[Hiring] Senior Solutions Engineer @Tailscale

Role Description

We are hiring a Senior Solutions Engineer to partner with Account Executives on enterprise accounts. You will own the technical side of the sales cycle—qualifying use cases, leading discovery and architecture, running demos and proofs-of-concept, and supporting early adoption and expansion. You will act as a trusted advisor to networking, security, platform, and IT stakeholders.

This is a senior individual-contributor role that blends deep networking and security expertise with consultative selling. You will co-own pipeline outcomes, help close and expand enterprise deals, and feed real customer requirements back into product and go-to-market.

This role is a strong fit for a senior SE who wants to stay close to the technology, work enterprise deals from qualification through early adoption, and help customers replace complicated networking—and privileged/AI access—with something simpler and more secure.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with Account Executives to identify, qualify, and close new enterprise logos and expansion opportunities, confirming technical fit aligned with business goals.
• Lead technical discovery, solution architecture, demos, and proofs-of-concept (POCs) that help customers make confident buying decisions.
• Design Tailscale architectures for hybrid, multi-cloud, and on-premises environments, including identity-based access and secure connectivity patterns.
• Align Tailscale PAM for identity-aware access with session recording, and Aperture as an AI gateway for LLM/API access.
• Translate technical capabilities into clear business value, including security outcomes, operational simplicity, and time-to-value.
• Serve as a trusted advisor across multi-stakeholder deals, guiding implementation and collaborating with Customer Success to drive best-practice adoption.
• Support security reviews and common enterprise diligence (architecture reviews, questionnaires, and compliance discussions).
• Provide structured feedback to Product, Engineering, and GTM teams based on enterprise use cases, blockers, and competitive dynamics.
• Assist in building reusable demo environments, solution blueprints, and enablement assets that raise the quality and consistency of enterprise engagements.
• Stay current on zero-trust networking, privileged access, identity integrations, cloud networking, and AI access/governance so you can position the full Tailscale portfolio accurately and competitively.

Qualifications

• 5–7+ years in a customer-facing Solutions Engineer, Sales Engineer, or Solutions Architect role within networking, security, infrastructure, or related enterprise software.
• Proven experience co-owning pipeline and influencing quota outcomes with Sales on both new business and expansion.
• Deep understanding of zero-trust networking, secure connectivity, and IAM integrations (SSO, SAML, OIDC, SCIM).
• Strong networking fundamentals and troubleshooting skills: TCP/IP, DNS, routing, firewalls, NAT traversal, TLS/HTTPS, and related concepts.
• Hands-on systems administration and troubleshooting across Linux and at least one of macOS or Windows.
• Hands-on architecture experience with AWS, GCP, and/or Azure, including hybrid environments.
• Experience managing cloud and network infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform preferred for policy/ACL; Pulumi, Ansible, or CloudFormation also relevant).
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex systems clearly and translate technical features into business value for both practitioners and executives.
• Experience running technical evaluations, customized demos, and POCs in enterprise or upper mid-market environments.
• Comfort operating in a high-growth, fully distributed environment with a high degree of ownership and competing priorities.
• Willingness to travel occasionally (approximately 10–20%) for customer meetings, workshops, and internal collaboration.

Nice to Have

• Experience selling or architecting zero-trust, SASE, ZTNA, VPN, PAM, or secure networking solutions.
• Familiarity with privileged access patterns: JIT access, session recording, least-privilege to SSH/databases/Kubernetes, and replacing shared credentials.
• Familiarity with AI gateways, LLM access governance, MCP/API proxying, or centralized model/provider key management.
• Hands-on scripting or automation experience (Python, Bash, Go, or similar) for demos, POCs, or integrations.
• Knowledge of the competitive landscape in zero-trust, PAM, and AI access control.
• Experience supporting security reviews, architecture diligence, and compliance discussions (SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI) in a pre-sales context.
• Previous exposure to Tailscale, WireGuard, or similar mesh-networking technologies.
• Experience creating reusable architectures, demo environments, or SE playbooks.

Benefits

• An inclusive, flexible environment where you can be your authentic self.
• A competitive total compensation package, including a base salary, an equity incentive plan, and variable commission (for quota-based roles).
• Comprehensive group benefits with no waiting period, covering health, vision, dental, and more for you and your family.
• Remote first company—most of our teams work fully remotely.
• Employer-funded retirement contributions, matching your retirement contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to a maximum annual employer contribution equal to 0.75% of your eligible compensation.
• Support for your personal and professional development with $1500 USD annually for professional development.
• Paid time off and a flexible program supporting any situation life throws your way.
• A build-your-own home office setup with a company-owned laptop (Mac or PC), monthly home internet reimbursement, and $500 USD to customize your workstation.
• Paid parental leave program with top-ups (20 weeks for birthing parents, 16 weeks for non-birthing parents).