Sales Engineer

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

As a Sales Engineer at Amount, your day will be dynamic and multifaceted. You'll start by collaborating with the Sales team and Customer Success team to understand client needs and tailor technical solutions accordingly. You'll engage with potential and existing clients to articulate the technical aspects of our products, demonstrating their value and functionality through presentations and product demonstrations. Furthermore, you'll work closely with the product development team to relay client feedback and contribute to the continuous improvement of our offerings. Additionally, you'll provide post-sales support, ensuring seamless integration and addressing any technical concerns that may arise.

Team:  Will join a team of ~40 across Sales, Sales Engineering, Implementations, Customer Success, and Operations. 

Reporting: Reporting to Brent Moulder, Head of Sales Engineering (get to know Brent here)

Similar job titles: Solutions Engineering
Base Salary: $130,000 – 170,000 + Incentives

WHAT WE’LL TRUST YOU TO DELIVER:

• Collaborate with the sales and customer success teams to understand client requirements and customize technical solutions, including integration strategies and platform capabilities.
• Conduct comprehensive client discovery assessments of client needs and provide tailored recommendations for product solutions.
• Conduct product demonstrations and presentations to showcase the functionality and value of our fintech products.
• Serve as a technical liaison between clients and internal teams, conveying feedback and contributing to product enhancement.
• Support post-sales activities, including product integration and troubleshooting technical issues as needed.
• Assist in the preparation of proposals and RFP responses, providing technical insights and recommendations.
• Stay updated on industry trends and competitor offerings to effectively position our products in the market.

WHAT YOU LIKELY BRING TO THE TABLE: 

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Finance, or related field.
• 3+ years of experience in a technical sales or sales engineering role within the fintech industry.
• Solid understanding of financial services and fintech solutions.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
• Problem-solving mindset with a customer-centric approach.
• Prior experience using walnut.io as demo environment.
• Familiarity with CRM and sales enablement tools is a plus.

The DNA of Sales Engineering

Highly effective members of Sales Engineering possess a Customer-centric mindset, deep product knowledge, and strong communication abilities. They conduct effective discovery sessions, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and have a relentless commitment to continuous improvement. The main objective of Sales Engineering is to obtain the TECHNICAL WIN!  In order to achieve the technical win, the team must possess the below key habits:

1. Mindset of Service: prioritize Customer needs above all else. They adopt a service-oriented mindset, actively listening to Customers, understanding their pain points, and offering tailored solutions to address their specific requirements.
2. Deep Product Knowledge: understand the organization’s products inside-out. They continuously update their market intelligence and technical expertise, ensuring they can effectively demonstrate and communicate the value of the products to Customers.
3. Technical Storytelling: possess excellent communication skills and can articulate complex technical concepts in a clear and compelling manner. They use storytelling techniques to engage Customers, making the technical information relatable and understandable.
4. Effective Discovery: excel at asking insightful questions to uncover Customer needs and challenges. They conduct thorough discovery sessions to gather essential information, which helps them propose the most suitable solutions.
5. Collaborative Approach: collaborate closely with other teams, such as Sales, Product, Marketing, Delivery, Engineering, & Customer Success. They understand the importance of teamwork in delivering a seamless Customer experience and achieving overall business success.
6. Continuous Improvement: committed to ongoing learning and development. They seek feedback, actively learn from both successes and failures, and continuously improve their skills and knowledge.

Key Roles of Sales Engineering

Sales Engineering is typically found within technology software organizations, but also applicable across other industries that demand complex solutions that require technical know-how and experience. Depending on the size, complexity, need, opportunity volume, and structure of the organization; roles within the Sales Engineering team typically include: 

• Sales Engineer or Solutions/Pre-Sales Consultant: experts in the product or technology offered by the organization. They collaborate with the Sales team in discovery sessions, story-telling, presenting the product's features and capabilities, preparing product demonstrations, and conducting proof-of-concept (PoC) activities to showcase the product's value to Customers.
• Solutions Architect: highly skilled technical professionals responsible for designing and presenting tailored solutions that align with the Customer’s technology needs. They are the organization's SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) on core software, ecosystem solutions, integration, infrastructure, compliance, security, and scalability. They work closely with Sales Engineers and Customers to gather detailed technical specifications, create architectural designs, and present tailored solutions that align with the Customer’s business objectives.

Sales Engineering Team Responsibilities

Sales Engineering is an integral function and designed to be the voice of the customer across the organization. Sales Engineering owns disseminating and interpreting industry trends and Customer requirements and feedback across Sales, Product, Marketing, Delivery, Engineering, and Customer Success. Sales Engineering responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Sales Collaboration: Sales Engineering works closely with the Sales team. They participate in Customer meetings, presentations and demonstrations in order to understand business and technical requirements, challenges and objectives - this allows Sales Engineering to craft stories and tailor product pitches to address a Customer’s specific pain points/opportunities effectively.
• Business/Technical Knowledge: Sales Engineering boasts extensive industry experience and technical knowledge about their organization's products or services. This allows them to accurately explain how these solutions operate, their capabilities, limitations and integration potential - and answer any technical inquiries from Customers or address any concerns that might arise.
• Solution Design: after collecting Customer requirements, Sales Engineering creates technical solutions tailored to meeting those requirements. They may create proof-of-concept (PoC) models or minimal viable products (MVP) as examples that demonstrate how the product can help overcome Customer challenges and meet objectives.
• Product Feedback Loop: Sales Engineering plays an invaluable role in providing field feedback to both the Product and Engineering teams, including pinpointing areas for improvement, suggesting new features or enhancements, or relaying any technical challenges encountered during the sales process.
• Business/Technical Documentation: Sales Engineering often assumes the task of providing content in support of the creation of business/technical documentation such as whitepapers, case studies and presentations to support Sales team interactions with Customers.
• RFP and Bidding Support: when responding to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) or participating in bidding processes, Sales Engineering will provide professionally polished responses to the functional/technical aspects of all proposals.
• Post-Sale Support: even after the sale has closed, Sales Engineering may still assist Customers with onboarding processes and technical training courses, while providing seamless transition to the Delivery and Customer Success teams.

Sales Engineering plays a vital role in cultivating trust with Customers, driving successful sales efforts, and positioning products or services appropriately to meet requirements and drive revenue for the organization.

Key Metrics for Measuring Effectiveness

• Win Rates: Percentage of sales opportunities successfully converted into closed deals, reflecting the sales engineer’s ability to effectively support the sales process.
• Sales Cycle Length: The average time it takes to move a prospect through the sales process, with shorter cycles indicating efficient sales engineering support.
• Customer Satisfaction: Feedback from customers regarding the sales engineer’s performance and the value they provided during the sales process.
• Deal Size or Revenue Generated: The financial impact of deals influenced or closed with the assistance of sales engineering support.
• Number of Engagements: Quantifies how often the sales engineer is involved in customer interactions, presentations, and technical discussions.
• Conversion Rates at Different Sales Stages: Breakdown of conversion rates at various stages of the sales funnel, highlighting where sales engineering has the most impact.
• Post-Sales Support: Measure of customer satisfaction and success after the sale, indicating the effectiveness of the sales engineer’s guidance.
• Technical Validation Success: Percentage of proofs of concept (POCs) or technical validations that lead to successful sales outcomes.
• Feedback from Sales Team: Input from the sales team on the quality and effectiveness of the support provided by the sales engineering team.
• Knowledge Transfer and Training: Assess the success of knowledge transfer from sales engineering to the sales team, ensuring a shared understanding of technical aspects.
• Competitive Analysis: Evaluate the sales engineer’s ability to effectively position the product against competitors and address technical objections.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Measure the degree of collaboration between sales engineers and other teams, such as product development and customer support.

Regularly tracking these metrics can help assess the impact of sales engineering efforts, identify areas for improvement, and align strategies to optimize the overall sales process.