Senior Sales Engineer - Chicago

At Proofpoint, the members of our Sales Engineering team are highly valued business partners that play a critical role in our sales process every single day.   

As a Senior Sales Engineer working with accounts in the Enterprise space, you will be one of the most important members of the Proofpoint sales team. You will become a trusted advisor to both the Account Managers you are paired with, as well as our current and future customers. As a technical liaison and subject matter expert on all things Proofpoint, you will help to deliver People-Centric solutions that protect against today’s cyber threats. 

You will get to develop and tell a compelling story that will excite your customer and have them eager to hear more. Your story may include onsite product demonstrations, white-boarding sessions, mini-trainings, Lunch-n-Learns, Proof-of-Concept, Production Evaluations, all in pursuit of providing a solution to your customer that you will take pride in being a part of. It’s an exciting time to be at Proofpoint! 

Preference for candidates to be located in Chicago.

Your day-to-day  

• The Senior Sales Engineer is the Technical Lead for the Proofpoint Pre-Sales process, including: 
• Collaborate with the sales team to develop and execute targeted account penetration strategies 
• Build trust and rapport with customers and prospects in person, and be their main technical point of contact throughout the process 
• Deliver compelling product demonstrations that address today’s most pressing cyber threats 
• Work closely with customer/prospect security staff for technical discovery, as well as planning, execution and wrap up of Proof-of-Concept (POC) and Production Evaluations 
• You will design and champion complex People-Centric Security solutions encompassing the entire Proofpoint portfolio 
• You may, occasionally, be called upon to assist in professional services deployments, technical training, and to present at or attend industry seminars and/or trade shows 
• You will be able to provide valuable customer insight and real-world experiences to Product Management, Marketing and Product Development (Engineering) teams to help keep our solutions the best in the industry 
• You will become an expert in Email Security Gateways, Advanced Persistent Threats, Attack Protection, Threat Response, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and the threat landscape 

Senior level duties 

• Mentoring new team members in multiple areas including Proofpoint products, sales process, and relationship management with both customers and account managers 
• Develop and deliver training presentations to peers, account managers, and other teams within Proofpoint 
• Contribute across all corporate communication channels, write and help upkeep internal documentation and training  
• Help develop solutions to common challenges and establish processes within the local team, department, and across the sales engineering organization 

What you bring to the team 

• 6+ years of hands on technical experience, either as a Sales/Systems Engineer, Technical Account Manager, Security Engineer or senior level product support, preferably in the cyber-security industry 
• Proven track record developing and maintaining customer relationships through in person meetings, ideally in a local territory 
• Experience working with large (Enterprise) clients/organizations  
• Self-starter and ability to own and drive initiatives 
• History of conducting large-scale assessments and/or evaluations, including managing expectations, deliverables, and complex systems as well as the teams that support them 
• Comfortable presenting to individuals and/or teams including technical staff through C-suite 
• You have experience in Enterprise or Cloud Security, including cloud/SaaS platforms, messaging, data, network, endpoint, NOC/SOC, or MSP-related cybersecurity 
• Experience selling and positioning a platform is highly valued 
• Exposure to at least two of the following skill sets are recommended: 
• Cloud security and shadow IT monitoring  
• IT security, vulnerability or risk assessments, and policy enforcement 
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP), compliance and privacy 
• Enterprise email solutions such as Exchange, G-Suite, Lotus Domino or working knowledge of SMTP 
• Additional skills that are added bonuses include: 
• Directory Services and protocols such as AD, Azure AD, LDAP, iDP (identity providers) 
• Email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) 
• Networking and protocols such as SMTP, DNS, LDAP, HTTP, etc. 
• Experience with frameworks such as MITRE and/or NIST 
• You have a background in consultative approach to solving problems and/or have a strong desire to pivot your career towards a sales direction 
• You can thrive in a fast paced, high-energy environment 
• You can work independently, adapt quickly and maintain a positive attitude 
• Strong PowerPoint, presentation and organizational skills are a must 
• CISSP or other relevant cyber-security and/or cloud security certifications are valued  
• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in a relevant field, or equivalent experience 
• Travel is required in this role