Alliance Solutions Architect

Merkle is seeking a VP, Alliance Solutions Architect with deep MarTech expertise, particularly within the Salesforce ecosystem, to help shape, sell, and scale innovative customer experience solutions across our client portfolio. This role sits at the intersection of technology, strategy, and go-to-market execution, partnering closely with Salesforce and internal stakeholders to develop differentiated solution narratives, influence account growth, and create offerings that drive measurable business outcomes. This is a highly visible individual contributor role focused on pre-sales strategy, solution development, alliance engagement, and thought leadership reporting into the Head of Alliance Solution Leads. The ideal candidate combines strong Salesforce platform knowledge with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into compelling business value for clients, prospects, partners, and internal teams. What You’ll Do Partner with Salesforce stakeholders and Merkle growth teams to develop and execute joint go-to-market strategies, solution positioning, and growth initiatives. Lead executive-level client and prospect conversations focused on customer experience transformation, AI, automation, loyalty, CRM modernization, and cross-cloud solutioning. Serve as a trusted advisor during early-stage sales cycles, helping shape opportunities from discovery and qualification through proposal development and client presentations. Build and maintain strategic relationships across Salesforce, internal Merkle capability teams, and key client stakeholders. Develop solution narratives, offerings, accelerators, industry positioning, and thought leadership that demonstrate the value of Salesforce-powered customer experiences. Create and deliver compelling demonstrations, solution walkthroughs, and presentations that connect technology capabilities to measurable business outcomes. Collaborate with data, experience, technology, and industry teams to architect integrated customer experience solutions. Contribute to Salesforce alliance growth goals through pipeline influence, account expansion, and strategic opportunity development Help position Merkle as a leading AI and Salesforce partner through marketplace engagement, executive relationship building, enablement initiatives, and joint marketing activities. Drive innovation around emerging Salesforce capabilities including Agentforce, AI-powered experiences, automation, Data Cloud, and connected customer ecosystems. What Success Looks Like In this role, you will: Influence growth within existing client relationships and support expansion into net-new client opportunities. Build stronger Salesforce alliance relationships and elevate Merkle’s visibility within the partner ecosystem. Develop scalable solution narratives and offerings that support client acquisition and account growth. Help clients connect technology investments to measurable business outcomes, customer experience improvements, and operational efficiencies. Accelerate adoption of modern Salesforce capabilities across strategic industries including Retail, CPG, Healthcare, Entertainment, and other growth sectors. Act as a trusted technical leader who guides strategic opportunities without owning delivery execution. Required Qualifications 15+ years of experience in solution architecture, consulting, alliance management, pre-sales engineering, digital transformation, or client-facing technology leadership roles. Strong expertise within the Salesforce ecosystem, including Salesforce Core and broader customer experience capabilities. Experience with AI, Agentic business transformation and business process automation Experience building and executing joint go-to-market motions with Salesforce or another major enterprise technology platform provider. Demonstrated ability to engage executive stakeholders while maintaining credibility with technical and delivery teams. Experience translating business objectives into technology solutions and measurable outcomes. Ability to design, configure, and demonstrate Salesforce-based solutions in client-facing settings. Proven success supporting new business development, account growth, strategic pursuits, or complex client initiatives. Strong communication, storytelling, and presentation skills with the ability to simplify complex technical concepts. Preferred Qualifications Salesforce certifications and hands-on platform experience. Experience with Salesforce Data Cloud, Agentforce, AI Cloud, Loyalty Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud, and related technologies. Familiarity with MuleSoft, middleware platforms, APIs, integrations, and enterprise architecture concepts. Experience within a consulting, agency, systems integrator, or enterprise technology organization. Understanding of customer data, personalization, journey orchestration, loyalty, CRM, and customer engagement platforms. Exposure to complementary customer experience ecosystems such as Adobe, Microsoft, or related enterprise technology platforms. Skills & Competencies The ideal candidate is: A technical strategist with broad customer experience and marketing technology knowledge. Comfortable discussing Salesforce architecture, AI, automation, and digital transformation trends. Equally capable of speaking with business executives and technical practitioners. Skilled at connecting technical decisions to customer, operational, and financial outcomes. An engaging presenter with strong executive presence and communication skills. Collaborative, influential, and effective in highly matrixed environments. Curious about emerging technologies and passionate about helping clients modernize customer experiences. At dentsu, we believe great work happens when we're connected. Our way of working combines flexibility with in-person collaboration to spark ideas and strengthen our teams. Employees who live within a commutable distance of one of our hub offices, currently located in Chicago, metro Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York City, are required and expected to work from the office three days per week (two days per week for employees based in Los Angeles). Dentsu may designate other Hub offices at any time. Those who live outside a commutable range may be designated as remote, depending on the role and business needs. Regardless of your work location, we expect our employees to be flexible to meet the needs of our company and clients, which may include attendance in an office. The annual base salary range for this position is $163,000 - $245,000. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law. Additionally, this position is eligible for discretionary incentive compensation. Benefits available with this position include: • Medical, vision, and dental insurance • Life insurance • Short-term and long-term disability insurance • 401k • Flexible paid time off • At least 15 paid holidays per year • Paid sick and safe leave • Paid parental leave. Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies. For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com. To begin the application process, please click on the “Apply” button at the top of this job posting. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, and qualified candidates will be contacted for next steps. Location: USA - Remote - Maryland Brand: Merkle Time Type: Full time Contract Type: Permanent Dentsu is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. We do this without regard to race, color, national origin, sex , sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religious practices and observances, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.   Dentsu is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with us, please send an e-mail to ApplicantAccommodations@dentsu.com by clicking on the link to let us  know the nature of your accommodation request and your contact information. We are here to support you.  Can’t find a suitable job? Sign up for job alerts tailored to your interests and be first in line for new opportunities. About dentsu For over 120 years, innovation has been a core tenet of our offering – exploring new ways to reach, engage and nurture relationships with audiences. Together we drive a multiplier effect for clients at a global scale, through the development of Integrated Growth Solutions that are underpinned by our promise to clients: innovating to impact. Be a force for good. Sustainability is a vital part of our business and an important area of focus for our clients. We’re leading the way – helping to build a more sustainable planet. Dream loud. In this moment of transformation, we need our people to be fearless, embracing change and ambiguity, driven by the love for their work and excitement for the future. Team without limits. We create opportunities for connection and collaboration between our colleagues and clients, building a sense of belonging and having some fun along the way. Find out more about us Who we are Our Social Impact Our work