Staff Solutions Engineer (UK)

Kong · London, UK

Base: Not disclosed
OTE: Not disclosed
Posted: 2mo ago

Still open · checked 3h agoon Kong's careers page

Apply on Kong →

The Braun Read

Ask hard questions

Too much is left unsaid. Make them answer before you invest.

Pay: No pay listed at all.
Transparency: Shares 1 of 5: quota, attainment, deal size, territory, sales cycle.
Pipeline: Mostly inbound or an assigned book.
Time on market: Open 75 days. Ask why it's been hard to fill.
Company hiring: Ramping up: posted 6 sales roles in the last 30 days.

Red flags

None spotted.

Green flags

SDR or inbound support. You won't be building all of your own pipeline from zero.

Based only on what the posting says. Flags are a starting point for your first call, not a final judgment.

Questions to ask on the first call

Built from what this posting leaves out. How they answer tells you as much as what they say.

1.
What percent of reps hit quota last year?
Not in the posting
2.
What are the base and the OTE for this role?
No pay listed
3.
What's the annual quota, and how was it set?
Not in the posting
4.
How long is ramp, and what's the quota during it?
Not in the posting
5.
What's a typical deal size and sales cycle?
Not in the posting
6.
Why is this role open? Did someone leave, or is it new?
Always ask

The role

Pre-sales solutions engineer supporting AEs on API management and connectivity deals with Enterprise and Strategic accounts, running discovery, demos, and PoCs through to production. Covers both new and existing customers.

Enterprise · Mixed · Inbound

Selling motion

Mixed

Who you are selling to

Enterprise

Pipeline expectations

Mostly inbound or an assigned book of business.

Compensation

The posting doesn't list pay.

What is not disclosed

This posting doesn't tell you:

Base salary
OTE
Quota size
Quota attainment
Average deal size
Sales cycle length

The questions above cover the big ones.

Full posting

Are you ready to unlock intelligence? If you don’t think you meet all of the criteria below but are still interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box - we’re looking for candidates that are particularly strong in a few areas, and have some interest and capabilities in others. About the Role: As part of our Sales organisation, Kong's Solution Engineers play an instrumental role in our continued growth and success as they align with our Account Executive team and lead the technical sale cycle with both new and existing customers. This is a position supporting Enterprise & Strategic accounts within the French region. If you are someone who is motivated by the opportunity to drive new business while learning and evangelising our cutting-edge technology, we want to speak to you! What You'll Do: - Support field sales in helping customers understand the value of the Kong API Management & Connectivity solutions. - Grow trusted client relationships throughout the entire sales lifecycle from initial discovery/ requirement gathering, to product reviews/ demos, and into production. - Support PoCs throughout the entire evaluation process. - Onboard and train new customers and establish revenue potential with existing customers. - Coordinate with support, product, and engineering teams to prioritize customer needs and ensure 100% satisfaction across assigned set of accounts. - Create technical documentation for DevOps, implementations, and services engagements. - Participate in creative lead generating activities such as creating blog posts, leading webinars, working industry events, etc. - And any additional tasks required by manager. What You'll Bring: - 7+ years of pre-sales Solution Engineering or relevant experience at a SaaS, Open-source or Enterprise Software company. - Experience working with Open-source technology. - Foundational knowledge/ understanding of API Management & Integration, Cloud computing trends, Open-source business models. - Confident ability to present and lead discussions with C or Director level executives as well as Product Managers and Engineers. - Enthusiasm for working in a high profile, fast-paced startup culture. Bonus Points: - Previous experience with API Gateway or Service Mesh is preferred. - Experience with Docker or Kubernetes. - Strong knowledge of NGINX, HTTP, AWS, Postgres, and/ or Cassandra. - Fluency working on Linux OSes. - Familiarity with DevOps and CD/CI pipeline. - Any knowledge on DCOS/Mesos and Docker Swarm is a plus. #LI-TR1 About Kong: Kong Inc., the AI Connectivity Company, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit www.konghq.com http://www.konghq.com.

Apply →