Solutions architecture combines Shabrina Sangwan’s 2 favorite things: Tech and talking

In her professional life, Shabrina Sangwan loves two things: diving deep into technical topics and talking to people. As a solutions architect, she gets to do both. 

She didn’t discover the field of solutions architecture until after completing her master’s degree in electrical engineering. Shabrina liked the breadth of the electrical engineering field, but it took some trial and error to figure out what she wanted to specialize in. After trying research and realizing it was too slow for her — she prefers more action-driven work — she landed on networking and telecommunications. 

“I learned how data centers work and how to deploy servers and applications that sit on them,” Shabrina says. 

At a career fair for software engineers, she started talking to someone about solutions architecture and was immediately interested. Solutions architecture requires a technical background, but it’s also a customer-facing role. 

“I can get super nerdy on the technical things, but I love talking to people,” Shabrina says. “I am an extroverted engineer. With solutions architecture, I wouldn’t just be in a cubicle coding, I would also meet and talk to customers.”

Shabrina wanted an interactive, technical job — and she found it in solutions architecture. Now, she’s a senior manager for solutions architecture at Elastic and leads a team of solutions architects. 

“It’s sales with technical chops. You’re the liaison between product and engineering and the client, helping to put together solutions for deployment,” Shabrina says. 

The solutions architect team at Elastic works across Search, Observability, and Security. They work with customers to ensure the product meets their technical requirements, recommend an architecture to solve their use case, understand any product gaps, and relay to the product team if necessary. 

Every day can look different for her, but typically, Shabrina is holding team meetings, joining forecast calls with sales, sitting in on customer calls, working on programs for the solutions architecture team, or acting as the escalation point for her direct reports. 

Shabrina joined Elastic in June 2024 because of the exciting technology, well-reputed senior leadership, and company culture. 

“We are in such a great position to influence and shape AI strategy for our customers. I wanted to get in,” she says. 

She’s also a big proponent of inclusive, collaborative teams — something she found at Elastic. 

“In solutions architecture, we’re communicating with customers and collaborating with other teams. You have to have that collaborative spirit because you work with so many different people,” she says. “As you build a collaborative culture, you build trust among the team. You’re not here winning alone. You’re winning together.”

As a leader, Shabrina wants to see her team succeed. Here’s her advice for others joining the tech field: 

Don’t strive for perfection. “Perfection — I hate that word. It’s been ingrained in us. Do your best that day. You can’t please everyone. Perfect isn’t possible.”

Pivot when necessary. “Don’t try to overly map out how your career is going to look. It’s OK to make pivots. It’s OK if a job is not a good fit,” she says. “Pivoting was my whole thing in college and even has been in my career. I tried different classes until I found the specialization I liked. I wanted to get into a cutting-edge technology space, so I made a switch. Don’t be afraid to take a chance.” 

Join a company that understands perfection is not a destination. Browse open roles. 

Elastic, Elasticsearch and associated marks are trademarks, logos or registered trademarks of Elasticsearch N.V. in the United States and other countries. All other company and product names are trademarks, logos or registered trademarks of their respective owners.