Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering

Role Description

TrendAI is seeking a Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering who is passionate about cybersecurity and AI-powered platforms, thrives in direct customer engagement, and excels at driving new customer acquisition and technical influence in competitive sales cycles. In this role, you will help scale technical impact through enablement, coaching, and operational rigor. You will also partner closely with Channel leadership across Solutions Engineering, Sales, Product, Marketing, and Customer Success to guide partners and customers along their security journey while expanding adoption of the TrendAI platform.

This role is accountable for leading and developing Field Solutions Engineers, driving customer technical readiness, and ensuring consistent, high-quality technical execution across the new customer ecosystem. As a trusted technical leader and advisor, you will influence outcomes across the entire customer lifecycle by enabling partners to retain, expand, and acquire business through strong technical judgment, architectural guidance, and strategic consultation. You will serve as the bridge between customer needs, partner capabilities, and platform strategy powering long-term value, adoption, and advocacy.

Engagement and collaboration with senior management teams and key business partners is critical to success. The Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering will own and contribute to multiple ongoing programs, initiatives, and cross-functional efforts focused on new logo growth, competitive differentiation, and technical win rates.

We are looking for individuals who embody humility, hunger, and people-smart leadership instincts. Successful candidates bring clarity, accountability, and energy to every interaction and are comfortable operating with a high degree of autonomy.

Responsibilities

• Act as a strategic balancing point for Field Sales leadership, serving as a senior technical voice of new logo acquisition and complex prospect engagements.
• Maintain strong visibility into new business pipeline, technical qualification, and competitive risk to assess deal quality and forecast accuracy.
• Lead, recruit, coach, and retain a high-performing team of Field Solutions Engineers and Technical Advisors.
• Partner with Field Sales leadership to shape territory and account strategies that prioritize high-impact technical engagement and platform-led value.
• Provide senior-level technical oversight and guidance for complex, high-stakes new business opportunities, including competitive displacement scenarios.
• Develop and evolve enablement programs focused on discovery, technical validation, demos, PoCs, and executive-level engagements.
• Ensure strong alignment with Product, Marketing, and Customer Success to support smooth transitions from pre-sales to post-sale adoption.
• Own customer escalations during the pre-sales and early lifecycle phases, ensuring confidence, clarity, and executive-level communication.
• Ensure operational readiness of the Field Solutions Engineering team for new product launches, competitive motions, and GTM initiatives.
• Track, analyze, and report key metrics related to new logo conversion, technical win rates, engagement quality, and customer outcomes.
• Provide structured customer insights, competitive intelligence, and field feedback to Product, R&D, and GTM teams to influence roadmap and positioning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in cybersecurity, cloud, networking, systems engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years in customer-facing technical roles such as Solutions Engineering, Presales, Technical Consulting, Professional Services, or Technical Account Management, preferably within a cybersecurity or SaaS platform company.
• 5+ years of people management experience leading field-based technical teams, including senior-level individual contributors.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, exercise strong judgment, and operate effectively with executive autonomy.
• Proven experience supporting new logo acquisition, competitive sales cycles, and technical validation for net-new customers.
• Strong background in technical team leadership, field execution, and cross-functional collaboration with Sales and GTM teams.
• Experience managing complex evaluations, objections, and high-stakes customer and prospect situations.
• Demonstrated ability to form, influence, and guide temporary or virtual teams across functions to win complex opportunities.
• Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with Sales, Product, Marketing, Legal, HR, and Customer Success organizations.
• Solid understanding of competitive cybersecurity platforms and enterprise buying dynamics.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills with both technical and executive audiences.
• Willingness to travel up to 30%.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience working in fast-paced SaaS or cybersecurity platform environments.
• Familiarity with XDR, SIEM, CSPM, CNAPP, cloud security, or modern detection and response technologies.
• Experience delivering executive briefings, architecture reviews, or security strategy workshops.
• Demonstrated success supporting new customer acquisition, competitive displacement, and early-state platform adoption.
• Understanding of compliance and security frameworks (NIST, ISO 27001, SOC2, PCI, HIPAA).
• Strong technical storytelling skills translating complex security architectures into business value.
• Passion for mentoring, enablement, and developing technical talent at scale.
• Exposure to AI-driven security capabilities, automation, or applied AI/ML within cybersecurity workflows.

Preferred Certifications

• CISSP, CISM, CCSP, Security+, CySA+, CISA, or other relevant security certifications.
• AWS Solutions Architect, Azure Architect, or GCP Professional Cloud Architect.
• Cloud Security, Kubernetes, or DevSecOps-related certifications.

What Top Candidates Love About This Role

• High-impact visibility across customers, sales leadership, and executive stakeholders.
• Opportunity to directly influence new logo growth and market expansion.
• Strong emphasis on leadership, technical credibility, and field execution without carrying a sales quota.
• Frequent engagement with strategic partners and executive stakeholders.
• A collaborative culture grounded in humility, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Mission-driven work helping organizations strengthen security outcomes in an AI-driven threat landscape.

What We Offer You

• Comprehensive health benefits and paid time off package.
• Pre-partum, maternity, parental, medical leave and adoption assistance.
• Mental Health Wellness Program & Annual Wellness Incentive.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Pet Insurance.
• Collaborative and innovative culture.