Pharma Solution Architect

Work Schedule

Standard (Mon-Fri)

Environmental Conditions

Office

Job Description

As part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific team, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life every single day to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We provide our global teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while helping to take science a step beyond by developing solutions for some of the world’s toughest challenges, like protecting the environment, making sure our food is safe or helping find cures for cancer.

DESCRIPTION:

Position Summary

The Pharma Solution Architect is responsible for designing and shaping integrated solutions for pharmaceutical and biopharma customers. This role partners with commercial teams, technical experts, business units, and customer stakeholders to understand customer needs and translate them into scalable, value-driven solutions across products, services, workflows, digital capabilities, and enterprise offerings.

The Pharma Solution Architect serves as a strategic technical and business partner, supporting complex customer engagements, solution design, proposal development, and implementation planning. This is an individual contributor role that requires strong industry knowledge, consultative selling skills, and the ability to influence across a matrixed global organization.

Key Responsibilities

Solution Design and Customer Discovery

• Lead structured discovery sessions with pharmaceutical and biopharma customers to understand business priorities, scientific workflows, operational challenges, and technical requirements.
• Translate customer needs into integrated solution concepts that align with customer objectives and business strategy.
• Design scalable, fit-for-purpose solutions across relevant product, service, workflow, and digital capabilities.
• Partner with subject matter experts to validate technical feasibility, implementation requirements, and value proposition.

Strategic Customer Engagement

• Serve as a consultative partner to customer stakeholders across R&D, manufacturing, quality, procurement, technical operations, supply chain, and executive leadership.
• Support strategic account teams in complex customer engagements, business reviews, workshops, and executive-level discussions.
• Identify opportunities to expand customer partnerships by connecting needs across functions, sites, and regions.
• Build credibility with customers by demonstrating deep understanding of pharma industry trends, regulatory expectations, scientific workflows, and operational priorities.

Commercial and Business Partnership

• Partner with Global Account Managers, commercial leaders, business units, and regional teams to develop differentiated solution strategies.
• Support opportunity qualification, value proposition development, proposal strategy, and customer presentations.
• Contribute to pricing, contracting, and commercial models by defining solution scope, assumptions, dependencies, and implementation considerations.
• Help convert complex customer needs into actionable growth opportunities and measurable business outcomes.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Coordinate internal stakeholders across business units, technical teams, product management, customer service, supply chain, legal, finance, digital, and operations.
• Lead solution alignment discussions to ensure proposed approaches are practical, scalable, and commercially viable.
• Facilitate handoffs from solution design to implementation teams, ensuring continuity of customer requirements and success criteria.
• Drive alignment in a matrix environment without direct authority.

Market, Workflow, and Value Expertise

• Maintain strong knowledge of pharmaceutical and biopharma workflows, including discovery, development, clinical, manufacturing, quality control, and commercialization.
• Monitor market trends, customer needs, competitive activity, regulatory developments, and emerging technologies.
• Develop reusable solution frameworks, playbooks, case studies, and value messaging to support strategic accounts and commercial teams.
• Identify gaps in current offerings and provide feedback to business units and product teams.

Governance and Documentation

• Document customer requirements, solution designs, assumptions, risks, dependencies, and success measures.
• Maintain accurate records of solution opportunities, project status, stakeholder inputs, and commercial impact.
• Ensure proposed solutions comply with company policies, quality expectations, regulatory requirements, and ethical business practices.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, engineering, business, or related field required; advanced degree preferred.
• Significant experience in pharmaceutical, biopharma, life sciences, laboratory, manufacturing, quality, technical operations, commercial, or solution consulting roles.
• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical industry workflows, customer needs, and business drivers.
• Experience designing or supporting complex customer solutions involving multiple stakeholders, functions, products, or services.
• Ability to translate technical and business requirements into clear solution strategies and customer-facing value propositions.
• Strong executive presence and ability to communicate with senior technical, operational, procurement, and business stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to influence without direct authority in a matrixed organization.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, presentation, and project coordination skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in life sciences, chemistry, biology, pharmaceutical sciences, engineering, or MBA.
• Experience working with pharmaceutical or biopharma customers in R&D, manufacturing, quality, clinical development, CDMO, or supply chain environments.
• Knowledge of regulated environments, including GMP, GLP, GCP, quality systems, validation, data integrity, and compliance expectations.
• Experience with enterprise solutions, workflow selling, technical consulting, digital solutions, laboratory services, or managed services.
• Familiarity with CRM tools, opportunity management, proposal development, and account planning processes.
• Experience supporting global or multinational customer engagements.

Key Competencies

• Consultative solution design
• Pharma and biopharma industry expertise
• Customer discovery
• Strategic thinking
• Workflow and value mapping
• Technical and commercial acumen
• Executive communication
• Matrix leadership
• Influence without authority
• Problem solving
• Stakeholder alignment
• Business case development

Scope and Impact

The Pharma Solution Architect is an individual contributor role that supports strategic customer growth by designing integrated, differentiated solutions for complex pharmaceutical and biopharma customers. The role influences account strategy, opportunity development, proposal quality, customer experience, and long-term partnership value.

The position requires independent judgment, strong customer-facing capability, and the ability to bring together technical, commercial, and operational perspectives to solve customer challenges and drive business outcomes.

REQUIREMENTS:
• Advanced Degree plus 6 years of experience, or Bachelor's Degree plus 8 years of experience with electron microscopy techniques (SEM, FIB/SEM, TEM) and related workflows
• Preferred Fields of Study: Physics, Materials Science, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, or related technical field
• Expert understanding of semiconductor processing, device physics, and failure analysis techniques
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing technical solutions
• Demonstrated ability to train and mentor users on complex instrumentation
• Experience with automation, scripting, or programming (Python, C#, MATLAB) preferred
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong project management and organizational abilities
• Customer-focused mindset with proven relationship building skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a global team
• Available to travel up to 50% with valid passport
• Experience with data analysis, process optimization, and workflow development
• Knowledge of laboratory operations and quality control procedures
• Proficiency with relevant software platforms and data management systems
• Ability to troubleshoot complex technical issues and provide solutions

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range estimated for this position based in California is $112,500.00–$168,750.00.

This position may also be eligible to receive a variable annual bonus based on company, team, and/or individual performance results in accordance with company policy. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package that our U.S. colleagues and their families can count on, which includes:

• A choice of national medical and dental plans, and a national vision plan, including health incentive programs

• Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement

• At least 120 hours paid time off (PTO), 10 paid holidays annually, paid parental leave (3 weeks for bonding and 8 weeks for caregiver leave), accident and life insurance, and short- and long-term disability in accordance with company policy

• Retirement and savings programs, such as our competitive 401(k) U.S. retirement savings plan

• Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) offers eligible colleagues the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount

For more information on our benefits, please visit: https://jobs.thermofisher.com/global/en/total-rewards