Position Summary
SSL.com is hiring its founding Sales Engineer to build the technical presales function from the ground up. This is a high-ownership role for a technologist who can stand alone in front of enterprise prospects today and grow into leading the SE team tomorrow. The Lead Sales Engineer will own the technical side of the deal cycle — demonstrations, proof-of-concept evaluations, RFP/RFI responses, and solution design across SSL.com’s certificate and PKI portfolio — while establishing the playbooks, demo environments, and POC frameworks that future hires will run on. This role works shoulder-to-shoulder with Sales, Product, Engineering, and founders, and its technical judgment will directly shape how SSL.com wins against larger, PE-backed competitors. As the function scales, there is an opportunity to step into a player-coach and then leadership role over the SE team this person helps define.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Own technical presales end to end as the first dedicated SE, partnering directly with sales reps and leadership to advance and close enterprise opportunities.
- Serve as the authoritative technical voice on SSL.com’s solutions: TLS/SSL, code signing, document signing, S/MIME, hosted and private PKI, and cloud signing (eSigner).
- Design and deliver compelling product demonstrations tailored to each prospect’s environment and objectives.
- Architect and run proof-of-concept evaluations, including ACME and API-based certificate automation, and own technical close.
- Lead the functional and technical elements of RFP/RFI responses, and build reusable response assets the team can scale with.
- Translate customer requirements and compliance drivers into solution designs, and act as the trusted technical advisor through the sales cycle.
- Establish the SE function’s foundation: demo infrastructure, POC playbooks, discovery frameworks, and technical enablement for the broader sales team.
- Capture structured product feedback from the field and partner with Product Management to influence the roadmap.
- As the team grows, help recruit, mentor, and lead additional Sales Engineers — setting the technical bar and operating model for the function.
Required Qualifications
- 5–7+ years in sales engineering, solutions architecture, or a senior technical role within cybersecurity, PKI, or a related domain.
- Demonstrated ability to own technical presales autonomously and carry enterprise deals without an established support structure.
- Deep, hands-on knowledge of public key infrastructure, X.509 certificates, TLS, and the full certificate lifecycle.
- Familiarity with the CA/Browser Forum baseline requirements and the public-trust ecosystem (root programs, audits, compliance) — a strong differentiator.
- Bachelor’s degree or higher in computer science, cybersecurity, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Strong command of IT environments across Windows, Linux, and macOS, including web servers (Apache, Nginx, IIS) and certificate deployment.
- Working knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and experience with APIs and automation protocols such as ACME.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, with the executive presence to lead technical conversations from practitioner to C-level.
- A builder’s mindset: comfortable with ambiguity, biased toward creating structure where none exists.
- Leadership potential — interest and aptitude for mentoring and eventually leading a growing SE team.
- Customer-first orientation with strong ownership and accountability.
Working Conditions
Travel as needed to customer sites and industry forums/conferences to support departmental objectives.
Equal Employment Opportunity
SSL is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
