Solution Architect – Proposals

Avanceon is seeking a Solution Architect to develop technically compliant, commercially competitive, and executable solutions for complex industrial automation and system integration projects across the Middle East. This role involves leading technical bid efforts from understanding customer requirements through solution development, costing, proposal preparation, technical review, and submission support. The Solution Architect will collaborate closely with Regional Delivery Managers, Sales, Proposal Engineers, OEMs, vendors, and other internal stakeholders. Additionally, the role includes providing technical leadership to Proposal Engineers, managing workload distribution, mentoring, and enhancing team capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

Solution Architecture & Technical Design: Review customer RFQs, specifications, drawings, BOQs, datasheets, and tender requirements to develop optimized technical solutions aligned with customer needs. Define system architecture, control philosophy, communication protocols, redundancy, and third-party interfaces. Select suitable technologies, hardware, software, and OEM platforms. Identify technical gaps, ambiguities, integration risks, and specification conflicts, preparing clarifications, assumptions, deviations, and exclusions. Ensure solutions are technically complete, scalable, maintainable, compliant, and commercially viable.

Solution Portfolio: Demonstrate broad exposure to industrial automation and system integration solutions, including PLC & RTU systems, SCADA & HMI, DCS/ESD/F&G systems, instrumentation and control, industrial cybersecurity, networking & ICT, building management, power management, ELV systems, servers/storage/virtualization, industrial IoT & edge computing, water/wastewater automation, tunnel automation, intelligent transportation, and data center monitoring. Strong expertise is required in at least two to three core automation/control domains.

Proposal Development & Bid Execution: Lead technical proposal development for assigned bids. Coordinate proposal execution plans with Bid and Regional Delivery Managers. Break down tender requirements into technical work packages and assign tasks to Proposal Engineers. Define internal milestones, monitor progress, and ensure timely submission. Prepare and review technical proposals, compliance statements, system architectures, design philosophies, BOMs/BOQs, scope and interface matrices, clarifications, assumptions, deviations, exclusions, and vendor scopes. Ensure consistency between technical scope, BOM, vendor quotations, services, and commercial costing. Review proposal quality before submission.

Technico-Commercial & Costing Responsibilities: Prepare and review comprehensive project cost estimates covering hardware, software, engineering, project management, FAT/SAT, installation, testing, commissioning, site services, training, travel, vendor and subcontractor scopes. Develop BOMs and engineering-hour estimations. Evaluate vendor and subcontractor quotations. Identify missing scope, commercial exposure, and technical risks. Support pricing strategy, cost optimization, value engineering, and margin improvement. Account for execution risks and contingencies. Take full ownership of bid costing, including BOM development, engineering estimates, vendor costs, services, project execution costs, risk provisions, and commercial optimization.

OEM & Vendor Coordination: Prepare technical RFQs for OEMs, suppliers, subcontractors, and technology partners. Review vendor proposals for technical compliance and completeness. Identify scope gaps, assumptions, exclusions, and deviations. Define vendor scope boundaries and interface responsibilities. Coordinate multi-vendor solutions and support technical and commercial negotiations.

Technical Compliance & Risk Management: Ensure compliance with customer specifications and applicable standards. Identify technical, integration, execution, and vendor-related risks during the bid stage. Address missing scope and third-party dependencies. Recommend risk mitigation measures. Participate in technical and bid risk reviews for complex and strategic opportunities.

Technical Leadership & Team Development: Lead and mentor Proposal Engineers. Allocate tasks based on competency, workload, and priority. Monitor quality, progress, and deadlines. Provide technical guidance and review engineering outputs. Develop junior and mid-level engineers through mentoring and cross-training. Identify competency gaps and recommend development plans. Build backup capability to reduce single-resource dependency. Support other Solution Architects requiring specialist expertise.

Cross-Regional & Stakeholder Coordination: Support opportunities across KSA, Qatar, UAE, and other Middle East markets. Collaborate with multiple Regional Delivery Managers and Sales teams. Participate in pre-bid discussions, technical clarification meetings, and solution workshops. Support opportunity qualification and Bid/No-Bid decisions. Contribute to technical win strategies and value propositions. Manage multiple bids and priorities across regions.

Required Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or Mechatronics Engineering.

Experience: Minimum of 8 years in proposal development, solution design, estimation, and technico-commercial roles within industrial automation and system integration.

Key Performance Indicators include on-time proposal submission, technical proposal quality, costing accuracy, compliance accuracy, bid turnaround time, win rate, reduction in scope gaps and post-award exposure, team utilization and development, cross-regional support effectiveness, and reduction in single-person dependency.

Reporting & Key Interfaces
The role reports to the Bid Manager and interfaces with Regional Delivery Managers, Sales, Proposal Engineers, Engineering, Project Management, Procurement, Commercial/Finance teams, OEMs, vendors, consultants, and customers.