Solution Sales Specialist, Data & AI

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Job summary

CDW's Solution Sales organisation is in place to collaborate with sales and to be responsible for delivering high value outcomes and experiences to our existing and prospective customers across a variety of Solution Areas.

The Solution Sales organisation is made up predominantly of Sales Specialists, Business Development Managers and various levels of Solution Architects (presales technical resource).

The role of the Solution Sales Specialist – Data & AI is focussed on the following core areas:

• Result driven sales overlay resource focussed on delivering successful financial metrics for the business across the Data & AI portfolio.
• Create and execute on a business plan that delivers against targets and KPI's for data modernisation, data governance and AI adoption.
• Being the sales specialist in the Data & AI domain – data platform, data engineering, data governance and quality, analytics, and applied AI
• Identify and execute on data-led transformation outcomes with CDW's strategic UK customers, spanning private sector, public sector and regulated industries.

The primary purpose of this role is to add significant value to our customers by improving and preparing their data estate – its quality, structure, governance and accessibility – so that they can enrich and unlock the full value of AI. The role holder leads the sales engagement from start to finish, working proactively with aligned account owners, and is expected to lead the conversation on why AI outcomes depend on data readiness.

The role is to promote and sell the complete CDW portfolio of Data & AI solutions and supporting professional & managed services to our customers, to achieve personal targets that contribute to the overall team target and CDW strategy.

The available portfolio today is extensive but summarised to

• Data readiness and AI-preparation assessments – data discovery, classification, quality profiling, lineage and 'AI-readiness' health checks that establish the baseline for AI adoption.
• Modern data platform – Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse/Databricks, data lakehouse and warehouse design, migration and modernisation from legacy platforms.
• Data engineering and integration – ingestion pipelines, ETL/ELT modernisation, master data management, unstructured content preparation (SharePoint, file shares, Teams) for retrieval-augmented AI.
• Data governance, quality and security – Microsoft Purview, cataloguing, sensitivity labelling, information lifecycle, oversharing remediation and access hygiene ahead of Copilot deployment.
• Analytics and insight – Power BI, semantic models, self-service analytics enablement and reporting rationalisation.
• Applied AI – Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio and agents, Azure AI/OpenAI services, machine learning and use-case discovery, pilot and scale programmes.
• AI governance and responsible AI – policy, guardrails, risk, and alignment to UK regulatory expectations (UK GDPR, the EU AI Act where in scope, and sector regulators such as the FCA and NHS/DSPT requirements).
• Supporting professional and managed services – advisory, delivery, adoption and change management, and ongoing managed data and AI operations.
• Opportunities are very often multi-stream and the role holder should be able to sell across multiple technologies, joining Data & AI to Hybrid Platforms, Modern Workspace and Security propositions.

Success measures

BAU Measures

• Revenue and GP generation – Achieving and exceeding personal and team financial targets across Data & AI product, services and annuity revenue.
• Pipeline development – Building and maintaining a robust, qualified Data & AI pipeline, with a healthy mix of data foundation/readiness engagements and downstream AI opportunities.
• Sales cycle execution – Successfully running structured sales cycles from initiation to closure, including assessment-led 'land and expand' motions that begin with data readiness and grow into platform and AI programmes.
• Cross-team collaboration – Effective teamwork with Sales, Solution Architects, Data & AI presales, delivery practices and Business Development Managers to drive business goals.
• Partner engagement – Building and leveraging relationships with Microsoft and other strategic Data & AI vendors to generate co-sell pipeline and access funding programmes.

Long-term Strategic Change Measures

• Thought leadership – Positioning CDW as the trusted advisor on data readiness for AI through industry insights, customer workshops, executive briefings and events.
• Customer solution adoption – Driving adoption beyond initial sale, ensuring customers move from data preparation into measurable AI value realisation and long-term consumption growth.
• Innovation and adaptability – Staying ahead of a fast-moving Data & AI market, evolving the sales approach and incorporating new capabilities into the sales strategy.
• Proposition development – Contributing customer-informed feedback that shapes CDW's UK Data & AI propositions, assessment offerings and repeatable service packages.

Role-Specific Performance Measures

• Proposal success rate – The percentage of proposals and pitches that lead to successful engagements.
• Data readiness conversion – The percentage of data assessment or readiness engagements that convert into follow-on platform, governance or AI programmes.
• Objection handling and negotiation effectiveness – Measuring how well objections are managed and deals are closed, including commercial models for consumption-based services.
• Sales conversion ratio – Tracking the percentage of qualified leads that convert into successful sales.
• Customer value evidence – Demonstrable, referenceable customer outcomes attributable to improved data quality and governance.

What you will do

• Engaging proactively with existing and prospective customers to understand business challenges and position tailored Data & AI solutions, targeting strategic decision makers (CDO, CIO, CTO, Head of Data, Head of Transformation, CISO) and profiling potential new customers.
• Qualifying and leading the initial business discussions with customers, establishing where their data estate is today and what must change before AI can deliver value.
• Leading the 'data readiness for AI' conversation – articulating why data quality, structure, governance, permissions hygiene and accessibility are prerequisites to successful AI adoption, and converting that into a practical, staged commercial roadmap.
• Scoping and selling data discovery, profiling and AI-readiness assessments as the entry point to broader transformation, then driving the follow-on programme.
• Preparing and presenting compelling proposals, business cases and pitches to customers, both owning and contributing to opportunities, including ROI and value cases for data modernisation and AI adoption.
• Objection handling, negotiating and ultimately closing the sale.
• Achieve and exceed sales targets while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction as the owner of commercial deals.
• Be the subject matter expert/specialist for Data & AI – data platform, data engineering, data governance and quality, analytics and applied AI – in order to drive pipeline and lead the sale individually.
• Establish new relationships within CDW and externally within the client/prospect base to drive performance goals.