Solutions Engineer - AI Lab

Job description

About Us Since 1989, SHI International Corp. has helped organizations change the world through technology. We’ve grown every year since, and today we’re proud to be a $16 billion global provider of IT solutions and services. Over 17,000 organizations worldwide rely on SHI’s concierge approach to help them solve what’s next. But the heartbeat of SHI is our employees – all 7,000 of them. If you join our team, you’ll enjoy: Our commitment to diversity, as the largest minority- and woman-owned enterprise in the U.S. Continuous professional growth and leadership opportunities. Health, wellness, and financial benefits to offer peace of mind to you and your family. World-class facilities and the technology you need to thrive – in our offices or yours. Job Summary The Solutions Engineer for the AI Lab will support the development, evaluation, and delivery of AI-focused infrastructure and platform solutions across Advanced Growth Technologies. This role serves as a technical resource for AI solutions, helping translate customer and business requirements into validated architectures, infrastructure designs, Bills of Materials (BOMs), and deployment recommendations. This position partners closely with AI Lab leadership, Solutions Architects, sales teams, engineering, and technology partners to support solution development, technical validation, customer engagements, and presales activities. The role is focused on executing and enabling AI Lab solutions through technical expertise, solution configuration, technical demonstrations, and customer-facing support. Role Description Solution Development & Validation Design and validate AI infrastructure solutions that align with customer use cases, AI Lab offerings, partner technologies, and business requirements. Utilize OEM and partner reference architectures to recommend scalable, performant, and cost-effective AI platforms. Customer & Technical Engagement Participate in customer discovery sessions, workshops, and technical consultations to assess requirements and recommend AI infrastructure solutions. Act as a technical advisor throughout the presales lifecycle, helping customers understand solution capabilities, deployment considerations, and expected outcomes. Configuration & BOM Development Develop detailed infrastructure configurations including servers, GPUs, networking, storage, power, cooling, and rack requirements. Create and maintain accurate Bills of Materials (BOMs), sizing recommendations, and technical solution documentation. Proof of Concept & Demonstrations Support and deliver technical demonstrations, solution walkthroughs, proofs of concept (POCs), and platform validation activities for customers and internal stakeholders. Assist with testing and validating AI infrastructure designs to ensure readiness for customer deployment. Cross-Functional Collaboration Partner with AI Lab leadership, Solutions Architects, Sales, Engineering, Product Management, and Partner teams to support solution development and customer opportunities. Collaborate with account teams to align technical recommendations with customer business objectives and desired outcomes. Partner & Technology Alignment Work closely with NVIDIA, OEM partners, cloud providers, and technology vendors to stay current on product roadmaps, certifications, and emerging AI technologies. Support evaluation of AI platforms, infrastructure components, and solution patterns for customer and AI Lab use cases. Technical Enablement Assist in developing technical enablement materials, solution documentation, playbooks, and training content for internal sales and engineering teams. Help educate SHI teams on AI infrastructure trends, technologies, and best practices. Pipeline & Opportunity Support Support opportunity qualification, solution scoping, technical proposal development, and responses to RFPs, RFIs, and customer technical inquiries. Assist account teams in identifying opportunities across AI, Data Center, Cloud, Network, Security, and Services solution areas. Behaviors and Competencies Presenting: Can design and deliver engaging presentations, adapting the content and style to suit the audience, context, and medium. Negotiation: Can proactively seek out negotiation opportunities, initiate discussions, and contribute to conflict resolution. Communication: Can effectively communicate complex ideas and information to diverse audiences and can facilitate effective communication between others. Detail-Oriented: Can manage complex tasks or projects, identifying errors or inconsistencies, and ensuring all details are addressed, necessary corrections are made, and quality is maintained. Organization: Can effectively coordinate multiple projects, delegate tasks where appropriate, and employ advanced organizational tools and methods. Follow-Up: Can proactively identify tasks that require follow-up, initiate necessary actions, and contribute to efficient workflow management. Problem-Solving: Can proactively identify potential problems, initiate preventive measures, and propose and contribute to innovative solutions. Relationship Building: Can proactively seek out opportunities to expand networks, initiate collaborations, and contribute to team cohesion. Documentation: Can develop comprehensive documentation standards, implement best practices, and ensure documentation supports operational efficiency. Results Orientation: Can set challenging goals for their team and lead them to achieve these goals, demonstrating a consistent track record of results. Skill Level Requirements Intermediate knowledge of Linux, Kubernetes, and orchestration. Knowledge of AI infrastructure, networking, and storage. Ability to design data center infrastructures that include hybrid cloud, hyper-converged, software-defined data center (SDDC), Infrastructure/Platform as a Service (IaaS/PaaS), automation, containerization, and Data Center Management Platforms – Intermediate. Strong knowledge of virtualization technologies, hypervisors, server virtualization, Software Defined Data Center (SDDC), containerization, and automation – Intermediate. Ability to effectively communicate and position complex technical products or services by understanding customer needs, articulating value propositions, and providing technical expertise throughout the sales process – Intermediate. Expertise in mainstream technologies including Dell Technologies, NetApp, HPE, Cisco, Pure Storage, Azure, AWS, Veeam, and Nutanix – Intermediate. Experience with Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, and High Availability Solutions (backup/recovery, data protection, mirroring, active/standby, active/active, clustering) – Intermediate. Experience working with AI infrastructure platforms, GPU-based computing, and modern data center technologies – Intermediate. Understanding of AI and machine learning infrastructure concepts, including training and inference workloads – Intermediate. Preferred Skills Certifications in NVIDIA technologies (e.g., DGX Certified) or relevant OEM, cloud, or infrastructure platforms. Experience with NVIDIA DGX systems, HGX-based platforms, or other AI-optimized infrastructure solutions. Experience in enterprise data center technologies and solutions. Knowledge of data center power, cooling, and rack design considerations. Familiarity with AI software frameworks and platforms such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, Kubernetes, and containerized AI workloads. Experience supporting cloud, hybrid-cloud, or AI infrastructure deployments. Knowledge of AI Factory concepts, NCPs, and AI Cloud Providers. Experience with Proof of Concepts (POCs), workload sizing, benchmarking, or infrastructure validation activities. Strong problem-solving skills and a customer-centric mindset. Experience working with OEM reference architectures and solution design methodologies. Other Requirements Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience required. 3–5+ years of experience in presales engineering, solutions engineering, infrastructure consulting, or technical solution design focused on data center technologies, cloud platforms, or AI infrastructure. Experience designing, configuring, or supporting infrastructure solutions in enterprise data center environments. Familiarity with GPU technologies, AI infrastructure platforms, or high-performance computing environments. Experience developing Bills of Materials (BOMs), technical configurations, sizing recommendations, and solution documentation. Ability to support customer discovery sessions, technical workshops, demonstrations, and proof-of-concept engagements. Strong self-directed learning mindset with the ability to stay current in rapidly evolving AI, infrastructure, and platform ecosystems. Excellent communication, presentation, organizational, and time management skills. Ability to collaborate effectively with sales, engineering, partners, and customers in a fast-paced technology environment. Willingness to work flexible schedules, including evenings and weekends, as project needs require. Ability to travel up to 15% for customer, partner, and industry engagements. Advanced certifications, published research, or open-source contributions related to AI, infrastructure, or cloud technologies are considered a plus. The estimated annual pay range for this position is $100,000 - $250,000 which includes a base salary and bonus. The compensation for this position is dependent on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and market location and, therefore, will vary from individual to individual. Benefits may include, but are not limited to, medical, vision, dental, 401K, and flexible spending. Equal Employment Opportunity – M/F/Disability/Protected Veteran Status