Job Description
Job Title: Director Solution Architecture
Location: Singapore
Function: Presales
Reports to: Global Head of Presales
Direct Reports: Solution Architects (APAC Region)
Key Stakeholders: Sales Leadership, Product, Engineering, Customer Success,
Delivery, Commercial Operations, Legal, Finance
Role Purpose
The Director Solution Architecture is accountable for the quality, consistency, and
commercial effectiveness of SHL's presales solution architecture across regions.
This role leads a team of Solution Architects supporting enterprise accounts, ensuring
SHL's SaaS talent solutions are positioned as scalable, differentiated, and
deployable.
Operating as a senior presales leader and trusted advisor, the role balances strategic
leadership, hands-on deal engagement, and capability development, while acting
as a critical bridge between Sales, Marketing, Product, and Delivery. The role ensures
that what is sold can be successfully implemented, scaled, and expanded,
protecting both client outcomes and SHL's commercial integrity.
Key Responsibilities
Presales Leadership & Operating Model
- Lead and develop the Solution Architecture function across Asia Pac including
India, Australia and South East Asia markets, setting clear expectations,
standards, and ways of working.
- Define and evolve the presales solution architecture operating model, aligned
to enterprise deal complexity and regional maturity.
- Ensure consistent application of solution design, governance, and handover
practices across all enterprise pursuits.
- Act as escalation point for complex, high-risk, or strategically significant
opportunities.
Enterprise Solution Strategy & Quality
- Own the solution quality bar across all presales engagements, ensuring
Architectures Are
- Scalable and repeatable
- Aligned to SHL's SaaS platform capabilities
- Commercially viable and delivery-ready
- Establish and maintain enterprise solution patterns across SHL's assessment,
platform, insights, and integration portfolio.
- Partner with Product and Engineering to shape roadmap prioritisation based on
market client needs.
Strategic Deal Engagement
- Act as executive solution sponsor on strategic enterprise and global
opportunities.
- Lead or support complex discovery with C-suite, HR, TA, IT, and Procurement
stakeholders.
- Influence deal strategy, solution architecture, and value articulation alongside
Sales Leadership.
- Support executive-level client presentations, deal reviews, and strategic
negotiations.
Commercial & Value Leadership
- Ensure solution architecture directly supports:
- Win probability
- Margin protection
- Long-term account expansion
- Coach teams on outcome-based value articulation, ROI modelling, and
differentiation in competitive environments.
- Balance client-specific needs with standardised, scalable offerings.
Product & Delivery Alignment
- Act as the presales interface into Product and Delivery leadership for mature
markets.
- Ensure presales commitments are aligned to:
- Product roadmap and release plans
- Delivery capacity and operating models
- Security, compliance, and data residency requirements
- Champion structured presales-to-delivery handover and early-phase deal
continuity.
People Leadership & Capability Development
- Lead, mentor, and develop Solution Architects across seniority levels.
- Define capability frameworks, progression paths, and performance
expectations.
- Build a strong coaching culture focused on solution thinking, commercial
acumen, and executive presence.
- Support hiring, onboarding, and succession planning for the Solution
Architecture team.
Governance, Metrics & Continuous Improvement
- Establish governance for:
- Deal qualification and discovery
- Solution sign-off
- Risk and dependency management
- Track and improve key presales metrics including:
- Win rates
- Solution reusability
- Delivery issues linked to presales commitments
- Drive continuous improvement in tools, templates, and presales enablement.
Success Measures
- High confidence in solution quality from Sales, Product, and Delivery
- Reduced delivery risk and rework post-sale
- Strong stakeholder satisfaction across enterprise accounts
- High retention and development of Solution Architecture talent
- Clear alignment between presales commitments and product strategy
Essential
Experience & Qualifications
- Significant experience in Solution Architecture or Solution Consulting leadership within
SaaS or enterprise technology, with a strong track record on large, complex, multi-year
enterprise deals.
- Demonstrated ability to solution around AI-powered products, including familiarity with
model governance, responsible AI frameworks, and the ability to lead credible AI buying
conversations with enterprise clients (CHROs, IT, Procurement).
- Fluency in skills-based organisation trends and the evolving skills infrastructure
Landscape — Including How Skills Taxonomies, Ontologies, And Talent Intelligence
platforms are reshaping enterprise HR strategy.
- Broad exposure to the HR Tech or Talent Tech ecosystem, with the ability to position
solutions within a client's wider HCM and talent architecture.
- Proven success leading and scaling high-performing presales or solution consulting
teams across varying seniority levels.
- Executive-level communication and stakeholder management capability, including
experience navigating IT, Security, and AI governance stakeholders alongside HR and TA
buyers.
- Comfortable operating across markets with different enterprise maturity, commercial
norms, and stakeholder culture — particularly within the APAC region.
Desirable
- Familiarity with major HCM and talent ecosystems or similar platforms.
- Experience influencing product strategy and roadmap decisions based on
enterprise client and market signal.
- Background in people analytics, talent intelligence, or assessment — including
awareness of how psychometric and behavioural data is evolving within AI-
driven talent platforms.
- Experience working across global or multi-regional enterprise markets, with
APAC exposure particularly valued.
- Knowledge of emerging AI regulation and data governance frameworks relevant
to enterprise HR technology procurement.
Personal Attributes
- Strategic yet pragmatic leader
- Commercially astute and outcome-driven
- Credible with enterprise clients and internal executives
- Comfortable operating at scale and with ambiguity
- Strong coach and talent developer
- Collaborative, decisive, and trusted
About Us
- We unlock the possibilities of businesses through the power of people, science and technology.
- We started this industry of people insight more than 40 years ago and continue to lead the market with powerhouse product launches, ground-breaking science and business transformation.
- When you inspire and transform people's lives, you will experience the greatest business outcomes possible. SHL's products insights, experiences, and services can help achieve growth at scale.
What SHL Can Offer You
Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility are key threads in the fabric of SHL's business and culture (find out more about DEI and accessibility at SHL )
- Employee benefits package that takes care of you and your family.
- Support, coaching, and on-the-job development to achieve career success
- A fun and flexible workplace where you'll be inspired to do your best work (find out more LifeAtSHL )
- The ability to transform workplaces around the world for others.
SHL is an equal opportunity employer. We support and encourage applications from a diverse range of candidates. We can, and do make adjustments to make sure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible.
