Senior Pre-Sales Systems Engineer, Higher Education (Mid-Atlantic)

Openkrill; United States; Remote; USD 141,000 - 212,000; Full time

Job summary

Everpure, a data platform leader, is hiring a Senior Pre-Sales Systems Engineer focused on Higher Education. You will lead technical engagements for R1 research universities, translating complex requirements into compelling solutions that address both research outcomes and budget considerations.

Located in the MD/VA region, you will collaborate with account teams, specialists, and partners to craft effective designs, respond to RFIs, and help institutions accelerate time-to-result while ensuring

Qualifications

• 8 or more years of relevant experience across technology and customer-facing roles.
• Pre-sales or customer-facing technical experience.
• Experience with higher education, research computing, or public sector.
• Familiarity with HPC and AI environments (Slurm, GPU storage, etc.).
• Broad technical depth across two or more areas (cloud, HPC, AI, data management, etc.).
• Track record of selling on value and aligning tech to outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Develop a deep understanding of each institution's priorities and decision makers.
• Connect Everpure technology to measurable research outcomes.
• Navigate conversations across researchers, CIOs, and procurement.
• Build business cases including TCO, power, and data center footprint.
• Lead evaluations, benchmarks, and PoCs; configure systems.
• Respond to RFIs, RFPs, and RFQs with technical and financial clarity.
• Stay current on market trends and competitor positioning.

Skills

Pre-sales experience

Customer-facing

Higher education

HPC familiarity

Cloud/AI depth

Education

BS in CS/EE or equivalent

Tools

Slurm

Kubernetes

VMware

Cloud platforms

Job description

Everpure (NYSE: P) has evolved from storage pioneer to data platform, closing fiscal 2026 with $3.7 billion in revenue, its first billion-dollar quarter, and accelerating growth into FY27. Our strategic agenda spans the companies defining the next era of technology - hyperscalers, AI labs, the AI hardware supply chain, data platform providers, and the broader AI ecosystem.

This type of work—work that changes the world is what the tech industry was founded on. So, if you're ready to seize the endless opportunities and leave your mark, come join us.

THE ROLE

Everpure (formerly Pure Storage) is hiring a Senior Pre-Sales Systems Engineer to support our Higher Education business, with a focus on R1 research universities.

R1 institutions are not one customer. A single campus can behave like a dozen different organizations at the same time: central IT running enterprise applications, research computing and HPC teams, genomics and imaging cores, AI and machine learning labs competing for GPU time, an academic medical center with its own rules and its own budget, and faculty groups buying infrastructure directly with grant money. Decisions move through CIOs, research computing directors, principal investigators, sponsored programs offices, procurement, and consortium contract vehicles, often in parallel and not always in agreement.

That environment rewards someone who can hold a lot of context at once, translate between very different audiences, and connect technology to the outcomes these institutions actually care about: time to result for researchers, compliance with sponsor and grant requirements, data that stays usable for a decade or more, and budgets that have to stretch further every year.

You will be the technical lead on these accounts, working alongside account managers, specialists, and partners to build solutions customers can defend internally, both technically and financially.

Location: MD / VA

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Develop a real understanding of what drives each institution: research priorities, funding cycles, capital versus operating constraints, and who actually makes the decision
• Connect technology, including the Everpure portfolio and the broader ecosystem, to measurable research and institutional outcomes
• Move fluently between principal investigators, research computing staff, central IT, CIOs, finance, and procurement, adapting the conversation to each audience instead of delivering the same presentation
• Build the business case alongside the technical one: total cost of ownership, power and cooling, data center footprint, staff time, and the real cost of the current environment
• Support research workloads end to end, from instrument and sequencer output through HPC and AI pipelines to long‑term retention and archive
• Help customers work through data management questions: lifecycle and retention, reproducibility, sponsor and funding agency data sharing expectations, research data governance, and security requirements such as NIST 800-171 and CMMC where they apply
• Partner closely with account managers, specialists, channel partners, and higher education purchasing consortia and contract vehicles
• Take ownership of evaluations, benchmarks, proofs of concept, and system configurations, and secure the technical win
• Capture requirements and translate them into solutions that help institutions grow their research capability rather than just their capacity
• Author responses to RFIs, RFPs, and RFQs, which in this segment are frequent and detailed
• Stay current on the competitive landscape and make sure our positioning reflects it honestly
• Follow market and research computing trends closely enough to bring that thinking back into our organization
• Lead by example living the Pure Values: Persistence, Creativity, Teamwork, Ownership and Customer-first

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

Required

• 8 or more years of relevant experience across technology, solution design, and customer-facing communication
• Pre-sales or customer-facing technical experience
• Experience with higher education, research computing, academic medical centers, or the public sector
• Familiarity with HPC and AI environments: parallel and distributed file systems, GPU‑attached storage, schedulers such as Slurm, and data pipelines for genomics, imaging, or simulation
• Broad technical depth across two or more of: cloud, HPC, AI and machine learning infrastructure, data management, core infrastructure, analytics, or financial and business applications. A career built entirely inside storage is not what we are looking for
• A track record of selling on value: uncovering what the customer is trying to accomplish and connecting technology to business, operational, and financial outcomes
• The ability to hold credible conversations with engineers, architects, executives, data scientists, researchers, finance teams, and procurement, and to adjust the message for each
• Comfort with ambiguity, and the judgment to challenge assumptions and help customers think through complicated decisions
• Curiosity, empathy, an open mind, and a genuine appetite for continuous learning
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• BS in CS, EE, another technical degree, or equivalent experience

Helpful, but not required

• Knowledge of current and emerging storage architectures (FC, iSCSI, NAS, SAN, object) and file systems
• Linux, NFS, and distributed Linux environments
• VMware, Ethernet, TCP/IP, and general networking
• AWS, Azure, or GCP, and hybrid or cloud‑native architectures
• Containers, Kubernetes, and microservices
• Data‑intensive applications such as structured databases (SQL, Oracle) and analytics platforms
• Experience with grant‑funded procurement, consortium purchasing, or public sector contract vehicles
• Experience with higher education, research computing, academic medical centers
• Familiarity with HPC, research and AI environments: parallel and distributed file systems, GPU‑attached storage, schedulers such as Slurm, and data pipelines for genomics, imaging, or simulation

If you meet most of the required list and few of the second list, we would still like to hear from you.

#LI-REMOTE

Salary ranges are determined based on role, level and location. For positions open to candidates in multiple geographical locations, the base salary range is reflective of the labor market across the applicable locations.

This role may be eligible for incentive pay and/or equity.

There is no application deadline and we accept applications on an ongoing basis until the job is filled.

The annual base salary range is:$141,400-$212,100 USD

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US:

• Innovation: We celebrate those who think critically, like a challenge, and aspire to be trailblazers.
• Growth: We give you the space and support to grow along with us and to contribute to something meaningful. We have been named Fortune's Best Workplaces in Technology, Fortune's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area, and certified as a Great Place to Work!
• Team: We build each other up and set aside ego for the greater good.
• And because we understand the value of bringing your full and best self to work, we offer a variety of perks to manage a healthy balance, including flexible time off, wellness resources, and company‑sponsored team events. Check out http://benefits.everpuredata.com/ for more information.

ACCOMMODATIONS AND ACCESSIBILITY:

Candidates with disabilities may request accommodations for all aspects of our hiring process. For more on this, contact us at [e-mail] if you’re invited to an interview.

OUR COMMITMENT TO A STRONG AND INCLUSIVE TEAM:

We’re forging a future where everyone finds their rightful place and where every voice matters. Where uniqueness isn’t just accepted but embraced. That’s why we are committed to fostering the growth and development of every person, cultivating a sense of community through our Employee Resource Groups and ad