Partner Solutions Engineer - Cloud Security Career

Career trajectory: Partner Solutions Engineer is a high-leverage role sitting at the intersection of sales engineering, product influence, and ecosystem strategy. At a Series C/D-stage startup like Chainguard (backed by Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, IVP), this role carries outsized internal visibility and direct impact on company revenue.

• Deep expertise in cloud-native security, container supply chain security, and Dev Sec Ops — one of the fastest-growing domains in enterprise tech
• Partner ecosystem strategy and channel go-to-market execution (AWS, Azure, GCP partner programs)
• Executive-level stakeholder communication and cross-functional leadership
• Technical evangelism and content creation (reference architectures, solution playbooks)

Compensation context: No salary is listed, but PSE roles at comparable VC-backed security startups in the US typically range from $150,000–$220,000 OTE (base + variable), with meaningful equity. Chainguard's 10-year option exercise window is a genuinely rare and founder-friendly benefit that dramatically reduces the financial risk of holding options at a private company.

Green flags: Strong investor pedigree, blue-chip customer logos (OpenAI, Snowflake, HPE), and a category with real secular tailwinds (software supply chain security post-Solar Winds/Log4j). The BEPIC framework signals a mature, structured partner motion — not an ad hoc role.

Watch out for: The 50% travel requirement is significant and can contribute to burnout. Ensure expectations around travel destinations and frequency are clarified during interviews. Partner SE roles can also feel less directly tied to quota than field SE, so confirm how performance is measured.

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers and AI agents rely on, Chainguard helps organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk.

Our customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders, including Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Snowflake.

Chainguard is venture-backed by leading investors, including Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital.

Partner Solutions Engineer (PSE)

Chainguard is building the future of secure software supply chains by delivering secure-by-default container images, Helm charts, and language libraries alongside developer tools that eliminate vulnerabilities before software reaches production.

We partner with cloud providers, VARs/SIs, and technology platforms to help organizations adopt secure software development practices at scale.

We are looking for a Partner Solutions Engineer (PSE) to help enable and scale our partner ecosystem by building technical champions, developing integrations, and accelerating partner-led adoption of Chainguard solutions.

This role combines technical depth, partner enablement, and go-to-market collaboration
.

Our partner engagement model follows the BEPIC framework
:

• Belief – Build technical conviction in Chainguard
• Executive Sponsorship – Align with partner leadership
• Propensity to Embed – Integrate Chainguard into partner architectures
• Integrated Value Proposition – Deliver compelling joint solutions

What You'll Do

Build Partner Technical Champions
Enable technical teams across cloud providers, VARs/SIs, and technology partners through workshops, training programs and paths, and hands-on labs. Develop reusable partner assets including reference architectures, demos, and solution playbooks
.

Drive Integrations and Architecture
Work with partners and internal teams to design secure cloud-native architectures that incorporate…