Solutions Architect (Higher Education, SIS, ERP)
About Ellucian
Ellucian is a global market leader in education technology. We power innovation for higher education, partnering with more than 2,900 customers across 50 countries and serving over 20 million students. Ellucian's AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, from student recruitment, enrollment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners, and user community of more than 45,000 provide best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes.
Values Rooted in Purpose
We embrace the power to lead, the courage to innovate, and the determination to grow. At our core, we believe in humanizing our approach, recognizing that our people are our greatest strength. With a shared vision of transformation, we endeavor to shape a brighter future for higher education.
About the Opportunity
Our Professional Services team at Ellucian is seeking a Solutions Architect who will play a key role in shaping the vision and architecture of our solutions across multiple Ellucian products. This role is focused on designing, supporting, and implementing best practice solutions throughout the project lifecycle, ensuring alignment with customer business goals and requirements. The Solutions Architect will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams during the presales cycle, lead Cloud/SaaS modernization engagements, and drive outcomes-based methodology practices to accelerate time-to-value for higher education institutions. Reporting directly to the manager of the practice, the Solutions Architect will serve as a thought leader and principal liaison, ensuring the successful delivery of solutions as architected.
Where you will make an impact
- Analyze business objectives and desired outcomes, ensuring alignment with customer goals
- Design and convey comprehensive business architecture, including both technical and functional solutions, from concept through implementation.
- Identify and standardize solutions within the Ellucian ecosystem, ensuring alignment with best practices and the product roadmap.
- Support the Enterprise Architect in defining and articulating value propositions
- Lead cross-functional implementations, focusing on areas like Student Information Systems (SIS), Finance, HR, and ensuring SaaS extensibility is maximized for customer success.
- Facilitate service solutions sessions, guide capability teams through process mapping, and enhance customer experience through standards and best practices.
- Collaborate with project management to define and execute delivery models, mitigate risks, and develop materials such as solution architectures, and statements of work.
- Participate in governance and assurance activities, ensuring solutions are implemented as designed and assessing ongoing success for continuous improvement.
- Mentor new team members on capability-driven service delivery practices, balancing strategic and tactical considerations.
- Contribute to the enhancement of Ellucian’s global architecture repository, supporting time-to-value and outcome-driven methodologies.
What you will bring
- Preferred 5+ years of broad solution delivery experience at multiple higher education institutions in the U.S., with expertise in cross-functional areas such as Student Information Systems (SIS), Finance, and HR.
- Technical Background: Comfortable with and have past experience in technical implementation, with the ability to architect multiple functional and technical areas.
- Preferred experience with higher education delivery in large scale ERP platforms.
- Preferred in-depth knowledge of Ellucian ERP delivery practices and an understanding of its role within the broader Ellucian solution landscape.
- Passionate about learning and implementing new tools and technologies into the projects.
- Innovation and Creativity: A positive, self-motivated, team-oriented individual with the ability to innovate and create new delivery methodologies to transform higher education effectiveness.
- Prior experience in a customer-facing position across multiple organizations
- Communication and Collaboration: Superior relationship-building skills, exceptional interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills, with an emphasis on collaboration and follow-through.
- Ability to articulate value and ROI for customers around a variety of software and services solutions.
- International experience a plus
Nice to have
- Business acumen and commercially astute and have a broad understanding of solutions and what they deliver for institutions to drive profitable growth
- Ability to articulate value and ROI for customers around a variety of software and services solutions.
- Implementation Planning: Ability to develop detailed implementation plans based on capability-driven delivery methodologies.
- Previous experience successfully launching newly created service portfolio into the marketplace preferred
What makes #Ellucianlife
- Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision
- Flexible time off
- Thrive Flex Lifestyle Account (LSA) that allows you to contribute towards your health, financial or learning interests
- 401k w/ match & BrightPlan - to help you save for the future
- Parental Leave
- 5 charitable days to support the community that supports us
- Telemedicine
- Wellness
- Headspace Care (mental health)
- Wellbeats (virtual fitness classes)
- RethinkCare & Wellthy– caregiver support
- Diversity and inclusion programs which provide access to internal employee resource groups
- Employee referral bonuses to encourage the addition of great new people to the team
- We Foster a learning culture with:
- Education Assistance Program
- Professional development opportunities
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At Ellucian, we believe in the “power of together.” We embrace an inclusive workplace, and believe that our differences help inspire a culture of acceptance that makes our company more collaborative and innovative. We’re proud to provide equal employment opportunities for job applicants and for our employees, and we are committed to providing a process and an environment that is free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), and other legally protected classifications. These protections extend to all management practices and decisions, including recruitment and hiring, appraisal systems, promotions, training, and career development programs. To enable employees to perform essential functions of their positions and to offer applicants a meaningful opportunity to be considered for positions, we also provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees and applicants with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs, observances, and practices. This job posting is intended to comply with all applicable laws. If we learn during the course of our recruitment process that, due to an applicant’s location, further information about the position is required, including certain salary information, the information in this posting will be supplemented accordingly. Additionally, we are aware of fake applicant schemes and have rigorous internal processes in place to mitigate such risk and inform proper authorities of any such instances that arise.