Solution Architect - Sales (Life Sciences)

Solution Architect - Sales (Life Sciences)

Coastal seeks an enterprise Solution Architect supporting pre-sales as a critical growth engine for our Healthcare & Life Sciences (HLS) practice, specifically focusing on the Life Sciences (Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Medical Device/MedTech, and CRO) sub-vertical. Operating as the senior technical and commercial authority prior to contract signature, this individual owns end-to-end technical pursuit strategy: leading consultative discovery, designing complex life sciences solutions, formulating defensible delivery estimates, directing proposal and SOW development, and governing risk and compliance boundaries.

The ideal candidate brings deep domain acumen across clinical development, medical affairs, patient services, and commercial operations, paired with mastery of how the Salesforce platform, AI agents, and enterprise data ecosystems deliver measurable outcomes under strict regulatory constraints. Furthermore, this role drives the evolution of how autonomous AI agents support life sciences sales cycles and operational workflows-identifying high-impact use cases, defining GxP/HIPAA guardrails, and piloting agentic automation. Success requires sharp critical thinking, executive-level credibility, and close alignment with Delivery leadership to de-risk implementation and safeguard engagement margin.

Role Responsibilities:

• Executive Discovery & Architectural Assessments: Lead consultative discovery and architectural scoping sessions with client C-suite executives, Commercial Operations leaders, Clinical Development directors, Chief Information Officers, and Enterprise Architects across Pharma, Biotech, and MedTech organizations.
• Enterprise Multi-Cloud Solution Design: Translate strategic business goals and clinical/commercial roadmaps into scalable enterprise architectures leveraging Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud, Agentforce, Data Cloud, MuleSoft, Tableau/CRM Analytics, identity, and Zero Trust security models.
• Delivery Boundary Governance & Estimation: Own the construction of defensible Level of Effort (LOE) models, resource plans, phased implementation roadmaps, and delivery assumptions based on life sciences complexity drivers (e.g., CSV/GxP compliance, 21 CFR Part 11, master patient indexes, multi-system integrations).
• Deal Strategy & Technical Deal Desk Leadership: Direct the technical proposal strategy for complex pursuits. Lead the authoring of technical proposals, Statements of Work (SOWs), work breakdown structures (WBS), staffing models, assumptions, and exclusions in close partnership with Sales and Delivery.
• Autonomous Agent Strategy & Governance: Formulate and pilot AI agent architectures (e.g., Agentforce) for clinical trial site matching, investigator onboarding, medical inquiry triage, patient assistance programs (PAP), and commercial field enablement-establishing practical guardrails for regulatory compliance, brand tone, and data verification.
• Domain Demonstration Strategy & Oversight: Define the technical vision and end-to-end user journeys for life sciences demonstration environments (e.g., Patient Support Programs, Decentralized Clinical Trial Engagement, MedTech Commercial Quoting/Service, Key Opinion Leader Management). Direct SEs and technical teams on custom execution.
• Practice Standardization & Margin Optimization: Build and govern reusable Life Sciences reference architectures, pre-sales assets, estimation templates, and delivery playbooks to shorten sales cycles, elevate win rates, and safeguard target gross margins.
• Executive Presentations & Technical Consensus: Present tailored solution narratives, enterprise data flows, and commercial proposals to pharmaceutical executive committees, clinical governance boards, and technical review boards.
• Delivery Alignment & Transition Ownership: Partner with Delivery leadership to align pricing, terms, timelines, and technical constraints, executing a formal, fully documented handoff from pre-sales into engagement kickoff.

Experience/Skills Required:

• 8+ years in pre-sales solution engineering, solution architecture, or technical leadership within a Salesforce consulting partner, enterprise software vendor, or life sciences delivery organization.
• Life Sciences Domain Mastery: Deep architectural and operational knowledge across Pharma, Biotech, and MedTech domains, including clinical trial recruitment/retention, Patient Support Programs (PSP), Commercial/Medical Affairs alignment, provider/KOL engagement, and health authority regulatory boundaries.
• Salesforce Enterprise Architecture: Proven track record architecting complex multi-cloud deployments featuring Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud (or Health Cloud in life sciences contexts), Data Cloud, MuleSoft, Service Cloud, and enterprise identity/data architectures.
• Commercial Deal Shaping: Demonstrated success leading technical strategy on multi-million-dollar deals, building defensible delivery estimates, leading complex RFP/RFI responses, and drafting airtight SOWs.
• AI & Agentic Systems: Applied experience designing or evaluating generative AI and autonomous agent frameworks (e.g., Agentforce), with dedicated rigor around regulated data retrieval, prompt grounding, auditability, GxP validation, and human-in-the-loop controls.
• Pre-Sales Leadership & Cross-Functional Orchestration: Proven ability to direct multi-disciplinary deal teams (Account Executives, Solution Engineers, Delivery Architects, Domain Specialists) across concurrent enterprise pursuits.
• Executive Communication: Exceptional oral, written, and architectural presentation skills capable of commanding deep technical credibility with enterprise architects and driving strategic consensus with business and clinical executives.
• Work Authorization: Must have full-time permanent US work authorization.

Additional Preferred Experience/Skills:

• Bachelor’s Degree preferred, or equivalent experience.
• Active Salesforce Certifications (e.g., Life Sciences Cloud / Health Cloud Accredited Professional, Certified System/Application Architect, Administrator, Consultant).
• Experience with data modernization in Healthcare & Life Sciences, including GxP/HIPAA data governance, enterprise data lineage, clinical/commercial analytics, and interoperability.
• Experience integrating Salesforce with core Life Sciences enterprise platforms (e.g., Veeva, ERPs, LIMS, EHRs, or clinical trial management systems).
• Track record of improving pre-sales cycle time, accuracy, and margin through process redesign and automation.

Why Coastal, and what we offer:

• Flexible working hours with an emphasis on a life-work balance (in that order!)
• Remote friendly work; plus company office locations in Palm Coast, FL; Atlanta, GA; Tysons, VA & Lexington, KY; travel as required to client locations
• Unlimited Paid Time Off (RTO), 401K with Company Match, and Medical, Vision, & Dental coverage
• Competitive quarterly bonus opportunities
• Continuing education and certification reimbursements, specifically within the Salesforce and Snowflake ecosystems; plus occasional in-house competitions with spot bonuses
• A flexible and fun team culture! We value transparency, support, flexibility, growth, teamwork, fun, and so much more
• Frequent team and culture activities, virtual & in-person, including Lunch and Learns, Happy Hours, team-building events
• Monthly All-Hands calls to bring the company together, and an open-door leadership policy with access to mentorship and guidance
• Opportunities for accelerated growth, networking, and career guidance and support
• Trust, transparency and respect across all levels of the company

Coastal provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.