Associate Sales Engineer

First Roles; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible paid time off

Medical, dental and vision benefits

Life insurance and disability benefits

Retirement plan dependent on country

Parental leave

Fertility and family building benefits

Lunch and snacks

Discretionary benefit stipend

Free alphorn lessons

Job summary

Sierra is the leading platform for customer-facing AI agents, helping major brands transform customer experiences. The role focuses on learning the Sierra platform, delivering demos, and collaborating with Sales Engineers to ensure customer success.

You will educate customers on APIs, integrations, and execution of PoCs, while coordinating with product and sales to translate feedback into actionable improvements. This position emphasizes collaboration, learning, and customer obsession.

Qualifications

• Ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Working knowledge of cloud software, APIs and integrations, or networking and automation systems.
• Curiosity about how businesses run and building trusted relationships with customers.
• Strong written and verbal communication and attention to detail; comfortable with CRM tools.

Responsibilities

• Learn the Sierra platform and articulate product value to stakeholders.
• Assist in discovery calls and deliver standard product demos.
• Support in building demos and PoCs; keep demo environments current.
• Educate customers on Sierra APIs, webhooks, and integration patterns.

Skills

Clear communication

Explain technical concepts

Audience adaptation

CRM familiarity

Collaborative mindset

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

ABOUT US

Sierra is the leading platform for customer-facing AI agents, working with many of the world's biggest brands — including The GAP, Rocket Mortgage, SoFi, Sutter Health, and SoftBank — to transform how they serve customers and grow their businesses. We are primarily an in-person company based in San Francisco, with growing offices across North America, Europe, and Asia.

We are guided by a set of values that are at the core of our actions and define our culture: Trust, Customer Obsession, Craftsmanship, Intensity, and a commitment to balancing Family along the way. These values are the foundation of our work, and we are committed to upholding them in everything we do.

Our co-founders are Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor. Bret currently serves as Board Chair of OpenAI. Previously, he was co-CEO of Salesforce (which had acquired the company he founded, Quip) and CTO of Facebook. Bret was also one of Google's earliest product managers and co-creator of Google Maps. Before founding Sierra, Clay spent 18 years at Google, where he most recently led Google Labs. Earlier, he started and led Google's AR/VR effort, Project Starline, and Google Lens. Before that, Clay led the product and design teams for Google Workspace.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Learn the Platform: Become an expert on Sierra's platform and how AI agents transform customer experiences, from agent design and workflows to integrations, so you can speak credibly with technical and business stakeholders.
• Discovery & Demos: Participate in efficient discovery calls to understand customer needs, answer technical questions (ideally in a single conversation), and grow to deliver standard product demos and account coverage for the sales team.
• Proofs of Concept: Support senior SEs in building demos and proofs of concept, and keep demo environments current and ready for customer use.
• APIs & Integrations: Educate customers on Sierra's APIs, webhooks, and integration patterns, and build and deploy scripts against a test environment on demand.
• RFPs & Collateral: Help the team respond to RFPs, RFIs, and security questionnaires, and create presentations, positioning statements, and other sales collateral.
• Partner with Sales: Advocate for your AEs and customers in internal technical conversations, join customer meetings and events, and keep CRM records and opportunity data accurate.
• Close the Loop with Product: Act as a bridge between Sales and Product, translating customer feedback into actionable input and enrolling the right customers in beta programs.
• Grow Your Craft: Complete product, sales, and process training and certifications, with structured coaching and mentorship from senior Sales Engineers.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 1+ years of experience in a customer-facing technical role, such as pre-sales, solutions engineering, technical support, or consulting. Strong internships or early-career experience count.
• Ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Working knowledge of at least one of: cloud software, APIs and integrations, or networking and automation systems.
• Curiosity about how businesses run and a genuine interest in building trusted relationships with customers.
• Strong written and verbal communication, organization, and attention to detail, plus comfort with CRM tools (e.g., Salesforce) and standard productivity software.
• A collaborative, quick-learning mindset: someone who treats sales as a team sport and takes feedback well.

EVEN BETTER...

• Hands-on experience with APIs/webhooks, JSON, and scripting (e.g., Python or JavaScript).
• Familiarity with AI and ML concepts, workflows, or conversational AI and customer experience platforms.
• Exposure to consultative selling, or experience responding to RFPs and security questionnaires.
• A history of tinkering, whether with hardware, sensors, or side projects, that shows you learn by building.

OUR VALUES

• Trust: We build trust with our customers with our accountability, empathy, quality, and responsiveness. We build trust in AI by making it more accessible, safe, and useful. We build trust with each other by showing up for each other professionally and personally, creating an environment that enables all of us to do our best work.
• Customer Obsession: We deeply understand our customers' business goals and relentlessly focus on driving outcomes, not just technical milestones. Everyone at the company knows and spends time with our customers. When our customer is having an issue, we drop everything and fix it.
• Craftsmanship: We get the details right, from the words on the page to the system architecture. We have good taste. When we notice something isn't right, we take the time to fix it. We are proud of the products we produce. We continuously self-reflect to continuously self-improve.
• Intensity: We know we don't have the luxury of patience. We play to win. We care about our product being the best, and when it isn't, we fix it. When we fail, we talk about it openly and without blame so we succeed the next time.
• Family: We know that balance and intensity are compatible, and we model it in our actions and processes. We are the best technology company for parents. We support and respect each other and celebrate each other's personal and professional achievements.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Flexible (unlimited) paid time off
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits for you and your family
• Life insurance and disability benefits
• Retirement plan dependent on country of employment
• Parental leave
• Fertility and family building benefits through Carrot
• Lunch, as well as delicious snacks and coffee to keep you energized
• Discretionary benefit stipend giving people the ability to spend where it matters most
• Free alphorn lessons

These benefits are further detailed in Sierra's policies, may vary by region, and are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefits plans. Eligible full-time employees can participate in Sierra's equity plans subject to the terms of the applicable plans and policies.

BE YOU, WITH US

We're working to bring the transformative power of AI to every organization in the world. To do so, it is important to us that the diversity of our employees represents the diversity of our customers. We believe that our work and culture are better when we encourage, support, and respect different skills and experiences represented within our team. We encourage you to apply even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. We strive to evaluate all applicants consistently without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.