Solution Engineer - Confluent

International Business Machines Corporation; United States; Remote; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM in the United States is seeking a Solutions Engineer to bridge technical design with customer success in the Global Markets organization. You will partner with Account Executives, surface customer needs, and craft technical designs to meet business goals, helping drive adoption of Confluent technology and delivering value across industries.

The role requires hands-on engagement in discovery, PoCs, demonstrations, and workshops, plus strong communication skills to present to executives and

Qualifications

• 1+ years of Solutions Engineering or similar work experience.
• Experience with Event-Driven architecture, Data Integration & Processing Techniques, Database & Data Warehouse technologies.
• First-Hand exposure to Cloud Architecture, Migrations, Deployment & Application Development.
• Experience with Automation, GitOps and Kubernetes.
• Proficiency in Java, Python or SQL.
• Technical certifications - Cloud Developer/Architect, Data Engineering & Integration.
• Clear, consistent demonstration of self-starter behavior, a desire to learn new things and tackle hard technical problems.
• Exceptional presentation and communications capabilities.
• Confidence presenting to a highly skilled and experienced audience, ranging from developers to enterprise architects and up to C-level executives.

Responsibilities

• Help advance new & innovative Data Streaming use-cases from conception to Go-Live
• Execute on and lead Technical Proofs of Concept
• Conduct Discovery & Whiteboard Sessions to develop new use-cases
• Provide Thought Leadership by delivering Technical Talks and Workshops
• Guide customers with hands-on help and best practice to drive operational maturity of their Confluent Deployment
• Analyze Customer Consumption trends and identify Optimization opportunities
• Work closely with Product and Engineering teams, and serve as a key Product advocate across the Customer, Partner and Industry ecosystem
• Forge strong relationships with key customer stakeholders and serve as a dependable partner for them

Skills

Event-driven architecture

Data integration

Data processing techniques

Cloud architecture

Migrations

Deployment

Application development

Java

Python

SQL

Cloud certifications

Self-motivation

Presentation skills

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor’s Degree

Tools

Kafka

Apache Flink

Job description

Introduction

At IBM Global Sales, we bring together innovation, collaboration, and expertise to help clients solve their most complex business challenges. Working across industries and geographies, you'll partner with colleagues, clients, and partners to co-create solutions that drive digital transformation and lasting impact.Success in Global Sales is built on curiosity, empathy, and collaboration. You'll connect technical understanding with strong people skills, building trusted relationships and shaping solutions that improve business and society. With world-class onboarding, continuous learning, and a supportive culture, IBM offers the tools and opportunities to grow your career. Join us and be part of a global team that’s passionate about driving innovation and making a difference.

Your role and responsibilities

Solutions Engineers at Confluent drive not only the early-stage evaluation within the sales process, but also play a crucial role in enabling ongoing value-realization for customers, all while helping them move up the adoption maturity curve. In this role you’ll partner with Account Executives to be the key technical advisor in service of the customers. You’ll be instrumental in surfacing the customers’ stated or implicit Business Needs, and coming up with Technical Designs to best meet these needs. You may find yourself at times facilitating art of the possible discussions and storytelling to inspire customers in adopting new patterns with confidence, and at other times driving creative solutioning to help get past difficult technical roadblocks. Overall, we look upon Solutions Engineers to be a key cog within the Customer Success Team that help foster an environment of sustained success for the customer and incremental adoption of Confluent’s Technology.

What You Will Do:

• Help advance new & innovative Data Streaming use-cases from conception to Go-Live
• Execute on and lead Technical Proofs of Concept
• Conduct Discovery & Whiteboard Sessions to develop new use-cases
• Provide Thought Leadership by delivering Technical Talks and Workshops
• Guide customers with hands-on help and best practice to drive operational maturity of their Confluent Deployment
• Analyze Customer Consumption trends and identify Optimization opportunities
• Work closely with Product and Engineering teams, and serve as a key Product advocate across the Customer, Partner and Industry ecosystem
• Forge strong relationships with key customer stakeholders and serve as a dependable partner for them

Required education

Bachelor’s Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

• 1+ years of Solutions Engineering or similar work experience
• Experience with Event-Driven architecture, Data Integration & Processing Techniques, Database & Data Warehouse technologies
• First-Hand exposure to Cloud Architecture, Migrations, Deployment & Application Development
• Experience with Automation, GitOps and Kubernetes
• Proficiency in Java, Python or SQL
• Technical certifications - Cloud Developer/Architect, Data Engineering & Integration
• Clear, consistent demonstration of self-starter behavior, a desire to learn new things and tackle hard technical problems
• Exceptional presentation and communications capabilities.
• Confidence presenting to a highly skilled and experienced audience, ranging from developers to enterprise architects and up to C-level executives

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Experience with Kafka, Apache Flink, stream processing, or real-time analytics platforms.
• Familiarity with value-based selling, MEDDPICC or similar qualification frameworks.
• Experience creating repeatable demos, technical content, playbooks, or enablement material for the broader field organization.
• A track record of mentoring peers and influencing team practices beyond your own accounts.
• Comfort engaging senior customer stakeholders and helping shape larger platform or transformation discussions.

ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM has a global presence, operating in more than 175 countries with a broad-based geographic distribution of revenue. The company’s Global Markets organization is a strategic sales business unit that manages IBM’s global footprint, working closely with dedicated country-based operating units to serve clients locally. These country teams have client relationship managers who lead integrated teams of consultants, solution specialists and delivery professionals to enable clients’ growth and innovation. By complementing local expertise with global experience and digital capabilities, IBM builds deep and broad-based client relationships. This local management focus fosters speed in supporting clients, addressing new markets and making investments in emerging opportunities. Additionally, the Global Markets organization serves clients with expertise in their industry as well as through the products and services that IBM and partners supply. IBM is also expanding its reach to new and existing clients through digital marketplaces.

YOUR LIFE @ IBM

In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.

Being an IBMer means you’ll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you’ll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.

Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.

Are you ready to be an IBMer?

ABOUT IBM

IBM’s greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.

Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we’re also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business.

At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it’s time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

IBM is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

OTHER RELEVANT JOB DETAILS

IBM offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits program. Eligible employees may have access to:

- Healthcare benefits including medical & prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, and mental health & well being

- Financial programs such as 401(k), cash balance pension plan, the IBM Employee Stock Purchase Plan, financial counseling, life insurance, short & long- term disability coverage, and opportunities for performance based salary incentive programs

- Generous paid time off including 12 holidays, minimum 56 hours sick time, 120 hours vacation, 12 weeks parental bonding leave in accordance with IBM Policy, and other Paid Care Leave programs. IBM also offers paid family leave benefits to eligible employees where required by applicable law

- Training and educational resources on our personalized, AI-driven learning platform where IBMers can grow skills and obtain industry-recognized certifications to achieve their career goals

- Diverse and inclusive employee resource groups, giving & volunteer opportunities, and discounts on retail products, services & experiences

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.

This position was posted on the date cited in the key job details section and is anticipated to remain posted for 21 days from this date or less if not needed to fill the role.

IBM will not be providing visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future. Therefore, in order to be considered for this position, you must have the ability to work without a need for current or future visa sponsorship.

The compensation range and benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year. The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location. Pay increment and frequency of pay will be in accordance with employment classification and applicable laws. For part time roles, your compensation and benefits will be adjusted to reflect your hours. Benefits may be pro-rated for those who start working during the calendar year.

This position is eligible for participation in an IBM Sales Incentive plan. Actual incentive opportunity will be based on performance and the eligible Target Incentive, as addressed in the applicable plan, all of which is subject to change. The compensation range listed for this position is the IBM Reference Salary that is used when you are not actively participating in a sales plan. Your actual base pay plus incentive opportunity will be determined by the Incentive Plan assigned to you.