Craig Griffin

About Craig Griffin

I lead Solutions Engineering at Silverchair, where I architect the technical sales strategy for the scholarly publishing industry’s most complex platform transitions. Silverchair delivers millions of articles, books, and conference proceedings for society and commercial publishers worldwide. With the 2024 acquisition of ScholarOne — the manuscript submission and peer review system behind journals — we now work with publishers across both ends of the publishing workflow, from editorial decision-making through content delivery.My work sits at the intersection of deep domain expertise and emerging technology. Using Claude Code, I’ve built AI agent systems that automate competitive research, RFP response pipelines, and deal analysis — multi-agent workflows that search internal knowledge bases, draft sourced answers, and enforce quality checks across hundreds of questions simultaneously. These aren’t experiments; they’re production tools my team uses daily to win publisher business.Before Solutions Engineering, I ran platform migrations, managed the product roadmap, and led project teams during Silverchair’s high-growth years. That operational background means I understand what we’re promising in a proposal — and what it takes to deliver it.I think in systems. Whether it’s positioning against competitors, designing an AI workflow, or structuring a complex deal, I’m looking for the architecture underneath the problem.Geology degree from William & Mary. I got here the long way around.

Experience

1. Vice President Solutions Engineering

   Silverchair

   Jun 2021 — Present · Charlottesville, VA, US

   Lead the technical pre-sales process for Silverchair’s largest and most strategic publisher partnerships. Responsible for solution design, competitive positioning, proposal strategy, and technical evaluation responses for society and commercial publishers evaluating platform transitions.Built an AI agent infrastructure on Claude Code that has fundamentally changed how we compete: custom MCP servers connecting Claude to our internal knowledge bases, multi-wave agent pipelines that research, draft, edit, and compliance-check RFP answers, and specialized skills for competitive analysis, site auditing, and deal review. These tools let a small team respond to complex questionnaires at a speed and accuracy level that would otherwise require 3-4x the headcount.Key focus areas: platform migration strategy for publishers moving from competing platforms, pricing and deal structure for multi-product engagements (Platform + ScholarOne), and competitive differentiation in a market dominated by publisher-owned alternatives.

Education

• William & Mary

  BS, Geology

  1986 — 1989

Skills

• Web Applications
• Agile Methodologies
• Program Management
• Management
• Software Project Management
• Crm
• Agile
• Sales
• Web Development
• SEO
• Business Analysis
• Customer Relationship Management (Crm)
• Product Development
• Analysis
• E-Commerce
• Entrepreneurship
• Leadership
• Online Marketing
• Lead Generation
• Business Development
• Project Management
• Business Process Improvement
• Sdlc
• Social Media
• Process Improvement
• Market Research
• Product Management
• Start-Ups
• Training
• Software Development
• Change Management
• Scrum
• Marketing