Principal Solutions Architect

Solo enables companies to Connect, Secure and Observe modern applications – APIs, Microservices and Data – with the industry’s leading API and Service Mesh Management Platform (“Gloo”). Solo innovations allow companies to stay on the leading edge of both technology and business possibilities. Solo is a VC-backed company, founded in 2017 by Idit Levine. In 2021, Solo was valued at $1B. Solo’s customers are some of the largest in the world, spanning all geographies and industries. Solo’s team has deep expertise in Cloud Computing, Linux, Containers, Kubernetes, Service Mesh, APIs, Security, Microservice Applications, Application Modernization, GraphQL, and eBPF.

About the role

The Principal Solutions Architect is a senior, high-impact role responsible for driving new revenue growth across Solo.io’s EMEA region. You will serve as the definitive subject matter expert on Solo.io’s Cloud Connectivity products (kgateway, Ambient Mesh) and Agentic AI products (kagent, agentgateway, agentregistry), combining deep technical authority with a commercial mindset to win new business and expand existing accounts. This is a hybrid role that spans the full customer lifecycle. You will work alongside sales to engage new prospects through compelling technical vision-setting, proof-of-concept leadership, and architectural guidance. With strategic existing customers, you will act as a trusted advisor and technical partner, deepening adoption and positioning Solo.io as a long-term strategic platform—directly driving retention and revenue expansion. You will also represent Solo.io as a thought leader across the EMEA community through conferences, partner engagements, and executive briefings. Your primary bonus will be tied to EMEA regional revenue growth targets, reflecting the direct commercial impact of this role.

Job Description

• Revenue Growth & New Business Development: Own, co-own, or assist with the technical sales process for strategic EMEA opportunities, leading discovery, architectural workshops, product demonstrations, and proof-of-concept engagements to close new business. Develop and deliver compelling technical narratives around Solo.io’s cloud connectivity and agentic AI platforms, tailored to C-level stakeholders, platform architects, and engineering leaders. Partner with Sales Executives to build and execute account strategies that align Solo.io’s product capabilities with each prospect’s cloud-native transformation goals. Identify and qualify new use cases across Kubernetes networking, service mesh, API gateway, and AI agent infrastructure to expand Solo.io’s footprint within the region.
• Strategic Customer Engagement & Retention: Serve as a key subject matter authority and trusted advisor to Solo.io’s most strategic EMEA customers, building and maintaining executive-level relationships. Act as the customer’s trusted advisor and internal advocate, driving deep product adoption and ensuring customers realize maximum value from Solo.io’s platform. Lead technical issue resolution in partnership with Support and Engineering, taking ownership of critical escalations to protect customer satisfaction and renewal commitments. Proactively identify expansion opportunities within existing accounts and collaborate with the account team to grow revenue commitments. Consult on best practices for production deployments of service mesh, API gateway, and agentic AI infrastructure within complex enterprise environments.
• Thought Leadership & Community: Represent Solo.io as a senior technical leader across the EMEA region at industry conferences, meetups, partner events, and analyst briefings. Build and sustain executive relationships with strategic technology partners across the EMEA ecosystem. Publish engineering reference guides, blog posts, and technical content that establishes Solo.io’s authority in cloud-native networking and agentic AI. Provide real-world customer feedback to Product Management and Engineering, influencing roadmap priorities and ensuring products meet market needs. Educate and enable the broader EMEA sales organization on Solo.io’s technology, competitive positioning, and key use cases.

Job Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in customer-facing technical roles such as Solutions Architect, Customer Engineer, or Senior Pre/Post-Sales Engineer.
• Deep, hands-on expertise in Kubernetes, service mesh (Istio, Envoy), and API gateway technologies in production enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated track record of driving revenue growth through technical sales engagements, including leading proof-of-concept projects and closing complex enterprise deals.
• Experience managing technical relationships with large, strategic accounts, with a focus on both new business acquisition and customer success/retention.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to seamlessly shift between C-level strategic conversations and deep technical architecture discussions.
• Dynamic and engaging presentation and communication skills, comfortable addressing audiences from engineers to analysts to press.
• Experience with cloud-native platforms (GCP, AWS, or Azure) and modern software delivery practices.
• Proficiency in scripting or programming languages (e.g., Go, Python, Bash).
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AI/ML infrastructure, LLM orchestration, or agentic AI frameworks.
• Contributions to open-source projects in the cloud-native ecosystem (CNCF, Envoy, Istio, Kubernetes).
• Prior experience at a hyperscaler (Google Cloud, AWS, Azure) in a customer-facing engineering role.
• Existing network and relationships within the EMEA enterprise technology community.

What you’ll love about Solo

At Solo, our culture is all about hiring great people, creating a fun and fast-paced work culture, and letting our teams work with our customers to successfully solve their challenges. Solo works collaboratively with our customers, partners and open source communities to deliver technology innovation, technology solutions, architectural best‑practices, and hands‑on education. Solo uses a unique engagement model with our customers that allows us to quickly make them successful, and continue to work closely with them as their production environments grow. Solo is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.