Principal Sales Engineer
It's fun to work in a company where people truly BELIEVE in what they're doing!Job Description Summary:The Principal Sales Engineer – Vertica is a highly experienced technical leader responsible for driving technical success across complex, high-value sales opportunities for Rocket Software’s Vertica analytics platform.This role combines deep analytical database expertise, advanced presales execution, and strategic customer engagement, partnering closely with Account Executives, Solutions Architects, and partners to deliver differentiated, high-impact solutions.As a senior technical authority within the sales organisation, the Principal Sales Engineer leads complex solution design, proof-of-concept execution, and competitive positioning, while influencing deal strategy and customer outcomes. The role requires the ability to operate independently across multiple strategic opportunities, translating deep technical insights into clear business value and accelerating revenue growth.Key Responsibilities:Technical Sales LeadershipAct as the technical lead on complex and strategic sales opportunities, partnering with Account Executives to shape and close dealsInfluence deal strategy, technical win themes, and competitive positioningEngage confidently with both senior technical stakeholders and business decision-makersDrive alignment between customer requirements and Vertica’s value propositionSolution Design & Technical ValidationDesign and deliver high-impact technical presentations, demonstrations, and solution architecturesOwn the technical qualification and validation process across opportunitiesProvide guidance on architecture design, scalability, and performance considerationsLead technical deep dives, workshops, and whiteboarding sessions with customersProof of Concept & Benchmark ExecutionLead the design, execution, and optimisation of POCs and performance benchmarks under tight timelinesBuild realistic data models, workloads, and evaluation frameworks aligned to customer environmentsTranslate query performance, compression, and throughput metrics into compelling business outcomesClearly articulate Vertica’s differentiation versus competing solutionsData Architecture & Modern Data Stack IntegrationEngage deeply in customer discussions around data platforms, analytics architecture, and modernization initiativesPosition Vertica within modern ecosystems, including:Ingestion: Kafka, SparkStorage: S3, HDFSConsumption: Tableau, Power BI, LookerAdvise on data modelling, ETL/ELT pipelines, governance, and data quality practicesHands-on Technical ExecutionWrite and optimise complex analytical SQL queries for large-scale workloadsDevelop scripts (Python, shell) to support automation, benchmarking, and demo setupConfigure and deploy Vertica environments across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud platformsTroubleshoot performance bottlenecks and optimise query executionPartner & Ecosystem CollaborationCollaborate with cloud providers (AWS, Azu...