Sales Engineer – Cloud Security Career

This is a Senior Sales Engineer role at a high-growth, well-funded startup in the red-hot supply chain security and open source software space — a sector seeing massive enterprise investment post-Solar Winds and Log4

Shell. Chainguard's backer list (Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, IVP) signals a company on a credible path to IPO or major acquisition.

Career development value is high: You'll build expertise at the intersection of Kubernetes/container security, cloud-native architecture, and enterprise sales — a rare combination that commands premium compensation across the industry. MEDDPICC/Command of the Message experience is increasingly required at top-tier SaaS companies, so deepening this skill set here is transferable.

• Green flags: Remote-first culture, 10-year option exercise window (exceptional — most startups give 90 days), 100% covered health insurance for dependents, strong investor backing, and clear values documentation.
• Watch for: No salary transparency is a mild red flag; enterprise SE roles in NYC at this level typically range $150K–$220K OTE. Confirm OTE structure (base/variable split) and quota attainment rates in interviews.
• Work-life balance signals: Unlimited PTO and 18-week parental leave are above-market. Startup pace with a "bias for intentional action" value suggests a demanding but structured environment.

For professionals in Dev Sec Ops , cloud security, or pre-sales engineering, this role offers a compelling combination of technical depth, enterprise exposure, and equity upside at a company solving a genuinely critical infrastructure problem.

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.

The role, in a nutshell:
You will assess a prospect's technical requirements and apply extensive knowledge of Chainguard products to illustrate how a deal will satisfy the client's unmet needs. You will cultivate relationships with decision-makers at all levels of an organization and negotiate the competing needs of multiple stakeholders. You will secure technical wins using methods such as demos, RFP/RFI responses, lead POVs, partner with engineering for requested features, and participate in conferences and industry events (when applicable).

What you'll do:

• Partner with our Sales Team to help customers evaluate and prove the value of our solution
• Focus on acquiring new customer "logos" in addition to growing the existing customer base
• Own all technical aspects of sales opportunities and assist current customers in understanding the value of Chainguard
• Day-to-day responsibilities include:
  • Listen to customers and understand their challenges
  • Conduct product demonstrations and POVs/POCs
  • Actively participate in webinars, meetups, conferences, and other marketing initiatives

What we're looking for:

• Experience as a Sales Engineer / Pre-Sales Engineer
• Experience with MEDDPICC and/or Command of the Message sales frameworks
• Experience selling into Enterprise (3+ years) and Mid Market prospects
• Experience in the following areas:
  • Container technologies (Kubernetes, Serverless, Docker)
  • Cloud technology (AWS, Azure, Google, etc.)
  • Cloud security or container security
  • App Security
• Startup experience
• S…