Commercial Architecture Director

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The Commercial Architecture Lead ensures Professional Services deals are shaped correctly before we commit to the customer.

This role owns the practical commercial logic behind scoping, estimation, SOW structure, risk, pricing assumptions, and delivery economics.

The focus is simple:

Help the field shape deals that are clear, executable, profitable, and easier to approve.

What This Role Owns

1. Deal Qualification Rules

Define when a ProServe opportunity is ready to be scoped and estimated.

This includes:

• What information must be known before estimation starts

• When CoE review is required

• Which deals are too vague to estimate responsibly

• Which deals need Legal, RevRec, PS Ops, GDC, Practice, or Governance input

Example:

If a customer asks for fixed fee but scope, data sources, integrations, or acceptance criteria are unclear, this role defines the required checks before the team proceeds.

2. Commercial Model Guidance

Create clear guidance with respective stakeholders on when to use:

• T&M

• Fixed capacity

• Fixed fee

• Hybrid models

• Investment / discount structures

This role helps teams avoid choosing a commercial model that creates delivery or margin risk later.

Example:

Fixed fee may be acceptable for repeatable work with clear scope. It should not be the default for unclear, multi-cloud, dependency-heavy work.

3. Estimation Guardrails

Define the commercial assumptions that must be included in an estimate.

This includes:

• Bid metrics

• Role mix

• Skill level

• Onshore / GDC mix

• Contingency logic

• Risk buffer

• Customer dependencies

• Assumptions and exclusions

• Margin thresholds

Example:

If the estimate assumes GDC delivery, this role ensures the assumptions are realistic: right skills, timing, handoff model, and delivery readiness.

4. SOW Commercial Quality

Ensure SOWs are commercially clean before they move forward.

Focus areas:

• Scope is clear

• Out-of-scope items are explicit

• Customer responsibilities are documented

• Acceptance criteria are defined where needed

• Payment milestones make sense

• Change control language is clear

5. Commercial Risk Detection

Build a system to identify common issues before the deal is signed.

Risks to catch:

• Scope too broad

• Estimate too optimistic

• Fixed-fee exposure

• Missing customer dependencies

• Underestimated data / integration work

• Non-standard terms introduced late

• Delivery leader brought in too late

• Staffing model not executable

• Approval path unclear

Practical Deliverables

This role should create and maintain:

• Deal qualification checklist

• Commercial model decision tree

• Fixed-fee readiness checklist

• Estimation assumptions checklist

• Margin / risk review checklist

• SOW commercial quality checklist

• Approval trigger guide

• Assumptions and exclusions library

• Commercial risk heatmap

• Standard guidance for T&M, fixed capacity, fixed fee, and hybrid deals

Key Partners

Sales Excellence

• Align on when ProServe should engage

• Improve deal qualification

• Reduce late-stage sales escalations caused by unclear scope

PS Operations

• Ensure deal structure can be booked, approved, staffed, and tracked correctly

• Avoid mismatches between SOW, approvals, and system setup

Growth & Offering

• Turn repeatable offerings into clear commercial models

• Define standard scope, pricing assumptions, and delivery boundaries

GDC

• Validate offshore / onshore delivery assumptions

• Confirm skill availability and delivery feasibility

Practices

• Confirm product-specific effort drivers

• Validate assumptions for Data Cloud, Agentforce, MuleSoft, Industry Clouds, and multi-cloud work

Delivery Innovation & Governance

• Align commercial guardrails with delivery risk controls

• Ensure governance focuses on real risk, not unnecessary process

Legal / RevRec / Finance

• Define early triggers for legal terms, fixed fee, fixed capacity, milestone billing, and revenue recognition review

What Success Looks Like

• Fewer poorly shaped deals reach approval stage

• Fewer SOW rework cycles

• Fewer pricing / system mismatches

• Better estimate quality

• Better margin predictability

• Cleaner handoff to delivery

• Faster approvals because required inputs are clear upfront

• Field teams know which commercial path to take and when to escalate

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years in professional services, services sales, deal shaping, solutioning, delivery, or services operations

• Strong understanding of scoping, estimation, SOWs, pricing assumptions, approvals, and delivery handoff

• Experience with T&M, fixed capacity, fixed fee, and hybrid commercial models

• Ability to identify commercial risk before signature

• Experience working with Sales, Delivery, Operations, Legal, Finance, RevRec, GDC, and Practice teams

• Strong ability to turn messy deal experience into simple checklists, guardrails, and decision trees

A Day in the Life

A typical day involves analyzing commercial patterns in recent deals, refining guardrails to prevent recurring issues, and guiding field teams on selecting the optimal commercial model for live opportunities. Responsibilities include validating assumptions, identifying risks, and coordinating with PS Operations, Legal, RevRec, GDC, Practices, and Governance to ensure every deal is clear, executable, and commercially sound before signature.

Unleash Your Potential

When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world.

Accommodations

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