two of: RISE with SAP, S/4HANA migration, SAP Basis, SAP BTP, or Functional AMS.
• Experience working alongside sales teams on deals, including building solution architectures, running proofs of concept, and writing RFP/RFI responses.
• Comfortable presenting technical content to both technical and business audiences, including C-level stakeholders, in a pre-sales context.
• Working knowledge of at least one hyperscaler (Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud) and how SAP workloads are hosted and managed on it.

Tips for this application

• Lead your resume with pre-sales or sales-facing SAP work: name the deal types you supported (RFP responses, POCs, architecture designs), the SAP products involved, and the outcome or size of the deals where you can share it.
• Name specific SAP modules and products you have architected or run (RISE with SAP, S/4HANA, SAP BTP, SAP Basis, Functional AMS) rather than saying 'SAP' generically, because the role spans all of these.
• Call out hyperscaler experience explicitly (Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud) and which SAP workloads you have run or migrated on each, since Protera delivers across all three.
• If you have used or competed against Protera's CloudVantage platform (ProSuite, TeraAI) or similar managed-service automation tools, mention it; it shows you understand their delivery model.
• Since this is a remote US role supporting sales, note your time zone, willingness to travel for client meetings or POCs if asked, and any experience presenting to prospects remotely.

What to cover in your cover letter

Explain why you are moving from hands-on SAP delivery into a pre-sales architect role now, and what you bring that a pure sales engineer would not. Describe one or two specific deals where you shaped the technical solution and helped win the business. Show that you understand Protera's service lines (RISE with SAP, SAP Technical Services, SAP Security, SAP BTP, Functional AMS) and can speak to more than one of them. Mention how you would work with a sales team day to day: discovery calls, architecture design, POC scoping, and RFP/RFI writing.

Research before applying

• Read about Protera's CloudVantage platform, including ProSuite and TeraAI, and understand how it fits into their managed services offering.
• Look up Protera's SAP partnerships and certifications (SAP, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud) to understand which hyperscalers and SAP products they emphasize most.
• Review Protera's customer case studies or press releases in their stated industries (manufacturing, financial services, CPG & retail, life sciences, energy) to see the deal sizes and use cases they typically pursue.
• Check the backgrounds of Protera's sales and pre-sales leadership on LinkedIn to understand who you would be partnering with and what they value in technical counterparts.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• Walk through an SAP solution architecture you designed for a prospect or customer, including the business requirements, the options you considered, and why you recommended what you did.
• How would you position RISE with SAP against a customer running ECC on-premises who is hesitant to move? What questions would you ask first?
• Describe your experience with SAP Basis and technical operations. How would you explain the value of Functional AMS to a non-technical buyer?
• How do you handle an RFP where the customer's requirements do not fit cleanly into your standard service offerings?
• Which hyperscaler do you know best for SAP workloads (Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud), and what are the trade-offs you would explain to a customer choosing between them?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Submitting a resume that reads as a pure SAP Basis or technical operations CV with no evidence of client-facing or pre-sales work, since this role is explicitly sales-partnered.
• Claiming broad SAP expertise without naming specific products, versions, or migration projects, which makes it hard for a hiring team to assess fit against RISE with SAP, S/4HANA, BTP, and AMS.
• Ignoring the multi-cloud aspect of the role or only mentioning one hyperscaler, since Protera delivers across Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud.