Forward Deployed Engineer

Forward Deployed Engineer

Manchester, GB

Cloud & Infrastructure

Full-Time

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Role introduction

Forward Deployed Engineer

About HSO

HSO is a global Business Transformation Partner with deep industry expertise and a long standing strategic relationship with Microsoft. We help organisations unlock the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics 365, Azure, Data and AI technologies to modernise operations, accelerate innovation and deliver meaningful business outcomes.

In 2026, HSO achieved Microsoft Frontier Partner status, recognising our advanced capabilities across Microsoft Cloud and AI and our ability to help customers move beyond AI experimentation into secure, governed, enterprise scale production.

With operations across Europe, North America and Asia, we combine industry knowledge, technical excellence and a practical, people first approach to transformation.

As we continue to expand our AI capabilities, we’re building a new generation of customer facing engineering talent to help organisations turn the potential of AI and agentic technologies into real, measurable value.

About the Role

HSO is building a new generation of customer facing engineers who will help our customers create the operating model of the future using the latest AI, data and cloud capabilities.

Forward Deployed Engineers combine consulting judgement, production software engineering, data platform expertise, AI delivery capability and business transformation skills.

You will embed with strategic customers, understand their most important business challenges and rapidly turn those challenges into working, production ready AI applications, agentic workflows, automation solutions and data driven platforms.

This is a hands on, outcome led role embedded within customer environments. You’ll move quickly from discovery to working software and take accountability for delivering measurable business outcomes.

You’ll work across business processes, data platforms, integrations, AI, cloud and security, designing solutions that make effective use of Microsoft technologies while integrating with the customer’s wider technology estate.

A strong understanding of modern enterprise data platforms is fundamental to the role. You will need to understand how data is structured, governed, integrated, transformed and made available to AI and application workloads, and how data platform decisions affect the quality, scalability and reliability of the solutions you build.

Forward Deployed Engineers work closely with Deployment Strategists. The Deployment Strategist focuses on identifying where AI can create the greatest customer value and defining the desired outcome. The FDE takes ownership of how that outcome is delivered technically.

From discovery through to go live, both roles work side by side. The FDE owns the technical solution and delivery, while the Deployment Strategist ensures the solution remains aligned to the business problem and measurable value.

The role does not end at first deployment. You’ll stay close to solutions through hardening, adoption and handover before moving on to the next value opportunity. You’ll also turn what you learn into reusable HSO assets, reference architectures and delivery patterns that help future engagements move faster.

What You’ll Do

Own Customer Outcomes

• Embed rapidly within customer teams and develop a strong understanding of their priorities, operating processes, systems, data and constraints.
• Translate ambiguous business problems and defined customer outcomes into clear technical delivery plans.
• Act as the technical lead throughout an engagement, guiding customer sponsors, business users, technical teams and HSO colleagues towards successful delivery.
• Build trusted relationships with senior operational and technical stakeholders, including CTO and CIO level leaders.
• Take ownership for delivering solutions that create measurable customer value rather than simply completing technical tasks.

Lead Discovery and Solution Design

• Lead technical discovery workshops to understand customer challenges and identify high value AI, data and automation opportunities.
• Assess business processes, data readiness, data architecture, integration points, security requirements, technical risks and operational constraints.
• Understand the customer’s existing data platform landscape and identify how data needs to be accessed, transformed, governed or modernised to support the required solution.
• Apply a problem first approach to identify the smallest valuable solution that can be built and proven quickly.
• Design end to end solution architectures that balance speed, scalability, maintainability, security and responsible AI.
• Turn discovery into a pragmatic roadmap from prototype through to production.

Build and Ship Production Solutions

• Design, build, integrate, test and deploy enterprise grade solutions using modern cloud, data and AI technologies.
• Develop AI powered applications, copilots, agents, automations, integrations and workflow solutions.
• Build solutions that make effective use of modern enterprise data platforms and ensure AI applications are supported by reliable, governed and accessible data.
• Integrate solutions with platforms such as Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Services, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow and customer owned systems, APIs and data platforms.
• Apply modern engineering practices including source control, CI/CD, automated testing, infrastructure as code, observability and secure development.
• Work iteratively. Deliver value quickly, learn from real world usage and progressively harden solutions for enterprise production.

Engineer AI and Agentic Solutions

• Design and implement robust agentic workflows, human in the loop processes and, where appropriate, multi agent architectures.
• Apply modern techniques across retrieval, grounding, orchestration, tool integration, context engineering and evaluation.
• Build evaluation frameworks and guardrails to test AI behaviour, reliability and quality before and after deployment.
• Implement appropriate responsible AI, security, monitoring and governance controls.
• Ensure data quality, lineage, governance and availability are considered as fundamental components of AI solution design.
• Use operational data and user feedback to continuously improve solution quality and performance.

Create Reusable HSO Capability

• Reuse existing HSO assets, accelerators and delivery patterns wherever they improve speed and quality.
• Turn lessons from customer engagements into reusable assets, reference architectures, engineering patterns and playbooks.
• Contribute actively to HSO’s AI, Data, Frontier and Horizon engineering communities.
• Share practical knowledge across regions, practices and delivery teams.
• Support and mentor other engineers as the Forward Deployed Engineering capability grows.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for experienced engineers who combine strong technical depth with commercial awareness and the ability to operate confidently with customers.

You’ll ideally bring

• Significant experience across software engineering, cloud engineering, data engineering, solution development, technical consulting or enterprise technology delivery, with senior level ownership of complex solutions.
• Strong hands on experience building and operating production grade solutions on at least one major cloud platform.
• Strong understanding and practical experience of modern enterprise data platforms, including data architecture, integration, transformation, governance and the role data plays in enabling AI and application workloads.
• Experience with Microsoft data technologies such as Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse, Azure Databricks, OneLake or comparable enterprise data platforms would be highly valuable.
• Excellent coding capability in a modern language such as Python, C#, TypeScript, JavaScript or Java, with a track record of producing maintainable, production quality software.
• Practical experience designing, building and deploying AI powered applications using platforms such as Azure AI, OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, Anthropic or comparable technologies.
• Hands on experience with large language models, prompting, retrieval augmented generation, evaluation and agent orchestration.
• Strong understanding of APIs, integrations, data platforms and modern distributed application architectures.
• Experience with modern engineering and DevOps practices including CI/CD, automated testing, source control and infrastructure as code.
• Strong customer facing experience in consulting, transformation, delivery or technical leadership.
• The ability to work effectively where requirements are incomplete, priorities evolve quickly and the right answer is not immediately obvious.
• The judgement to balance engineering excellence with speed, practicality and customer value.

You do not need to be an expert in every technology we use. More important is the ability to learn quickly, understand unfamiliar environments and apply strong engineering and data fundamentals to new problems.

Nice to Have

• Certifications across Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Fabric, AWS, Google Cloud or leading AI platforms.
• Experience working with enterprise platforms such as Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow or similar.
• Experience implementing responsible AI, AI governance, evaluation frameworks or model monitoring in enterprise environments.
• Experience designing or delivering modern data platforms that support analytics, operational applications or AI workloads.
• Experience across industries such as Manufacturing, Retail, Financial Services, Public Sector or Professional Services.
• A track record of turning successful customer solutions into reusable patterns or accelerators.
• Experience leading small, highly capable engineering teams from discovery through to production.

Why Join HSO?

AI is changing how organisations operate, but most businesses do not need more demonstrations or isolated pilots. They need people who can identify where AI will genuinely create value, ensure the underlying data foundations are fit for purpose and then build something that works in production.

That is what this role is designed to do.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer at HSO, you’ll work directly with strategic customers at the point where emerging AI, data and cloud capabilities meet real business problems.

You’ll have the opportunity to

• Build real AI products and solutions rather than proof of concepts that never reach production.
• Work across AI, cloud and data platforms to solve complex customer problems end to end.
• Work directly with senior customer stakeholders and see the impact of what you build.
• Operate at the forefront of Microsoft’s evolving AI and Data ecosystem as part of a Microsoft Frontier Partner.
• Work across technologies, industries and business problems rather than being confined to a single product or platform.
• Help shape a new engineering capability within HSO rather than stepping into a narrowly defined existing model.
• Turn successful customer work into reusable technology and approaches that can scale across HSO globally.

You’ll join a senior, practical and customer focused team that values ownership, curiosity, engineering quality, speed and measurable impact.

Compensation and Benefits

We offer a competitive base salary alongside HSO’s standard employee benefits.

The role will also include a performance related element designed to recognise both individual contribution and the value created through successful customer delivery. Further details on the compensation structure and performance measures will be discussed during the recruitment process.

Apply now!

Fill out the form below, include your resume and we will get in touch with you shortly.

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Deployment Strategist

Deployment Strategist

About HSO

HSO is a global Business Transformation Partner with deep industry expertise and a long standing strategic relationship with Microsoft. We help organisations unlock the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics 365, Azure, Data and AI technologies to modernise operations, accelerate innovation and deliver meaningful business outcomes.

In 2026, HSO achieved Microsoft Frontier Partner status, recognising our advanced capabilities across Microsoft Cloud and AI and our ability to help customers move beyond AI experimentation into secure, governed, enterprise scale production.

With operations across Europe, North America and Asia, we combine industry knowledge, technical excellence and a practical, people first approach to transformation.

As we continue to expand our AI capabilities, we’re building a new generation of customer facing talent to help organisations identify where AI can create genuine business value and turn that potential into measurable outcomes.

About the Role

AI is creating significant opportunities for organisations, but identifying where it can genuinely transform a business is often harder than building the technology itself.

That is where the Deployment Strategist comes in.

Deployment Strategists combine elements of management consulting, product management, business analysis and technology strategy. Their primary responsibility is to understand a customer’s business deeply enough to identify where the greatest value can be created, where the most important problems exist, and where AI and agentic technologies can realistically help solve them.

You’ll work closely with senior customer stakeholders to understand strategic priorities, operating models, processes and performance challenges before translating them into focused opportunities that can be delivered and measured.

You will also need a strong understanding of the Microsoft technology platform and its evolving AI stack. This is not a hands on engineering role, but you should understand how capabilities across Microsoft Azure, Data, AI, Microsoft Fabric, Copilot, Copilot Studio, Power Platform and Dynamics 365 can be applied to business problems and how those technologies fit together.

This technical understanding will allow you to identify realistic opportunities, challenge assumptions, work credibly with technical teams and help customers make informed choices about where Microsoft technologies can create the greatest value.

Deployment Strategists work side by side with Forward Deployed Engineers. The Deployment Strategist owns the why and the what, identifying the opportunity, defining the desired outcome and establishing how success will be measured. The FDE owns the how, designing and building the production solution.

Together, you will take opportunities from discovery through to production and demonstrate the value they create.

A critical part of the role is proving impact. You’ll establish clear baselines and success measures at the outset, remain closely connected to customer stakeholders throughout delivery, and demonstrate how the solution is affecting KPIs, operational performance or other measurable business outcomes.

The role does not end at first deployment. Deployment Strategists drive an ongoing cycle of identify, build, prove and expand, using each successful outcome to uncover the next opportunity and deepen the value HSO delivers to the customer.

What You’ll Do

Understand the Customer and Identify Value

• Build a deep understanding of how a customer’s business operates, including its strategy, operating model, processes, systems, performance drivers and constraints.
• Work with senior executives and business leaders to identify where the greatest opportunities for improvement or transformation exist.
• Assess where AI, agents, automation, data and Microsoft platform capabilities can realistically create meaningful business value rather than applying technology for its own sake.
• Understand the customer’s existing Microsoft technology landscape and identify where capabilities across Azure, Data, AI, Fabric, Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Copilot can support transformation.
• Identify opportunities across the organisation and sequence them according to strategic importance, potential value, feasibility and risk.
• Develop a clear view of where HSO can create sustained value for the customer over time.

Define Outcomes and Prioritise Opportunities

• Translate complex or ambiguous business problems into clear hypotheses, outcomes and measurable success criteria.
• Shape opportunities into focused initiatives that can be delivered and proven quickly.
• Define the smallest valuable solution that will demonstrate whether an opportunity is worth scaling.
• Build robust business cases and value models that establish expected benefits, investment and measures of success.
• Own the business scope before engineering begins, ensuring everyone understands what is being built, why it matters and how its impact will be measured.
• Prioritise opportunities and product backlogs according to customer value rather than technical novelty.

Build Trusted Executive Relationships

• Develop trusted relationships with senior business, technology and operational stakeholders.
• Facilitate strategic conversations with C suite executives and, where appropriate, board level stakeholders.
• Present opportunities, recommendations and results clearly and credibly to senior audiences.
• Challenge assumptions constructively and help customers make informed decisions where priorities or requirements are unclear.
• Explain Microsoft platform and AI capabilities in clear business terms, helping senior stakeholders understand what is realistically possible without requiring them to navigate the technical detail.
• Remain accountable for ensuring the engagement stays focused on the intended business outcomes.

Partner with Forward Deployed Engineers

• Work closely with FDEs and platform engineers to translate customer outcomes into practical solutions.
• Provide the business context, priorities and decision making framework engineering teams need to deliver effectively.
• Apply a strong understanding of the Microsoft platform to help shape credible solution options and ensure proposed approaches align with available capabilities.
• Continuously prioritise scope and backlog according to customer value, learning and emerging evidence.
• Stress test how people, processes and technology will work together once the solution is deployed.
• Ensure adoption, operating model change, training and feedback loops are considered alongside the technical build.
• Make effective use of existing HSO and Microsoft assets and accelerators wherever they can reduce time to value.

Measure and Prove Value

• Establish clear baselines, KPIs and value measures at the beginning of an engagement.
• Track performance throughout delivery and after deployment to understand whether the intended outcomes are being achieved.
• Translate technical delivery into a clear account of business impact for executive sponsors and operational stakeholders.
• Communicate transparently where expected outcomes have not yet been achieved and help identify what needs to change.
• Build a continuous, evidence based view of the value HSO is creating for the customer.
• Use proven outcomes to identify and shape the next high value opportunity.

Build Reusable HSO Capability

• Turn lessons from customer engagements into reusable frameworks, methodologies, value models and delivery playbooks.
• Share practical learnings across HSO regions, practices and industry teams.
• Contribute to the development of HSO’s AI, Frontier and Forward Deployed capabilities.
• Help develop future Deployment Strategists and strengthen the discipline as the practice grows.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for people who combine strong commercial and strategic judgement with a strong understanding of the Microsoft platform and modern AI technologies.

You’ll ideally bring

• Significant experience in management consulting, product management, business analysis, technology strategy, solution architecture or senior client facing delivery.
• A track record of leading complex discovery, transformation or value based engagements with large organisations.
• Strong commercial judgement and the ability to identify where technology can materially improve business performance.
• Experience translating strategic or ambiguous business challenges into clearly defined initiatives and measurable outcomes.
• Strong product instincts, including defining MVPs, shaping requirements and prioritising according to business value.
• Experience developing business cases, ROI models, benefits cases or other value frameworks.
• Strong knowledge of the Microsoft technology platform, including Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Dynamics 365, Power Platform and the Microsoft AI ecosystem.
• Strong understanding of Microsoft’s AI stack, including capabilities such as Azure AI, Copilot, Copilot Studio, agents, automation and workflow orchestration.
• The ability to understand how Microsoft technologies fit together and where they can realistically be applied to customer business problems.
• Enough technical understanding to work credibly with engineers, challenge assumptions and understand architectural or delivery trade offs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to translate confidently between business and technical audiences.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder management skills, including experience working with senior executives.
• Comfort operating in environments where requirements are incomplete, priorities move quickly and the answer is not obvious.
• Intellectual curiosity and the willingness to challenge surface level assumptions to understand what is really driving a business problem.

Deep hands on engineering expertise is not required. You will not be expected to build or configure solutions yourself. More important is a strong understanding of the Microsoft platform and AI stack, what the technology can realistically achieve, and the ability to work effectively with engineers to turn that potential into measurable business value.

Nice to Have

• Previous experience in a Deployment Strategist, product strategy, technology strategy or similar role within an AI, technology or enterprise software business.
• Background in management consulting, particularly operating model design, digital transformation or technology enabled change.
• Experience working within the Microsoft ecosystem or with Microsoft Azure, Data, AI, Dynamics 365 or Power Platform solutions.
• Deep industry experience in Manufacturing, Retail, Financial Services, Public Sector or Professional Services.
• Experience working as a Product Owner or alongside engineering teams in an agile environment.
• Experience delivering AI, automation or data led transformation programmes.
• An established network of senior relationships within one or more of HSO’s target industries.
• Experience turning successful customer engagements into repeatable propositions, methodologies or commercial opportunities.

Why Join HSO?

Many organisations understand that AI could transform their business. Far fewer know where to start, which opportunities genuinely matter or how to prove that an AI investment has created value.

As a Deployment Strategist at HSO, you’ll help answer those questions.

You’ll sit at the centre of strategic customer engagements, understanding how businesses operate, identifying where AI can make the greatest difference, applying your understanding of the Microsoft platform to shape viable opportunities, partnering with Forward Deployed Engineers to turn those opportunities into production solutions and demonstrating the results back to the customer.

You’ll have the opportunity to

• Work directly with senior leaders on some of their most important business challenges.
• Shape AI initiatives from the original business problem rather than inheriting predefined technical requirements.
• Apply Microsoft’s evolving AI, Data and Cloud capabilities to real business transformation challenges.
• See ideas move rapidly from strategy into working production solutions.
• Work at the forefront of Microsoft’s evolving AI ecosystem as part of a Microsoft Frontier Partner.
• Build propositions around measurable business outcomes rather than technology adoption alone.
• Help shape a new consulting and delivery discipline within HSO as it develops globally.
• Turn successful engagements into repeatable approaches that can create value across multiple customers.

You’ll join a senior, practical and customer focused team that values curiosity, commercial judgement, ownership, speed and measurable impact.

Compensation and Benefits

We offer a competitive base salary alongside HSO’s standard employee benefits.

The role will also include a performance related element designed to recognise both individual contribution and the value created through successful customer engagements. Further details on the compensation structure and performance measures will be discussed during the recruitment process.

Learn more

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Solution Specialist D365 Supply Chain Management

Solution Specialist - Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

Location: UK (Hybrid)Practice: Advisory

About HSO

HSO is a Business Transformation Partner with deep industry expertise and global reach. As one of Microsoft's leading partners, we help organisations unlock the full value of Microsoft technology through business-led transformation, industry knowledge and exceptional delivery capability.

Our Advisory practice helps customers understand how technology can solve real business challenges, creating compelling visions for transformation and building confidence in investment decisions.

As demand for intelligent supply chain solutions continues to grow, we're looking for a Solution Specialist - Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management (SCM) to help customers understand the possibilities of Dynamics 365 and the wider Microsoft ecosystem.

The Role

As a Solution Specialist - Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, you'll play a key role in helping customers envision and realise modern supply chain transformation.

Your primary focus will be Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, supporting prospect and customer engagements through discovery, solution demonstrations, workshops and presales activities. You'll help organisations understand how Dynamics 365 can improve operational efficiency, inventory visibility, planning, procurement and warehouse operations through compelling, business-focused storytelling and solution demonstrations.

This role is ideally suited to someone who is confident across the common, everyday areas of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and enjoys engaging directly with customers.

You don't need to be an expert in every aspect of the wider Dynamics 365 estate from day one. More important is your curiosity, adaptability and willingness to continuously expand your expertise across adjacent Microsoft technologies and business applications.

Working within HSO's Advisory practice, you'll collaborate closely with Enterprise Architects, Sales teams and solution specialists to help shape opportunities, strengthen bids and demonstrate the value of Microsoft's business applications platform.

A Key Mission of the Role

One of the most important objectives of this role is to establish and grow a scalable demonstration capability for Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

You will create and maintain a catalogue of reusable demonstrations, scripts, datasets and supporting assets that enable HSO to:

Respond to customer opportunities more quickly.

Deliver more consistent and compelling demonstrations.

Reduce preparation effort across presales teams.

Demonstrate industry and process expertise at scale.

Improve customer engagement and conversion outcomes.

Showcase the value of Dynamics 365 within the wider Microsoft ecosystem.

What You'll Be Doing

Presales & Customer Engagement

Partner with Account Executives, Sales teams and Enterprise Architects to support bids, proposals and customer opportunities.

Lead or support supply chain-focused discovery workshops and customer conversations.

Understand customer business goals, operational challenges and strategic priorities.

Translate customer requirements into compelling solution narratives and demonstration scenarios.

Support opportunities throughout the sales cycle, from qualification through to solution validation and conversion.

Represent HSO professionally and credibly during customer engagements.

Dynamics 365 SCM Demonstrations

Design, build and deliver engaging Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management demonstrations.

Showcase the most commonly used areas of the platform, including:

Inventory Management

Warehouse Management

Procurement and Sourcing

Product Information Management

Sales and Purchase Order Management

Supply Planning and Replenishment

Focus demonstrations on business outcomes and operational improvement rather than product functionality alone.

Develop reusable storyboards, scripts, sample datasets and supporting collateral.

Continuously enhance demonstrations based on customer feedback and lessons learned.

Extend demonstrations into broader Dynamics 365 and Microsoft platform scenarios where appropriate.

Demo Catalogue & Environment Management

Develop and maintain a library of reusable SCM demonstration assets.

Create repeatable demonstration scenarios aligned to common customer challenges and industry use cases.

Build and maintain high-quality demonstration environments.

Produce practical guidance for environment setup and configuration.

Ensure demonstration environments remain stable, current and aligned with HSO best practice.

Contribute to building a scalable operating model for demonstration preparation and delivery.

Microsoft Ecosystem & Cross-Practice Collaboration

Develop confidence across the Microsoft technologies that support Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

Demonstrate how SCM works within the wider Microsoft ecosystem, including:

Microsoft Power Platform

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Fabric

Azure Services

Integration Services

Planning Optimisation

Sensor Data Intelligence and IoT scenarios

Work closely with Finance, Customer Engagement, Power Platform, Data & AI and Integration specialists to create end-to-end customer stories.

Help customers understand the broader transformation opportunities available through the Microsoft platform.

Continuous Learning & Innovation

Expand your knowledge across the wider Dynamics 365 estate, including:

Dynamics 365 Finance

Project Operations

Customer Engagement

Power Platform

Data & AI

Stay current with new Microsoft capabilities and roadmap developments.

Share learning through internal communities, demonstrations and knowledge-sharing sessions.

Contribute to a culture of innovation, experimentation and continuous improvement.

What We're Looking For

The ideal candidate combines solid Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management knowledge with strong customer-facing skills and a genuine desire to broaden their expertise.

We're looking for someone who can confidently demonstrate the core capabilities customers use every day while actively developing deeper knowledge across the wider Microsoft business applications landscape.

Essential Experience

You'll bring

Strong functional knowledge of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

Practical experience across core SCM processes, including

Inventory Management

Warehouse Management

Procurement and Sourcing

Product Information Management

Order Management

Planning and Replenishment

The ability to discuss supply chain challenges and process improvements credibly with customers.

Understanding of how supporting Microsoft technologies complement SCM solutions.

Strong presentation, communication and storytelling skills.

Experience translating customer requirements into solution demonstrations.

Experience working in customer-facing consulting, presales, architecture or delivery environments.

Strong organisational and planning capability.

A genuine desire to broaden expertise across Dynamics 365 and Microsoft technologies.

Desirable Experience

Experience in any of the following areas would be advantageous:

Dynamics 365 Finance.

Dynamics 365 Project Operations.

Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement.

Power Platform.

Microsoft Fabric.

Azure Services.

Microsoft Copilot.

Planning Optimisation.

Sensor Data Intelligence and IoT solutions.

Bid support and proposal development.

Presales demonstrations and solution validation workshops.

Proof-of-concept and demonstration environment development.

Manufacturing, distribution, retail or other supply chain-intensive industries.

Personal Attributes

We're looking for someone who is

Curious and eager to learn.

Self-motivated and proactive.

Comfortable managing priorities independently.

Collaborative and team-oriented.

Open to coaching and continuous improvement.

Customer-focused and commercially aware.

Professional, credible and engaging.

Adaptable in a rapidly changing technology landscape.

Pragmatic and solutions-focused.

Comfortable drawing on specialist expertise when required.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success means

Customers experience compelling supply chain demonstrations that clearly communicate business value.

HSO consistently showcases Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management with confidence and credibility.

Sales and Enterprise Architecture teams have a trusted presales specialist who strengthens customer engagements.

A scalable catalogue of SCM demonstrations, scripts, datasets and supporting assets is established and maintained.

Demonstration preparation becomes faster, more repeatable and more effective.

Knowledge steadily expands beyond core SCM processes into the wider Dynamics 365 and Microsoft ecosystem.

Emerging Microsoft innovations are quickly evaluated and incorporated into customer conversations where appropriate.

HSO's differentiation and win rates are strengthened through exceptional customer engagement and demonstration quality.

Career Growth & Development

This role offers an excellent opportunity to build a broader career across Microsoft's business applications and intelligent operations ecosystem.

You'll be supported to expand your expertise across

Dynamics 365 Finance

Dynamics 365 Project Operations

Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement

Power Platform

Microsoft Fabric

Copilot and AI capabilities

Azure Services

Data & Analytics

Solution Architecture and Advisory

Working alongside HSO's wider Advisory, Data & AI and Business Applications teams, you'll gain exposure to a wide range of industries, customers and transformation initiatives.

Why Join HSO?

You'll be joining one of Microsoft's leading global partners at an exciting time of growth across Business Applications, Data, AI and Intelligent Operations.

You'll have the opportunity to

Shape and influence HSO's supply chain demonstration capability.

Work with cutting-edge Microsoft technologies.

Help leading organisations modernise their operations and supply chains.

Collaborate with experts across multiple Microsoft solution areas.

Gain exposure to diverse industries and transformation programmes.

Develop expertise beyond SCM into the wider Microsoft ecosystem.

Access continuous learning, certification support and professional development opportunities.

Work in a culture that values innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement.

Most importantly, you'll play a key role in helping customers understand how modern supply chain technology can drive resilience, efficiency and competitive advantage, while building your own expertise within one of Microsoft's most exciting solution areas.

Ready to help organisations transform their supply chains with Dynamics 365? We'd love to hear from you.

Learn more

GB Manchester

Cloud & Infrastructure

Cloud Solution Architect

Cloud Solution Architect - Data & AI

Location: UK (Hybrid)Practice: Data & AI

About HSO

HSO is a Business Transformation Partner with deep industry expertise and global reach. As one of Microsoft's leading partners, we help organisations unlock the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics 365, Azure, Data and AI technologies to deliver meaningful business outcomes.

With operations across Europe, North America and Asia, HSO combines industry knowledge, technical excellence and a people-first culture to help customers modernise their businesses, transform operations and embrace innovation with confidence.

As demand for Data & AI solutions continues to accelerate, we're expanding our Data & AI practice and looking for experienced Cloud Solution Architects to help shape the next generation of customer transformation programmes.

The Role

As a Cloud Solution Architect - Data & AI, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping and qualifying customer opportunities across the Microsoft cloud ecosystem.

This is a highly visible role that sits at the intersection of sales, enterprise architecture and delivery, combining technical leadership with commercial thinking. You'll work closely with customers, Microsoft and internal stakeholders to understand business challenges, identify opportunities, design compelling solutions and create clear pathways from initial discovery through to successful delivery.

You'll help organisations transform the way they use data, analytics and artificial intelligence, translating business ambition into practical, costed and deliverable solutions.

Success in this role requires more than technical expertise. You'll need strong consulting and stakeholder management skills, the confidence to challenge assumptions, and the commercial awareness to ensure opportunities are both valuable for clients and aligned with HSO's delivery capability.

What You'll Be Doing

Opportunity Qualification & Solution Shaping

Lead Data & AI opportunity qualification alongside Account Managers, Business Development teams and Enterprise Architects.

Facilitate customer discovery workshops, architecture assessments and strategic discussions.

Understand customer business drivers, challenges and desired outcomes.

Help customers define realistic transformation roadmaps aligned to business priorities.

Qualify opportunities using structured sales and consulting methodologies, including MEDDIC/MEDDICC approaches.

Solution Architecture & Advisory

Design end-to-end Data & AI solutions using Microsoft technologies and best practices.

Shape modern analytics, AI and data platform architectures that are commercially viable and technically deliverable.

Provide architectural leadership across data platform modernisation, analytics, AI and automation initiatives.

Ensure alignment with Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and Azure Well-Architected principles.

Communicate architectural trade-offs and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Commercial Leadership

Translate customer requirements into proposals, statements of work, delivery plans and business cases.

Produce solution estimates, cost models and phased implementation approaches.

Support customers in understanding ROI, value realisation and investment considerations.

Challenge unclear scope and identify delivery, cost and commercial risks early in the sales cycle.

Work closely with delivery teams to validate assumptions before commitments are made.

Growth & Go-to-Market

Contribute to the evolution of HSO's Data & AI propositions and repeatable offerings.

Develop demonstrations, accelerators, sales colla