Senior Sales Engineer - Strategic AI

DDN; Paris; Sur place; EUR 70 000 - 110 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

DDN in Paris, a leader in data storage and AI infrastructure, seeks a Sales Engineer to architect high‑performance storage solutions across finance, pharma, education and research.

You will translate customer requirements into scalable designs, demonstrate capabilities through POCs and benchmarks, and act as a trusted advisor throughout the sales cycle. Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams, stay current on AI storage trends, and help shape product direction with customer insights.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Experience translating customer requirements into technical storage solutions.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to engineers and executives.
• Experience with AI/ML infrastructure or HPC is a plus.
• Prior pre-sales or solutions architecture experience.

Responsabilités

• Engage with customers to understand data challenges across domains.
• Translate requirements into scalable storage designs.
• Lead live demos, POCs, and performance benchmarks.
• Create BOMs and technical proposals for complex RFPs.
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams and mentor others.

Connaissances

Storage architectures

Pre-sales experience

Technical communication

S3/NFS/SMB protocols

Kubernetes / cloud platforms

AI/ML workloads

Formation

Bachelor's in Computer Science or related field

Outils

GPU clusters

Cloud platforms

RFPs/BOMs

Description du poste

As a Sales Engineer, you'll architect high-performance storage solutions that enable customers to achieve their boldest ambitions. Work across finance, pharmaceuticals, education, and physical AI—designing systems that power real-time trading, accelerate drug discovery, enable groundbreaking research, and fuel autonomous systems. You'll translate complex customer requirements into elegant technical solutions, demonstrate capabilities through POCs and benchmarks, and serve as a trusted advisor throughout the sales cycle.

What You'll Do

Customer Engagement

• Partner with customers to understand their critical data challenges—high-frequency trading, genomics processing, AI model training, or autonomous vehicle sensor fusion
• Translate technical requirements into elegant, scalable storage solutions that exceed expectations
• Act as trusted technical advisor throughout the sales cycle

Solution Design

• Architect storage for AI/ML training, HPC simulations, data analytics, and GPU-accelerated workloads
• Design for reliability, resilience, security, and scale—balancing performance with data protection
• Create BOMs, system architectures, and technical proposals for complex RFPs
• Conduct live demos, POCs, and performance benchmarking
• Integrate with GPU clusters, Kubernetes, cloud platforms, and AI frameworks

Innovation & Growth

• Stay current on AI infrastructure and storage technology trends
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams using field insights
• Mentor team members and contribute to technical thought leadership
• Shape product direction based on customer needs

What You Bring

Technical Foundation (All Levels)

• Strong understanding of storage and data architectures: SAN, NAS, object storage, parallel file systems
• Knowledge of architectural patterns for reliability, resilience, security, and scale
• Understanding of storage and data protocols: S3, POSIX, NFS, SMB
• Familiarity with network protocols: TCP/IP, InfiniBand, RDMA
• Curiosity about massively parallel technologies (Lustre, GPFS, Exascaler)
• Aptitude for AI workloads and how storage enables AI innovation
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to both engineers and executives

Entry Level (0-3 years)

• Bachelor's in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• Exposure to storage/systems through coursework, internships, or projects
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Customer-facing communication skills

Experienced (3+ years)

• 3-8+ years in pre-sales, solutions architecture, or technical consulting
• Proven track record designing storage/infrastructure solutions
• Hands-on experience with enterprise storage systems
• Experience with AI/ML infrastructure, HPC, or high-performance workloads (preferred)
• Success managing complex technical sales cycles

What Sets You Apart

• Genuine curiosity about AI and its impact across industries
• Ownership mindset—you solve problems until they're solved
• Ability to translate technical complexity into business value
• Thrive in fast-evolving technology environments
• Collaborative team player with integrity and empathy