Senior Sales Engineer

Welcome to Zesty, a dynamic startup at the forefront of cloud optimization innovation!

Zesty’s Mission

Zesty is a startup company specializing in automated optimization solutions, aiming to help organizations reduce costs and enhance operational efficiency.

The company offers a range of products designed for DevOps and FinOps teams responsible for managing cloud usage within organizations.

Location: San Mateo, CA (Hybrid: Tue–Thu onsite)

Eligibility: Must be authorized to work in the U.S. (no visa/relocation support)

Compensation: $180K–$210K OTE + Equity + Benefits

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Sales Engineer who can combine deep technical expertise with strong customer-facing communication. In this role, you’ll partner with our Strategic Account Manager to lead technical evaluations, deliver high-impact demos, guide customers through cloud optimization use cases, and help drive revenue by acting as a trusted advisor to enterprise clients.

This position is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment, loves solving complex technical challenges, and enjoys working closely with both technical and executive stakeholders.

What You’ll Do

• Lead technical discovery conversations with engineering and architecture teams.
• Own technical demos, Proofs of Value, and enterprise evaluations end-to-end.
• Translate customer requirements into solutions that highlight Zesty’s value and ROI.
• Support RFPs, security reviews, and detailed technical inquiries.
• Train and enable sales teams and partners (presentations, docs, workshops, etc.).
• Collaborate with Product, R&D, CS, and Support to ensure customer needs are met.
• Influence deal strategy and help remove technical blockers throughout the sales cycle.

Requirements

• 3+ years supporting technical products in customer-facing roles.
• 3+ years as a Senior Sales Engineer, Solutions Architect, Pre-Sales Engineer, Consultant, or similar in enterprise environments.
• Solid understanding of Kubernetes (autoscaling, scheduling, cost optimization).
• Strong Linux administration experience (Ubuntu, Red Hat).
• Deep AWS expertise (EC2, EKS, EBS, VPC/networking).
• Experience with SaaS and cloud-native architectures.
• Hands-on experience with IaC tools (Terraform, Helm, CloudFormation).
• Bonus: Exposure to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work with both technical and executive stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple technical evaluations in parallel.
• Willingness to travel for client meetings and industry events.

Why is it exciting being a Zester- 

At Zesty, we're a team of driven, forward-thinkers passionate about pushing the boundaries of cloud optimization. Our culture encourages creativity, curiosity, and a willingness to embrace challenges.

We care about: 

• Diversity & Inclusion - Be yourself! We welcome employees from all backgrounds and have created a workplace where everyone can feel empowered.
• Transparency - Transparency: We share our success stories, failures, processes, numbers, and everything in between. If you want to know something that wasn't shared with you – just ask!
• One Team- We genuinely trust each other which enables us to act as one team working together toward the same mission. All team members are equally important
• Open Communication & Feedback -When facing challenges, we always look for fresh ideas and ways to overcome them and We embrace constructive feedback that can and should be given to anyone
• Ego is out at the door - Ego obscures and disrupts everything: the planning process, the ability to take good advice, and the ability to accept constructive feedback. We operate with a high degree of humility.