Senior Solutions Engineer

Okta; Illinois; On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Okta is seeking an experienced Pre-Sales leader to drive technical wins in large enterprise accounts across the Chicago area. You will translate complex security concepts into business value, engage with CISOs and IT leaders, and position Okta’s differentiated, compliant platform to solve critical identity and access challenges.

With 8+ years in pre-sales, expect cross-functional collaboration, rapid learning of new enterprise technologies, and a focus on risk, breach protection, and operational

Qualifications

• 8+ years total Pre-Sales experience.
• Strong executive communication and storytelling abilities.
• Technical foundation with ability to learn new enterprise technologies quickly.
• Broad understanding of Identity Security landscape including SSO/MFA, PAM, and Zero Trust.

Responsibilities

• Master the discovery process with customers to uncover pain points and business value.
• Collaborate with CISOs, IT Security leaders, and enterprise architects to drive technical wins.
• Position Okta's differentiators, architecture, and compliance in the customer's decision criteria.
• Lead value-based sales motions and guide complex B2B SaaS deals to closure by linking capabilities to business drivers.

Skills

Pre-Sales Excellence

Executive Communication

Technical Agility

Identity Security Expertise

Job description

• Master the Discovery Process: Leverage exceptional active listening to dig deep into customer pain points. You will uncover the 'why' behind the initiative, focusing on how Okta's vast pre-built integrations and scalable architecture can solve their most complex, diverse environmental challenges.
• Navigate Complex Organizations: Translate highly technical concepts into clear, compelling business value. You will regularly collaborate with and present to key stakeholders across matrixed enterprises, including CISOs, IT Security leaders, Identity Engineers, Enterprise Architects, PAM Admins, and Application Owners.
• Differentiate and Win: Confidently articulate Okta’s unique and comparative differentiators to shape the technical buyer’s decision criteria. You will highlight our highly available architecture, robust regulatory compliance, and comprehensive platform coverage to prove Okta is the premier partner for world-class security.
• Pioneer AI Visibility & Control: Position Okta at the forefront of the AI era. You will guide enterprise customers on how to discover unmanaged AI agents, evaluate their risk, and establish a single, centralized control plane for all human and non-human identities.
• Drive Value-Based Outcomes: Lead the technical evaluation phases of complex B2B SaaS sales cycles. You will proactively overcome objections and drive enterprise deals to technical closure by continuously tying Okta's capabilities back to the customer's core business drivers of breach protection and operational resilience.
• Be a Trusted Advisor: Build strong, consultative relationships with strategic customers, establishing yourself as a subject matter expert in Identity Security, modern identity standards (SAML, OIDC, SSF), and Zero Trust Architecture.

What You'll Bring

• Enterprise Pre-Sales Excellence: Recent, proven experience in a customer-facing Pre-Sales role (Sales Engineer, Solutions Consultant, Pre-Sales Engineer), with a strong track record of quota attainment and securing technical wins explicitly with large, complex enterprise accounts. 8+ years of total Pre-Sales experience.
• Consultative & Interpersonal Acumen: Top-tier executive communication, presentation, and storytelling abilities. You have experience running value-based sales motions, know how to read a room, build rapport quickly, and influence decision-makers by focusing on revenue, cost, and risk.
• Technical Agility: A strong technical foundation coupled with a demonstrated ability to learn new enterprise technologies and architectures rapidly.
• Identity & Cybersecurity Expertise: Broad understanding of the complete Identity Security landscape. You recognize that identity is much more than just SSO and MFA, bringing knowledge of Identity Governance, Privileged Access Management, Threat Protection, modern authentication protocols, and Zero Trust Architecture.

Bonus Skills (Highly Desired)

• Advanced Identity Governance & Automation: Direct, hands-on experience positioning and selling Identity Governance and Administration (IGA), Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions, and identity security automation workflows to large enterprises.
• AI Security & Architecture: Experience with or a strong understanding of artificial intelligence tools, AI agents, LLM integrations, and the emerging security implications of non-human identity within the enterprise.

The annual salary + commission range for this position for candidates located in Chicago is