Principal Solution Specialist, Cloud & DaaS, North America

About This Team 

The Cloud & DaaS Specialist team is a specialized technical presales function within the Citrix DaaS product organization. We are focused on the successful adoption of our cloud services, specifically targeting the migration of on-premises workloads to Microsoft Azure. This team aligns closely with Citrix field teams, Microsoft’s own field teams, Citrix Partners, and our core Citrix Product groups. Our mission is to remove barriers to customer acceptance and adoption of priority Citrix DaaS capabilities, provide expert level expertise on cloud migration considerations in complex enterprise environments, and accelerate the consumption of Citrix DaaS and Azure resources. 

Responsibilities 

As a Cloud & DaaS Solution Specialist, you will: 

• Lead Technical Engagements: Drive the technical lifecycle of priority Citrix DaaS solutions from presentation through initial adoption, including delivering high-impact product demonstrations, leading architectural sessions, and managing Proof of Concepts (PoCs). 

• Provide Tailored Guidance: Act as a trusted advisor by aligning solutions to customer priorities, building compelling ROI-based business cases, establishing deployment and adoption milestones, and mitigating complex technical challenges in initial customer onboarding 

• Manage Technical Validation: Own the end-to-end technical validation process. This involves defining success criteria, guiding customers through Proof-of-Concept (PoC) deployments, and proving the performance and security advantages of the Citrix + Azure stack. 

• Enable the Field, Partners, and Customers: Act as the subject matter expert (SME) for the broader Citrix ecosystem, providing training on the latest Cloud & DaaS capabilities and the specific technical and business advantages of using Citrix to manage Azure and Windows 365 workloads 

• Share Customer Insights: Capture market trends, adoption blockers, and competitive intelligence from customers and communicate these insights to Product Management to shape the future of the Citrix DaaS roadmap. 

• Ensure Account Alignment: Maintain accurate customer details plans and progress updates in core CRM, ensuring cross-team alignment and progress on adoption milestones. 

Experience & Skills 

• Deep Citrix & Azure Expertise: Expert-level knowledge of Citrix DaaS and/or deep technical proficiency with Microsoft Azure, including Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), Entra ID, Azure Networking (VNETs, ExpressRoute, Peering), and Azure Storage strategies. 

• Presales Experience: 5+ years of experience in a technical presales, solution architecture, or sales engineering role, specifically within the VDI/DaaS or Cloud Infrastructure space. 

• Cloud Architecture Patterns: Proven track record of designing and migrating complex enterprise workloads from on-premises datacenters to public cloud infrastructure. 

• Commercial Acumen: Ability to model cloud costs and articulate the Return on Investment (ROI) of hybrid-cloud models vs. native solutions. 

• Broad Understanding of the Ecosystem: Identity Management (SAML, OAuth, MFA), Enterprise Security (Zero Trust, SASE), Endpoint Management (Intune, SCCM, thin client), Observability and Monitoring (DEX, IT Ops) 

• Communication Mastery: Excellent presentation and whiteboarding skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to C-level executives and deep technical engineers alike. 

• Certifications:  Microsoft Certified: Azure Virtual Desktop Specialty (AZ-140) or Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) and/or Citrix Certified Expert/Professional (CCE-V, CCP-V) or DaaS Service certifications. 

• Agility & Travel: Ability to work in a fast-paced, competitive environment and travel within the North American region to customer sites and industry events (~30%). 

• Education: Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, or relevant industry experience.