Solution Architect/Senior Solution Architect- Marketing Cloud Next

Description ROLE OVERVIEW The Solution Architect — Marketing Cloud Next is the primary client-facing technical authority for migrations from legacy marketing automation platforms — Eloqua, Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot, legacy Salesforce Marketing Cloud Classic — to Salesforce Marketing Cloud Next and Salesforce Data Cloud. This role sits at the intersection of marketing strategy and technical platform design: owning the end-to-end solution blueprint, leading functional discovery workshops, translating complex marketing business requirements into a Salesforce MCN solution architecture, and governing the functional quality of deliverables across the migration wave. Solution Architect owns the solution strategy, functional design and client relationship — ensuring the migrated platform delivers the business outcomes the client's marketing operations, CRM and digital teams need, while the Technical Architect delivers the technical implementation. Together with the Data Cloud Architect, the SA ensures migrated subscriber data, consent records and journey logic land in a well-governed, AI-ready, unified customer platform that sets the client up for Agentforce personalisation and Data Cloud activation post go-live. Responsibilities • Lead end-to-end functional discovery — running structured workshops with client marketing operations, CRM, data, compliance and digital teams to capture current-state platform capabilities, subscriber data architecture, journey complexity, consent model and integration dependencies across all legacy marketing platforms. • Own the solution blueprint — designing the Marketing Cloud Next target architecture, including Email Studio, Journey Builder, Automation Studio, Content Builder, Mobile Studio and Data Cloud integration design, translating legacy platform features into MCN-native equivalents and identifying where custom development is required. • Author the migration approach document — defining the phased migration strategy, wave sequencing, subscriber migration methodology, journey migration priority framework, legacy platform deprecation schedule and business cutover approach with go/no-go criteria. • Design the subscriber data migration strategy — at the functional level: defining which subscriber segments migrate, the business rules governing data transformation, suppression list governance, consent record mapping requirements and the subscriber validation criteria the business will use to sign off each data wave. • Own the consent and compliance architecture — mapping legacy consent records, preference data and suppression lists to Marketing Cloud Next consent model and Data Cloud consent API, ensuring GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CASL and POPI obligations are met in the migrated platform from day one. • Design the journey migration blueprint — inventorying and assessing all legacy journeys, drip campaigns and triggered sends; prioritising for migration, rebuild or retirement; mapping legacy automation logic to Journey Builder native capabilities; and defining the functional acceptance criteria for each migrated journey. • Lead Data Cloud integration design — defining the unified customer profile architecture, data stream sources, identity resolution business rules, audience segmentation strategy and activation targets for Marketing Cloud Next — in collaboration with the Data Cloud Architect. • Manage scope and functional sign-off — maintaining the solution scope register, managing scope change requests, producing functional design documents and obtaining formal business sign-off at each MDLC phase gate before the Technical Architect begins build. • Serve as Trusted Advisor to the client — building long-term relationships with client marketing technology leads, digital directors, CDOs and Enterprise Architects; providing candid guidance on MCN platform capabilities, migration trade-offs and post-migration marketing strategy. • Govern functional quality of deliverables — reviewing all functional design documents, process maps, data mapping sheets, journey design artefacts and user acceptance test scripts produced by the track team to ensure they meet factory quality standards and client expectations. • Validate business process equivalence post-migration — leading user acceptance testing (UAT) planning, supporting client business users through UAT execution, managing defect triage and confirming that migrated journeys, subscriber segments and send logic deliver the same business outcomes as the legacy platform. • Lead email deliverability strategy — advising on IP warm-up planning, domain authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), sender reputation management and inbox placement testing strategy post-migration. • Contribute to the Migration Factory — building reusable MCN solution design templates, discovery workshop guides, journey migration assessment frameworks, consent architecture blueprints and migration approach documents for the factory accelerator library. • Support pre-sales and solutioning — contributing to proposal development, migration scope estimation, resource planning and solution presentations for prospective Marketing Cloud Next migration engagements. Core Technical Skills — Must Have • Marketing Cloud Next — Platform Breadth: Strong functional knowledge of the full Marketing Cloud Next platform — Email Studio, Journey Builder, Automation Studio, Content Builder, Mobile Studio, Advertising Studio and Contact Builder. Able to architect solutions end-to-end and lead discovery without referring to technical resources for platform capability questions. • Salesforce Data Cloud: Solid understanding of Data Cloud architecture — data streams, unified profiles, identity resolution, segmentation and activation to MCN — sufficient to own the functional integration design and validate the Data Cloud Architect's technical approach. • Subscriber Data Model & Consent Architecture: Deep understanding of MCN subscriber data model — data extensions, sendable/non-sendable objects, contact counts, suppression lists — and proven expertise designing consent migration strategies that comply with GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CASL and POPI. • Legacy Marketing Platform Knowledge: Working knowledge of at least one major legacy marketing platform (Eloqua, Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot, legacy SFMC Classic) — sufficient to run discovery workshops, assess migration complexity and translate legacy features to MCN equivalents. • Journey & Campaign Migration Strategy: Proven ability to inventory, assess and prioritise complex legacy marketing automation libraries — mapping legacy journey logic, drip campaigns and triggered send rules to Journey Builder native design patterns. • Email Deliverability: Solid understanding of email deliverability principles — IP warm-up, SPF/DKIM/DMARC, sender reputation, inbox placement — to advise clients on post-migration deliverability strategy. • Integration Architecture Awareness: Understanding of Marketing Cloud Connect (CRM sync), REST/SOAP MC APIs, API-triggered sends and event-driven messaging — sufficient to design functional integration specifications and validate the TA's implementation approach. • Data Migration Strategy (Functional): Ability to define what data migrates, the business transformation rules governing subscriber and consent data, validation criteria for data sign-off and the business cutover sequence — partnering with the TA and Data Cloud Architect for ETL execution. • Salesforce Platform Awareness: Working knowledge of Salesforce CRM, Sales/Service Cloud data model, Flows and permission sets — sufficient to design end-to-end MCN solutions that integrate with the broader Salesforce org. • Functional Design Documentation: Expertise in producing executive-quality solution blueprints, functional design documents, process maps, data mapping specifications, migration approach papers and UAT test scripts. • Workshop Facilitation & Client Management: Proven ability to lead large, complex discovery workshops and desi