Senior Field Engineer (Pre-Sales/Forward Deployed)

Cognite - AI for Industry; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

401(k) with employer matching

Competitive health, dental, vision &·

Job summary

Cognite is seeking a hands-on, customer-facing engineer to lead technical engagements in industrial AI. You will work with Account Executives to convert strategy into live Cognite solutions using Atlas AI and Cognite Data Fusion, and you will prototype ambitious agentic workflows for industrial environments.

Ideal candidates have 3+ years in pre-sales engineering in enterprise SaaS, a strong engineering background, and fluency with Python and GenAI.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in forward deployed engineering/pre-sales engineering roles ideally in enterprise SaaS, cloud platforms, or industrial software companies.
• Strong engineering background in listed fields (CS/Math/Software Eng/Physics/ML).
• Solid Python skills and understanding of GenAI landscape (embeddings, RAG, prompt chaining).
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Account Executives to prioritize strategic opportunities and act as the technical lead for complex engagements. You will move clients from high-level strategy to live, functioning versions of Cognite’s solutions through Fast AI Prototyping via Cognite Atlas AI and Cognite Data Fusion.
• Lead the design and implementation of first-of-their-kind industrial agents using the Atlas AI workbench to automate complex industrial workflows.
• Serve as the bridge between the field and Cognite’s Product organization, translating field learnings into actionable product requirements and scalable best practices.

Skills

Engineering background

Python

Travel up to 50%

Excellent communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Math/Software Engineering/Physics/ ML

Tools

Cognite Data Fusion

GenAI/Large Language Models

Atlas AI

Job description

What Cognite is: Relentless to achieve

Cognite operates at the forefront of industrial digitalization, building AI, and data solutions that solve the world’s hardest, highest-impact problems. With unmatched industrial heritage and a comprehensive suite of AI capabilities, including low-code AI agents, Cognite accelerates the digital transformation to drive operational improvements.

We thrive in challenges. We challenge assumptions. We execute with speed and ownership. If you view obstacles as signals to step forward - not backwards - you'll feel right at home here.

Our Moonshot is bold: Unlock $100B in customer value by 2035, and redefine how global industry works. Join us in this venture where AI and data meet ingenuity, and together, we will forge the path to a smarter, more connected industrial future.

How you’ll demonstrate Ownership

• Client Engagement & Moving Strategy to Reality: Partner with Account Executives to prioritize strategic opportunities and act as the technical lead for complex engagements. You will move clients from high-level strategy to live, functioning versions of Cognite’s solutions through Fast AI Prototyping via Cognite Atlas AI™ and Cognite Data Fusion®.


• Agentic Solution Development: Lead the design and implementation of first-of-their-kind industrial agents. You will leverage the Atlas AI workbench to automate complex industrial workflows, ensuring solutions are technically feasible, scalable, and grounded in the contextualized data foundation of our Industrial Knowledge Graph.


• Technical Representation & Use Case Design: Lead use case workshops and briefings, translating functional and non-functional requirements into deliverable high-level use cases. You will build executive confidence by delivering client-focused demos and reference architectures that prove the ROI of Industrial AI.


• Product Innovation & Field Leadership: Act as the critical bridge between the field and Cognite’s Product organization. Translate "field friction" and deployment learnings into actionable product requirements and scalable best practices that strengthen Cognite’s position as the leader in Industrial DataOps.

The Impact you bring to Cognite

• Industrial Architecture Expertise: Ability to design scalable architectures that unify siloed IT/OT/ET data into a single source of truth using Cognite Data Fusion®.


• Agentic AI Proficiency: Demonstrated experience building with LLMs (Gemini, Claude, GPT-4) and a deep understanding of the Agentic AI landscape to create trusted, mission-critical industrial agents via Cognite Atlas AI™.


• Full-Stack Solution Engineering: Ability to orchestrate and build end-to-end prototypes—integrating GenAI components, CDF data models, and legacy customer systems—using scalable software practices and open-source AI frameworks.


• Technical Evangelism & Strategic Influence: The ability to distill complex technical AI solutions into compelling, value-driven narratives. You can pivot seamlessly between deep architectural sessions with engineers and strategy briefings with C-level executives.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years in forward deployed engineering/pre-sales engineering roles ideally in enterprise SaaS, cloud platforms, or industrial software companies.


• Strong engineering background. Preferred fields include but are not limited to Computer Science, Mathematics, Software Engineering, Physics, and Machine Learning.


• A strong foundation in Python and a deep understanding of the GenAI landscape (embeddings, RAG, and prompt chaining).


• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills.


• Ability and interest to travel up to 50% as needed to be "on the ground" where the impact happens.

Preferred Experience

• Education or experience in the industrial space (e.g., Petroleum, Chemical, Mechanical, or Control System Engineering).


• Previous customer facing or sales experience.


• You’ve worked with "messy" real-world variables from the Industries we work in (Energy, Oil and Gas, Chemicals, Life Sciences, Discrete) and understand, for example, why data quality in a refinery is harder than data quality in a web app.


• You are excited to bridge the gap between traditional heavy industry and the future of Autonomous Operations via Cognite Data Fusion® and Agentic AI.

A snapshot of our many perks and benefits as a Cogniter

• Competitive compensation


• 401(k) with employer matching


• Competitive health, dental, vision & disability coverages for employees and all dependents


• We're globally recognized domain experts with an international presence that spans Phoenix, Houston, Oslo Tokyo, Bengaluru, and Abu Dhabi.

Cognite is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment at work and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive the same level of consideration for employment.