Principal Sales Engineer

Operant is seeking a principal sales engineer to join our GTM team. The ideal candidate is a savvy expert in cloud-native technologies, including Kubernetes and APIs, who enjoys digging deep into technical detail to understand customer needs and how Operant’s unique approach can help them secure their entire Kubernetes application stack from infra to APIs, including their AI applications and all of their data in use. The principal sales engineer should feel comfortable discussing cloud-native security with key technical members of customer teams, including CISOs, Directors of AppSec and CloudSec, VPs of Eng, security engineers and SREs. The Sales Engineer should be aware of the cybersecurity competitive landscape (both incumbents and rising startups) and should be passionate about understanding use cases, helping customers succeed both pre and post sale, and partnering with Operant’s engineering team to share customer feedback and feature requests. Experience in delivering compelling demonstrations of cloud solutions and products is essential, with deep knowledge of Kubernetes and AI security challenges highly desirable. 

Who We Are:

We’re in business to secure the modern world. Operant’s unique technology solves several of the biggest problems in modern cybersecurity - including several critical use cases in securing AI applications -  with an implementation that is so easy that many customers don’t believe that it could possibly be true until they see it in action. Having already been named as a vendor in Gartner’s market guide for API Protection and Kubernetes Runtime Security as well as Forrester’s Zero Trust landscape all in the first half of 2024, the sky is the limit for leading this growing market.

‍Responsibilities:

• Understand customer needs and translate those needs into POC and onboarding plans that demonstrate Operant’s value quickly and with minimal friction
• Own POC success - drive its execution and customer engagement during POC period
• Create custom demos highlighting capabilities as they relate to customer’s priority use cases
• Perform product demos live in the field or via video conference, telling a cohesive story and highlighting use cases and features that demonstrate Operant’s competitive edge and super fast time to value
• Provide pre-sales support to customers in deploying, configuring and onboarding with Operant, anticipating any technical objections or potential barriers and proactively addressing them
• Provide post-sales support to top customers to expand usage to new users and use cases that provide value to the customer while building long term relationships with key stakeholders
• Work with engineering to build and support customer POC/POV solutions when necessary
• Contribute to relevant content that supports the sales process, including documentation, blog posts, and sales enablement assets
• Attend conferences and client meetings, serving as a product and brand representative, performing live demos, engaging with prospects, and facilitating implementations within customer environments
• Write external facing documentation describing product onboarding, key workflows, and APIs
• Present talks and conduct workshops and activities such as Capture-the-flag exercises for security engineers and practitioners at meetups and conferences

Basic Qualifications:

• 6+ years of experience in a similar role
• Experience selling to or working in cloud-native or hybrid environments at Fortune 1000 companies, cybersecurity experience a major plus
• Significant knowledge of Kubernetes and cloud security with the ability to speak articulately and correctly with knowledgeable people about the problem space and Operant’s differentiated solution
• Comfort with and passion for customer interactions and relationship building
• Experience performing demos in front of both technical and business focused prospects
• Familiarity with Go and Kubectl to adapt customer facing applications and code
• Impeccable written communication skills
• Experience working in a fast-paced startup environment
• Proactive and creative in anticipating potential challenges and offering solutions with quick response times and exceptional social and professional judgment in all customer interactions
• Open, curious and receptive to new ideas and ways of doing things
• Willing to mentor new members of the team as the company grows
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally from time to time
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a comparable field is preferred

Work Hours & Location:

• Operant is a remote-first company and welcomes qualified applicants from across the US and Canada.
• This position will require you to be available during core PST business hours (9am-5pm) and to adjust schedules occasionally based on customer and business needs including business travel, client meeting/call schedules, and team off-sites.

What you can expect from us:

Operant is an equal opportunity workplace where you will find an open and supportive environment to share your thoughts and ideas, while enabling you to springboard your career in a high-growth, high-energy startup.

‍Benefits:

• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• Life insurance
• 401k
• Paid holidays
• Generous PTO
• Stock options