Founding Sales Engineer

AHUM AI; Redwood City (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

AHUM AI in Redwood City seeks a Founding Sales Engineer to shape how customers adopt and deploy our platform. You will work with founders, product, engineering, and design to define solution architectures, support early deployments, and influence product direction.

This high-impact, hands-on role builds the technical foundation for customer engagement, from architecture to security reviews, with clear success criteria and measurable outcomes.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in sales engineering, solutions architecture, or technical pre-sales for enterprise software with committee-driven cycles.
• Track record leading POC evaluations from scoping to technical close.
• Experience with Windows/macOS management and device management platforms (Intune, Jamf, SCCM, Tanium).
• Experience integrating REST APIs, webhooks, authentication patterns; scripting in Python or PowerShell.
• Knowledge of LLM-based and agentic systems; ability to explain model behavior to buyers.
• Familiarity with incident, problem, and change management and change-control processes.
• Ability to communicate with admins to CIO-level executives; adapt where processes are lacking.
• Pre-sales experience in ITSM, endpoint management, or IT security.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical evaluation across enterprise sales cycles from discovery to technical close.
• Design POC and pilot engagements with defined success criteria and drive to technical wins.
• Build and maintain the demo environment, reference architectures, and technical collateral.
• Lead technical discovery with IT operations, security, and CIO-level stakeholders.
• Help build the SE function with leadership: playbook, tooling, and hiring bar.
• Support security questionnaires, deployment docs, and integration scoping.
• Own onboarding and early deployments for first customers until post-sales function exists.
• Flag blockers and gaps to Product and Engineering with live deal evidence.

Skills

Enterprise sales cycles

POC evaluations

Endpoint management

REST APIs & scripting

LLM/agentic systems knowledge

Incident/change management

Executive communication

Pre-sales ITSM

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technical field

Job description

We’re a stealth-mode startup made up of a close-knit team of seasoned engineers who thrive on tackling challenging problems and delivering high-impact solutions. Our culture is built on trust, autonomy, and the shared belief that the best solutions come from diverse perspectives and fearless experimentation. We value deep thinking, rapid iteration, and the courage to question everything.

About the role

We are looking for a Founding Sales Engineer who will play a critical role in shaping how customers adopt and deploy our platform. You will work closely with founders, product, engineering, and design partners to define solution architectures, support early customer deployments, and influence the direction of the product. This is a high-impact, hands‑on role where you will help build the technical foundation for how the company engages with customers.

Responsibilities:

• Own the technical evaluation across enterprise sales cycles end to end: discovery, demonstrations, architecture and security reviews, and technical close.
• Design POC and pilot engagements with defined success criteria and drive them to documented technical wins.
• Build and maintain the demo environment, reference architectures, and technical collateral that show autonomous investigation, diagnosis, and remediation of complex IT issues.
• Lead technical discovery with IT operations, security, and CIO-level stakeholders; translate autonomous remediation into change‑control, risk, and rollback terms enterprise buyers accept.
• Build the sales engineering function with the CEO and VP of Sales: the playbook (discovery frameworks, objection handling, competitive positioning), the tooling, and the hiring bar for the SEs who follow.
• Support security questionnaires, deployment documentation, and integration scoping alongside customer IT teams.
• Own technical onboarding and early production deployments for the first customers until a dedicated post‑sales function exists.
• Bring deal blockers, feature gaps, and integration friction back to product and engineering with evidence from live deals.

Required Qualifications:

• 7+ years in sales engineering, solutions architecture, or technical pre‑sales for enterprise software with top‑down, committee‑driven sales cycles.
• Track record leading proof‑of‑concept evaluations on production or production‑adjacent systems, from scoping through technical close.
• Fluent in enterprise endpoint management: Windows or macOS administration, at least one device management platform (Intune, Jamf, SCCM, Tanium), and patching and configuration policy.
• Practical integration skills: REST APIs, webhooks, authentication patterns, and scripting in Python or PowerShell to build and maintain demo and POC environments.
• Knowledge of LLM‑based and agentic systems deep enough to explain model behavior, evidence trails, and guardrails to a technical buying committee.
• Grounded in incident, problem, and change management, and able to position automated remediation inside a customer’s change‑control framework.
• Credible with all levels: able to communicate effectively from hands‑on system administrators to CIO‑level executives, and adaptable where no processes or playbooks exist yet.
• Pre‑sales experience in ITSM, endpoint and device management, digital employee experience, or IT security.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Hands‑on ServiceNow or similar ITSM tools experience for complex deployments.
• Familiarity with the identity and network stack that comes up in enterprise security reviews: Active Directory or Entra ID, SSO and SAML, proxies, VPN.
• Experience supporting security and compliance reviews: SOC 2 posture, data‑flow documentation, least‑privilege access models.
• Experience introducing a new product category to conservative enterprise IT buyers.
• Prior experience as a first or founding sales engineer building the function from the ground up.
• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Why Join Us:

• Shape the DNA of a product with massive market potential.
• Work alongside a small, elite team with deep domain expertise.
• Competitive equity, flexible work setup, and zero bureaucracy.
• Build something that matters – with speed, autonomy, and purpose.