CRM Architect

Avanade India’s Business Applications practice is looking for a Dynamics 365 CRM Solution Architect to take overall architectural ownership of our CRM projects. This is a senior, functionally led role for someone whose career has been built on Dynamics 365 CRM — who understands how sales, service, marketing and field teams actually work, and can design a CRM solution that fits those processes rather than forcing them to fit the product.

You will lead solution design across the Dynamics 365 customer engagement modules and the Power Platform, run the functional conversation with business stakeholders, and give the technical team a design they can build. The emphasis is on functional depth — process design, fit-gap, configuration-first solutions and adoption — backed by enough technical understanding to make sound decisions on integration, data, security and extension, and to hold the build team to a good standard. The role also carries a strong presales element: you will be the CRM solution lead on pursuits for Dynamics 365 and Power Apps opportunities — shaping the solution, demonstrating it, estimating it and helping us win it.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end solution architecture for Dynamics 365 CRM projects — from discovery and requirements through design, build, testing, go-live and hypercare.

• Lead business process workshops with client stakeholders, map current and future-state processes, and translate them into a Dynamics 365 solution design.

• Run fit-gap analysis against standard Dynamics 365 capability, favouring configuration over customisation, and make clear recommendations where gaps need Power Platform or custom extension.

• Design functional solutions across the Dynamics 365 customer engagement modules: Sales (lead-to-opportunity, forecasting, sales accelerator), Customer Service and Contact Center (case management, SLAs, entitlements, knowledge, omnichannel routing), Field Service (work orders, scheduling, resources, assets, inventory), Customer Insights – Journeys and Customer Insights – Data (marketing journeys, segmentation, unified customer profile), and Project Operations where project-based selling and delivery are in scope.

• Design the Dataverse data model and security model — tables, relationships, business units, security roles, teams, field-level security and hierarchy security — to match the client’s organisation.

• Design Power Platform extensions: model-driven apps for core CRM processes, canvas apps for task-focused and mobile scenarios, Power Pages portals for customers and partners, and Power Automate for workflow and automation.

• Bring Copilot and AI capabilities into the CRM solution where they add value — Copilot in Sales and Customer Service, Copilot Studio agents and AI-assisted productivity features.

• Define the integration approach with ERP, marketing, telephony, websites and third-party systems — at design level, with the technical team owning detailed build.

• Define data migration strategy from legacy CRM platforms (Salesforce, older Dynamics CRM versions or others) — mapping, cleansing, sequencing and reconciliation.

• Author and own solution design documents, functional specifications, configuration workbooks and architecture decisions, and walk client stakeholders through them.

• Guide functional consultants and developers during build, review configuration and design quality, and resolve functional and architectural escalations.

• Oversee testing strategy with QA and business teams — scenario coverage, UAT support and business sign-off — and support cutover and go-live readiness.

• Set ALM, environment and governance standards with the technical lead — solutions, environments, deployment approach and Power Platform governance.

• Lead presales solutioning for Dynamics 365 CRM and Power Apps opportunities — understanding the client’s business problem, qualifying scope and shaping the right solution from the Dynamics 365 modules and Power Platform components.

• Run presales discovery workshops, business-process walkthroughs and high-level fit-gap to define the solution scope and approach.

• Build and deliver tailored solution demos and proofs of concept on Dynamics 365 and Power Apps, showing the client’s own scenarios rather than generic product tours.

• Prepare solution architecture, scope, assumptions, effort estimates, phasing and team structure for proposals, RFP/RFI responses and statements of work.

• Advise on Dynamics 365 and Power Platform licensing during presales, and position the solution against competing platforms such as Salesforce and ServiceNow.

• Work with sales, bid management, delivery and Microsoft account and partner teams on pursuits, including Microsoft co-sell and funded programmes where applicable.

• Present the solution and delivery approach in client orals and executive presentations, and support negotiation of scope through to contract and handover to delivery.

• Mentor CRM functional consultants and contribute reusable process models, demo assets and accelerators to the practice.

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Required Skills & Experience

• 14–17 years of overall experience, with the substantial majority focused on Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM / Customer Engagement and its predecessor Dynamics CRM versions.

• Deep functional expertise in Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Customer Service, with strong working knowledge of at least one of Field Service, Customer Insights (Journeys / Data), Contact Center or Project Operations.

• Proven experience as solution or functional architect on multiple end-to-end Dynamics 365 CRM implementations, including at least two full lifecycle projects from design to go-live.

• Strong grounding in CRM business processes — lead and opportunity management, account and contact management, quote and order, case management, service scheduling and marketing journeys.

• Demonstrated ability to run discovery and process workshops, lead fit-gap analysis and produce clear solution designs and functional specifications.

• Strong command of the Power Platform: model-driven apps, canvas apps, Power Pages and Power Automate — knowing which to use for which scenario.

• Good understanding of Dataverse — data model, security model, business rules, business process flows and configuration capability.

• Technical implementation understanding sufficient to guide the build team: plug-ins and JavaScript extension points, integration patterns (APIs, connectors, Azure integration services), data migration tooling and ALM — hands-on development is not required.

• Experience designing data migration from legacy CRM platforms and managing data quality through cutover.

• Awareness of Dynamics 365 and Power Platform licensing and how it shapes solution design.

• Strong client-facing skills — credible with sales, service and marketing leaders, and able to defend design decisions with business and IT stakeholders.

• Experience guiding and reviewing the work of functional consultants and developers on medium-to-large projects.

• Solid presales experience for Dynamics 365 CRM and Power Apps based solutions — discovery, solution shaping, demos, estimation and proposal writing — with a track record of contributing to won deals.

• Understanding of the presales lifecycle from qualification through RFP response, orals and negotiation, and of how estimates and assumptions translate into commercial risk.

• Ability to build and deliver compelling Dynamics 365 and Power Platform demos tailored to the client’s industry and processes.

Preferred / Good to Have

• Microsoft certifications: Dynamics 365 Customer Experience Analyst (MB-280), Customer Service Functional Consultant (MB-230), Field Service Functional Consultant (MB-240), Power Platform Solution Architect (PL-600) or Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (MB-910).

• Hands-on experience with Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service, and with Copilot Studio agents in a CRM context.

• Experience migrating clients from Salesforce or other CRM platforms to Dynamics 365.

• Experience integrating Dynamics 365 CRM with Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, Business Central or SAP.

• Experience with Microsoft FastTrack or Success by Design reviews.

• Industry depth in one or more of BFSI, manufacturing, retail, professional services, healthcare or public sector.

• Exposure to Power BI reporting for CRM and to Customer Insights – Data for customer analytics.

• Experience in a consulting, global delivery or SI environment (Avanade, Accenture, or similar).

• Experience with Microsoft partner motions — co-sell, Microsoft-funded engagements (e.g. Business Applications workshops and envisioning programmes) and joint pursuits with Microsoft account teams.

• Competitive knowledge of Salesforce, ServiceNow and other CRM platforms for positioning and migration pursuits.

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