Enterprise Sales Engineer - Cloud Security Career Growth in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
This is a Sales Engineer role at a high-growth, venture-backed cybersecurity startup — Chainguard has raised from top-tier VCs (Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, IVP) and counts OpenAI and Snowflake among its customers. This signals strong product-market fit and a company likely preparing for a large funding round or IPO trajectory.
Compensation context: The OTE of $140K–$165K is slightly below the median for senior enterprise Sales Engineers in Boston/NYC tech (typically $160K–$220K OTE at comparable-stage companies), but the equity package — with a rare 10-year exercise window — adds meaningful upside if Chainguard exits successfully.
Skills you'll build:
- Cloud-native security expertise (containers, Kubernetes, supply chain security) — one of the fastest-growing domains in tech
- Enterprise sales motions using MEDDPICC — a highly transferable, in-demand framework
- Cross-functional influence: bridging engineering, product, and enterprise buyers
Green flags: Fully covered health insurance, unlimited PTO, 18 weeks parental leave, and a culture that explicitly values trust and autonomy are strong retention signals. Startup stage means high visibility and faster career progression than at a large enterprise.
Red flags to watch: The role blends pre-sales and post-sales responsibilities, which can lead to scope creep. Clarify boundaries between SE and Customer Success during interviews. Also validate headcount and territory coverage expectations.
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 Boston area*
OTE RANGE (based on experience/location): $140,000–$165,000
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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