Sales Engineer – Cloud Security Career at Chainguard

Chainguard; New York (NY); Remote; USD 150,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first culture

100% covered health insurance for you/

Stock options with 10-year exercise

Job summary

Chainguard is seeking a Senior Sales Engineer for cloud security, primarily remote with NYC enterprise focus. You will assess technical requirements, craft value propositions, and drive technical wins through demos, POCs, and credible guidance to decision-makers.

You will collaborate with engineering for requested features, support RFPs/RFIs, and represent Chainguard at events, helping customers adopt secure software supply chains.

Qualifications

• Senior Sales Engineer or Pre-Sales background with enterprise exposure.
• Experience using MEDDPICC and/or Command of the Message frameworks.
• Proven ability to sell into Enterprise and Mid Market with 3+ years in SaaS.
• Hands-on experience with container technologies and cloud platforms.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Sales to evaluate and demonstrate the value of Chainguard solutions.
• Own technical sales opportunities and articulate Chainguard's value.
• Conduct demos, POVs/POCs, and respond to RFPs/RFIs.
• Engage in webinars, meetups, conferences, and marketing initiatives.

Skills

MEDDPICC

Command of the Message

Enterprise sales

Startup experience

Strong communicator

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

Serverless

AWS

Azure

Google Cloud

Job description

Sales Engineer – Cloud Security Career at Chainguard — Remote

This is a Senior Sales Engineer role at a high-growth, well-funded startup in the red-hot supply chain security and open source software space — a sector seeing massive enterprise investment post-SolarWinds and Log4Shell. Chainguard's backer list (Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, IVP) signals a company on a credible path to IPO or major acquisition.

Career development value is high: You'll build expertise at the intersection of Kubernetes/container security, cloud-native architecture, and enterprise sales — a rare combination that commands premium compensation across the industry. MEDDPICC/Command of the Message experience is increasingly required at top-tier SaaS companies, so deepening this skill set here is transferable.

• Green flags: Remote-first culture, 10-year option exercise window (exceptional — most startups give 90 days), 100% covered health insurance for dependents, strong investor backing, and clear values documentation.


• Watch for: No salary transparency is a mild red flag; enterprise SE roles in NYC at this level typically range $150K–$220K OTE. Confirm OTE structure (base/variable split) and quota attainment rates in interviews.


• Work-life balance signals: Unlimited PTO and 18-week parental leave are above-market. Startup pace with a "bias for intentional action" value suggests a demanding but structured environment.

For professionals in DevSecOps, cloud security, or pre-sales engineering, this role offers a compelling combination of technical depth, enterprise exposure, and equity upside at a company solving a genuinely critical infrastructure problem.

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 who act as trusted advisors, able to build credibility with customers


• Strong team players committed to helping and mentoring their peers

*Must be located in the Greater New York City area*

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.

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.

Is this Sales Engineer role fully remote? Chainguard is a remote-first company and offers a monthly stipend for coworking spaces. However, this specific role requires candidates to be located in the Greater New York City area due to its enterprise sales territory focus. What technical background is required for this role? Candidates should have hands-on experience with container technologies (Kubernetes, Docker, Serverless), cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), and cloud or container security. App security experience is also valued. Does Chainguard offer equity compensation? Yes — Chainguard grants stock options upon hire and promotion, allows participation in secondary offerings, and notably provides a 10-year window to exercise your options, which is significantly more generous than the industry standard of 90 days. What sales methodologies does Chainguard use? The company uses MEDDPICC and/or Command of the Message frameworks, and experience with one or both of these is listed as a requirement for the role. What does the parental leave policy look like? Chainguard offers 18 weeks of paid parental leave for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the flexibility to take it all at once or spread it across the child's first year.

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