VP/Head of Solutions Engineering (Sales)
About Us
At Cloudflare, we have our eyes set on an ambitious goal: to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world’s largest networks that powers approximately 25 million Internet properties, for customers ranging from individual bloggers to SMBs to Fortune 500 companies Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare have all web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Company Cultures list and ranked among the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.
We realize people do not fit into neat boxes. We are looking for curious and empathetic individuals who are committed to developing themselves and learning new skills, and we are ready to help you do that. We cannot complete our mission without building a diverse and inclusive team. We hire the best people based on an evaluation of their potential and support them throughout their time at Cloudflare. Come join us!
About the department
As the Head of Solutions Engineering at Cloudflare, you will be a go-to-market leader playing a critical role in helping our prospects understand the business value of Cloudflare. You will work closely with the Regional Sales Leaders and other business leaders building out go-to-market strategies and creating programs to support the vision. Through your deep product knowledge, expertise in how companies use and deploy SaaS applications, and keen insights into the business metrics Cloudflare can drive, you’ll support our Sales team to ensure that they properly align with our customer-base to maximize the value Cloudflare can bring to our customers teams and organizations.
You will collaborate cross-functionally working with Product Marketing, Product Management, Sales Operations, Engineering, Marketing, and Sales teams to align our Go-to-Market strategy and assets with customer needs. You will also be responsible for building out a data-driven organization helping create systems to better measure and track progress. As a key voice of the customer, you will also drive initiatives internally to create and maintain cross-functional alignment on Cloudflare’s business impact for our customers.
What you'll do
- Complete ownership for planning, initiating, evangelizing, and driving the transformation of the Solution Engineering organization to be a pro-active technical architectural team selling the complete Cloudflare solutions portfolio.
- Transform Solution Engineer culture to a highly technical team of selling achievers.
- Innate technical aptitude and internal influencer who will advise Cloudflare product teams on product design, features and support offerings in an effective, impactful manner.
- Drive actionable improvements to Cloudflare solutions technical obstacles and/or competitor advantages
- Build strong relationships and represent the team’s interests at the senior, and executive level.
- Expert sales presenter and influencer on c-level sales calls when needed to win large deals.
- Deliver impactful communication with email, presentations, live and in small/large gatherings. Utilize social media, participate, and speak at conferences and related technology industry platforms to evangelize the Cloudflare vision.
- Monitor quarterly Sales and Solution Engineering field leadership tracking to plan goals and progress on shared accountability.
- Partner with the Sales Enablement team to build and perfect a world-class solutions content training and development program in support of Cloudflare multi-product / multi-year solution selling. Ensure Sales Enablement educational training and developmental programs are effective with growing the knowledge base of the Solutions Engineering field teams.
- Partner with Regional Sales leaders to develop the technical aspect of the go-to-market strategy for the company and ensure the Solutions Engineering organization is equipped and prepared to achieve the sales goals.
- Develop programs and tools to enhance the effectiveness and efficiencies of the Solutions Engineering organization to enable it to quickly scale in the fast-growing environment.
- Recruit Solution Engineers who are technical experts with enterprise sales experience, and proactive prospective sellers who can partner with Sales Executives on joint ownership of the sales pitch and account plan.
- Create an atmosphere in which timely and high-quality information flows smoothly between corporate, sales, product management, and engineer employees.
You will build and lead a team that will:
- Partner with the Sales teams to develop and drive account strategy for key accounts
- Position yourselves as a trusted advisors for customers and for the Strategic and Enterprise Sales teams
- Co-create collateral in partnership with product marketing organization for solution specific presentations and demonstrations
- Build talk tracks and positioning tailored to specific customer segments (e.g., verticals, functions)
- Develop metrics and track progress on the solution narratives
- Support the greater Solutions Engineering team in developing metrics and operations to understand global impact
- Partner with Product, Product Marketing, Sales and Enablement teams for seamless end-to-end program execution
Examples of desirable skills, knowledge and experience
- 12+ years working in customer facing roles in an enterprise SaaS environment, operating at a senior executive level.
- An inspiring and proven leader who has grown and managed functional teams in a SaaS business
- A storyteller who is comfortable presenting a company and product to anyone in any setting.
- Someone who is both strategic and extremely operational.
- Deep understanding of the Customer Product feedback loop and how to most effectively and efficiently manage it toward desired outcomes.
- Demonstrated experience leading and scaling a Pre-Sales/Solutions Engineering organization for an appropriate technology company.
- Proven success acting as an organizational change agent with the adoption of new selling approaches and multi-year selling.
- Possesses a clear understanding of selling cycles, selling strategies, and the skills and responsibilities of a Pre-Sales/Solutions Engineering team, with an in-depth understanding and experience in management of all aspects of sales support processes.
- A mix of both large and fast-growth company experience, with the processes and discipline gained from a large company, but with the entrepreneurial and hands-on attitude from a growing environment.
- Technical knowledge beyond reproach, with an ability to effectively interface and collaborate with all cross functional teams.
- A proven track record of managing high-level customer relationships, leading a high -performance team, and creating and implementing a strategic vision for a Solutions Engineering organization is a must.
- An astute business mind able to act as a client problem-solver on actionable improvements to Cloudflare solutions technical obstacles and/or competitor advantages.
- Must be able to quickly assess the existing team to identify specific organizational needs and talent opportunities, discern coaching and mentoring opportunities, and implement the optimal leadership and organizational changes necessary to effectively deliver against Cloudflare’s solutions and technology plans.
- Strong presentation skills and the ability to discuss both business and technology issues relating to business application delivery across the distributed enterprise with customer executive leadership.
- Must be able to recruit, motivate, and develop high performance individuals.
- An entrepreneurial high-energy leader with a strong presence and outstanding written and verbal communications skills to introduce and influence others on new ways of thinking about tactical and strategic sales execution.
What Makes Cloudflare Special?
We’re not just a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company. We’re a highly ambitious, large-scale technology company with a soul. Fundamental to our mission to help build a better Internet is protecting the free and open Internet.
Project Galileo: We equip politically and artistically important organizations and journalists with powerful tools to defend themselves against attacks that would otherwise censor their work, technology already used by Cloudflare’s enterprise customers--at no cost.
Athenian Project: We created Athenian Project to ensure that state and local governments have the highest level of protection and reliability for free, so that their constituents have access to election information and voter registration.
Path Forward Partnership: Since 2016, we have partnered with Path Forward, a nonprofit organization, to create 16-week positions for mid-career professionals who want to get back to the workplace after taking time off to care for a child, parent, or loved one.
1.1.1.1: We released 1.1.1.1 to help fix the foundation of the Internet by building a faster, more secure and privacy-centric public DNS resolver. This is available publicly for everyone to use - it is the first consumer-focused service Cloudflare has ever released. Here’s the deal - we don’t store client IP addresses never, ever. We will continue to abide by our privacy commitment and ensure that no user data is sold to advertisers or used to target consumers.
Sound like something you’d like to be a part of? We’d love to hear from you!
This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws, including the U.S. Export Administration Regulations. Please note that any offer of employment may be conditioned on your authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export laws without sponsorship for an export license.
Cloudflare is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. We are an AA/Veterans/Disabled Employer.
Cloudflare provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to, changing the application process, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment. If you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please contact us via e-mail at [email protected] or via mail at 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107.
