Presales Manager (Retail)

Litmus7

We are seeking an experienced and hands-on Presales Manager (Retail) to front-end the organization's Presales function across service lines, business units and customer segments. The role requires a strong IT Services background, end-to-end presales ownership, excellent communication skills and the ability to work closely with Sales, Delivery, Technology and Leadership teams to convert business opportunities into compelling, solution-led proposals. The ideal candidate should bring strong Retail domain understanding and should be comfortable engaging with global enterprise customers, leading discovery discussions, shaping solution narratives, preparing proposals, coordinating estimates and presenting to senior stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

End-to-End Presales Ownership: Own the complete presales lifecycle from opportunity qualification to proposal submission and deal closure support.
Partner with Sales teams to understand customer requirements, business objectives, pain points, and transformation priorities.
Lead discovery sessions, customer workshops, solution walkthroughs, and executive presentations.
Prepare compelling proposals, solution documents, RFI/RFP/RFQ responses, capability decks and executive presentations.
Develop win themes, differentiators, solution positioning and value propositions aligned to customer priorities.
Drive internal pursuit reviews and ensure alignment across Sales, Delivery, Technology and Leadership stakeholders.
Solution Development and Consulting: Translate customer business problems into technology-led solutions and engagement models.
Work with technical SMEs, architects and delivery teams to define solution approach, delivery methodology and implementation roadmap.
Create solution narratives that clearly articulate business value, delivery approach, risks, assumptions and expected outcomes.
Ensure proposed solutions are practical, commercially viable, deliverable, and aligned with organizational capabilities.
Support proactive proposal development and strategic account planning initiatives.
Estimation, Pricing and Commercial Support: Coordinate effort estimation activities with Delivery, Engineering, QA, Data, Cloud, UX and other relevant teams.
Support preparation of commercial models for Fixed Price, Time and Material, Managed Services, Dedicated Team and Outcome-based engagements.
Capture assumptions, dependencies, risk factors, staffing models and delivery milestones for proposal submissions.
Support commercial discussions by providing inputs on scope, effort, delivery approach and solution value.
Retail Domain Contribution: Apply Retail domain knowledge to create business-relevant solutions for enterprise customers.
Support opportunities across omnichannel retail, digital commerce, store operations, merchandising, customer experience, loyalty, inventory, fulfilment, supply chain, data analytics and AI-led transformation.
Understand how retail business processes connect with technology platforms, operating models and transformation programs.
Contribute domain insights during customer conversations, solutioning workshops and proposal development.
Presales Enablement Across the Organization: Act as the front-end owner for presales activities across the organization, supporting multiple teams and opportunity types.
Develop reusable presales assets, templates, case studies, capability presentations, solution frameworks and proposal libraries.
Improve presales processes, governance, pursuit quality, proposal consistency and response timelines.
Enable Sales and Delivery teams with sharper messaging, stronger positioning and customer-ready collateral.

Required Experience

Around 10 years of hands-on presales experience in an IT Services environment.
BE/BTech + MBA from a premium institute.
Strong end-to-end presales exposure including opportunity qualification, requirement understanding, solutioning, proposal development, estimation coordination, pricing support and customer presentation.
Must have worked in core IT Services organizations with exposure to enterprise customers and multi-stakeholder pursuits.
Strong Retail domain experience is mandatory.
Experience supporting global customers across regions such as North America, Europe, Middle East or APAC is preferred.
Experience working on medium to large-sized deals, strategic pursuits and transformation-led proposals is preferred.
Core Skills and Expected Capability: Presales RFI/RFP/RFQ management, bid management, proposal writing, solution documentation, win themes, and value proposition development.
Solutioning ability to translate business needs into practical technology solutions, delivery approaches, roadmaps, and commercial models.
Retail domain expertise with strong understanding of retail operations, digital commerce, omnichannel, store systems, merchandising, loyalty, inventory, supply chain and customer experience.
Commercial Acumen: Exposure to estimation, pricing, assumptions, dependencies, effort models and deal structuring.
Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication, storytelling, executive presentations, and customer-facing confidence.
Stakeholder Management: Ability to work with Sales, Delivery, Technology, Leadership and customer stakeholders in a matrix environment.