Solutions Consultant

Whale; California; On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Whale is seeking an experienced Solutions Engineer to act as the technical advisor throughout the sales lifecycle for enterprise retail customers. You will shape solutions, deliver compelling demos, and communicate the value and operational impact of our AI-driven retail platform.

You will collaborate with Sales, Product, Engineering, and Customer Success to ensure technical alignment, solution success, and customer confidence prior to closing. On-site work in stores may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in presales, solution architecture, or technical consulting in SaaS, AI/ML, computer vision, or enterprise retail software.
• Strong understanding of enterprise retail operations (e.g., store analytics, customer engagement, loss prevention).
• Technical proficiency in AI, computer vision, or data analytics solutions, with the ability to articulate and demo product capabilities.
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to simplify complex technology concepts for business audiences.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Self-starter mindset with adaptability to a fast-paced, emerging market environment.
• Experience working cross-functionally with product, engineering, and sales teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical discovery sessions to uncover business challenges, system environments, and solution requirements.
• Architect and position solutions based on customer needs.
• Develop and deliver tailored product presentations, demos, and solution walkthroughs for stakeholders from operations teams to C-suite executives.
• Own technical proposal development, including solution scope, architecture diagrams, and technical responses for tenders, RFPs, RFIs, and security questionnaires.
• Build proof-of-concept (POC) plans including success criteria, deployment scope, and measurable KPIs.
• Support field teams during technical validation, pilot execution, and pre-contract success metrics, including on-site work in customer stores when needed.
• Partner with product and engineering teams to share market needs and influence roadmap prioritization.
• Stay current on industry trends, competitive intelligence, and AI innovation in retail.

Skills

Presales

Solution architecture

Technical consulting

AI/ML

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering

Job description

We are seeking an experienced Solutions Engineer to support our expanding portfolio of enterprise retail customers. In this role, you will act as the technical advisor throughout the sales engagement lifecycle, shaping solution direction, delivering compelling demonstrations, and ensuring customers clearly understand the value and operational impact of our AI-driven retail platform.

You’ll collaborate closely with Sales, Product, Engineering, and Customer Success teams to ensure technical alignment, solution success, and strong customer confidence prior to closing.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Presales & Solutioning

• Lead technical discovery sessions to uncover business challenges, system environments, and solution requirements.
• Architect and position solutions based on customer needs.
• Develop and deliver tailored product presentations, demos, and solution walkthroughs for stakeholders from operations teams to C-suite executives.

Proposal & Technical Validation

• Own technical proposal development, including solution scope, architecture diagrams, and technical responses for tenders, RFPs, RFIs, and security questionnaires.
• Build proof-of-concept (POC) plans including success criteria, deployment scope, and measurable KPIs.
• Support field teams during technical validation, pilot execution, and pre-contract success metrics, including on-site work in customer stores when needed.

Cross-Team Alignment & Market Expertise

• Partner with product and engineering teams to share market needs and influence roadmap prioritization.
• Stay current on industry trends, competitive intelligence, and AI innovation in retail.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in presales, solution architecture, or technical consulting in SaaS, AI/ML, computer vision, or enterprise retail software.
• Strong understanding of enterprise retail operations (e.g., store analytics, customer engagement, loss prevention).
• Technical proficiency in AI, computer vision, or data analytics solutions, with the ability to articulate and demo product capabilities.
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to simplify complex technology concepts for business audiences.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Self-starter mindset with adaptability to a fast-paced, emerging market environment.
• Experience working cross-functionally with product, engineering, and sales teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• AI-native working style: uses AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT, including agents and automation, in daily work, and can walk through a workflow they built and the methodology behind it.
• Hands-on experience with networking and IoT in real-world environments (e.g., IP cameras, RTSP, NVR, PoE, VLANs, firewall configuration, edge devices).
• Fluency in Chinese is a strong plus, for close collaboration with our product and R&D teams in China.
• Location wise preferrabley San Francisco Bay Area or New York City