Solutions Architect

Merkle is a leading data-driven, technology-enabled, global performance marketing agency that specializes in the delivery of unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices. For more than 30 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. The agency’s heritage in data, technology, and analytics forms the foundation for its unmatched skills in understanding consumer insights that drive people-based marketing strategies. Its combined strengths in performance media, customer experience, customer relationship management, loyalty, and enterprise marketing technology drive improved marketing results and competitive advantage. With 9,600 employees, Merkle is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, with 50 additional offices throughout the US, EMEA, and APAC. In 2016, the agency joined the Dentsu Aegis Network.

The Solution Architect will be responsible for articulating and driving the design and implementation for Merkle Promotions and Loyalty Solution MarTech integration architectures within client ecosystems. They will work closely with the Client Relationship, Sales Engineering, Strategy, and Business Analysis teams to develop a deep understanding of the functional and non-functional requirements for meeting client objectives, the platform deliverables necessary to achieve those objectives, and the Merkle capabilities to deliver solutions.

The position requires excellent communication skills and the ability to translate business requirements into technical implementation and documentation. The solution architect will follow the evolution of MarTech ecosystem solutions and drive novel implementations into the platform as core capabilities. They will also work with the Product team to communicate technical trends in market to influence the future of the platform.

The Solution Architect is a leader, not a gatekeeper. The solution architectures they develop are based on the tactical needs of our Delivery teams and keeping solution roadmaps aligned with client vision, metrics, and sustainability. Our Delivery teams are awesome and motivated to deliver based on client goals and outcomes. The Solution Architect creates the foundation for success in our agile technical delivery process on top of platform features and business capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Design and lead client facing implementation of application architecture and technical delivery for experience-driven, multi-channel, enterprise customers deployed on our cloud based SAAS platform.
• Consult with solution architects, infrastructure management, and Delivery teams to help design promotions and loyalty solutions, identify opportunities to modify and mature solution architecture to accommodate changes across multiple technical projects and implementations
• Build alignment with Product, Solution Architecture, Client Relationship, Strategy, and Delivery teams on features necessary to support client technical deliverables and success metrics.
• Participate in training on Merkle alliance partner platform integration and develop POC reference implementations for integration into partner platforms.
• Establish and document the technical strategy, goals, and capabilities appropriate to mitigate unknowns in complex solution ecosystems by collaborating with technical resources from client teams.
• Maintain an advanced level of platform and product knowledge
• Perform technical architecture, system analysis, and requirements analysis to determine project requirements to ensure projects are clearly scoped, architected, tested, delivered on time, and sustainable.

BA/BS degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related tech field

• 5 years’ experience delivering software development projects
• Demonstrated experience in technical leadership for enterprise software development projects
• Experience integrating synchronous and asynchronous APIs, data feeds, and flat files (XML, fixed width, and delimited)
• Experience in Agile and Waterfall project management
• Knowledgeable in usage and development of UML (Unified Modeling Language) based designs, experience in the modeling of the dynamic software behavior.
• Experience developing in JavaScript, Java, Ruby, or Perl
• Experience with SCM tools and flows (git, SVN (Subversion), etc.)
• Knowledge of the application SDLC and IT frameworks like Agile, DevOps, TOGAF, and ITIL
• Experience integrating with marketing technology platforms: CDP, email service providers, CRM systems, Point of Sale, and eCommerce
• Experience in SQL data modeling, data loading, and data analysis; Strong RDBMS (MySQL, Postgres, or similar) skills and cloud based Big Data Solution (Amazon Redshift) experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• 3 years of experience of hands-on delivery and implementation on high transaction SaaS Loyalty platforms
• Experience with the Atlassian suite or comparable products for documentation, backlog management, milestone, and metric tracking
• Working experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Experience sizing and architecting Amazon Web Services, SaaS delivered Solutions
• Working experience in a global technology team

Dentsu (the "Company") is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee of the Company, on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other legally-recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or certain state or local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done that will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing an undue hardship on the Company. Please contact recruiting@dentsuaegis.com if you need assistance completing any forms or to otherwise participate in the application process or to request or discuss an accommodation in connection with a job at the Company to which you are applying.

The anticipated salary range for this position is $113,000 - $174,500. Salary is based on a range of factors that include relevant experience, knowledge, skills, other job-related qualifications, and geography. A range of medical, dental, vision, 401(k) matching, paid time off, and/or other benefits also are available. For more information regarding dentsu benefits, please visit dentsubenefitsplus.com