Senior Sales Engineer - Cloud Security at Chainguard in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
Compensation vs. Market: The OTE range of $200,000–$235,000 is competitive for a Senior Sales/Solutions Engineer in the cybersecurity space. Market benchmarks for enterprise pre-sales engineers in the US typically range from $170,000–$220,000 OTE, putting Chainguard's range at the high end — reflective of both the startup premium and the specialized cloud/container security domain.
High-Demand Skill Development: This role sits at the intersection of two of the fastest-growing areas in tech — cloud-native infrastructure (Kubernetes, Docker) and supply chain security. Expertise in these areas commands a significant market premium, and experience with frameworks like MEDDPICC is transferable across all enterprise SaaS sales environments.
Company Stage & Culture Signals:
- Green flag: Backed by top-tier VCs (Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, IVP) with a blue-chip customer list — strong signal of product-market fit and growth trajectory
- Green flag: 10-year stock option exercise window is exceptionally rare and extremely candidate-friendly
- Green flag: 100% covered health, dental, and vision for dependents is a standout benefit
- Consideration: Startup-stage pace with a bias for fast action — expect ambiguity and rapid change
- Consideration: North Central US restriction limits upward mobility if you prefer geographic flexibility
Career Path: This role builds a rare profile combining deep technical credibility (cloud security, containers) with enterprise sales acumen — a combination that opens doors to VP of Sales Engineering, Field CTO, or even product roles at security-focused companies.
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
- Smart and passionate people who can persevere to success
- People acting as trusted advisors, able to build credibility with customers
- Strong team players committed to helping and mentoring their peers
*Must be located in the North Central region of the US*
OTE RANGE (based on experience/location): $200,000 – $235,000
About Us
We live and breathe our company values:
- We are customer obsessed — We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better.
- We have a bias for intentional action — We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.
- We don't take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work) — We are solving an important problem which takes focus, but we also like to enjoy the journey.
- We trust each other and assume good intentions — We're transparent with decisions to empower team members to make well-informed decisions.
A few of the benefits we offer:
- Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
- Our Approach to Equity: Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!).
- 100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision, and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck.
- ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
- 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child's first year.
If your experience is close but doesn't fulfill all requirements, please apply. We're building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring "Chainguardians" with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.
By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Chainguard will process your personal data in accordance with Chainguard's Global Candidate Privacy Notice.
©2026 Chainguard. All Rights Reserved.
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