Sr. Solution Engineer & Team Lead

We are hiring a Senior Solution Engineer & Team Lead to support our rapidly scaling pre-sales organization with a focus on higher education and student services. This role is designed as a player-coach, spending approximately 75% of time directly supporting sales cycles as the primary Solution Engineer for the EMEA region, and 25% leading, coaching, and elevating a team of functional Solution Engineers across global markets. The ideal candidate brings hands-on operational experience from a university or equivalent institution (e.g., student affairs, career services, employability, student success, disability services, academic advising, case management) combined with proven pre-sales expertise within SaaS. They should thrive in discovery conversations, executive-level presentations, and value-based workflow storytelling, while also helping others to grow and standardize excellence. The Role The Senior Solutions Engineer (Sr. SE) is responsible for doing anything and everything to help the sales team meet or exceed their numbers. The Solutions Engineer interacts with clients to execute key aspects of the sales strategy by developing appropriate solutions and building relationships. The Sr. SE focuses on translating client needs into specific, deliverable requirements and solutions, and helps qualify and quantify opportunities. They help clients define specifications and requirements, resolve technical issues arising during the sales engagement, and provide in depth presentations to both administrator and management-level audiences. The Sr. SE plays a key role leading a number of sales support initiatives as well as education and communication programs across the SE team and as a member of the global operations team. Primary Responsibilities (Player – Approx. 75%) Serve as the dedicated Solution Engineer supporting pipeline and sales activity in the EMEA region. Lead detailed discovery, persona-aligned demos, value-based presentations, RFP strategy, and proof-of-concept engagements. Partner closely with Account Executives and Regional Sales Leaders to drive market growth and competitive positioning. Represent deep understanding of student services workflows, employability delivery models, and institutional priorities across the student lifecycle. Build credibility with senior stakeholders such as CIOs, VPs of Student Affairs, Deans, Directors of Employability/Careers, and Wellbeing leaders. Leadership & Enablement (Coach – Approx. 25%) Provide informal leadership and mentorship to functional Solution Engineers globally. Lead role-based enablement sessions, demo quality reviews, and skill development aligned to core competencies. Support resource coordination across regions and field teams based on capacity, skill alignment, and deal priority. Contribute to onboarding frameworks, certification standards, competency models, and role expectations. Serve as a point of escalation on workflow expertise, messaging clarity, and use-case design. Cross-Functional Collaboration Work with Product, Product Marketing, Enablement, Professional Services, and Customer Success to ensure continuity across the client journey. Provide structured feedback to influence roadmap priorities and go-to-market messaging based on field learnings across global markets. Contribute to scalable demo assets, vertical use cases, success stories, competitive frameworks, and reusable workflows tailored to regional needs. Required Qualifications Direct experience working in a higher education student services leadership role, preferably within employability, student affairs, student support, or workflow-driven student experience functions. Proven success supporting enterprise or large institutional sales cycles, ideally across multiple regions or regulatory environments. Demonstrated coaching, mentoring, or informal leadership experience. Exceptional communication skills with ability to present to senior university audiences. Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Communication: Advanced written and verbal communication skills. Must have the ability to build relationships over the phone. Must have proactive communication style ensuring timely status of projects to account team and clients. Must be able to extract hidden or unrealized client requirements and gain consensus on these requirements with the client. Ability to focus ambiguous client needs into specific, deliverable requirements. Able to develop relationships and communicate with high level client technical staff and executives Technical Skills: Advanced understanding of cloud-based enterprise technology and systems, preferably in higher education marketplace. Advanced understanding of technical terminology related to company products and services. Advanced understanding of sales cycles and solution selling process, preferably at multiple levels, i.e., Internet and Enterprise. Advanced level presentation skills Problem Solving: Expert analytical skills. Must be able to work through complex issues with a methodical approach. Expert ability to graphically depict solutions in a compelling manner Work Style: Able to work independently and as part of a team. Able to work under pressure with tight deadlines. Able to work on multiple projects simultaneously. Must be detail oriented Computer Skills: Advanced MS Office Suite knowledge and usage. Able to learn internal company systems, such as NetSuite Business Acumen: Must have an intermediate understanding of company financial measures. Must have advanced understanding of cloud-based enterprise software industry and sales cycles Able to travel as needed (Approx. 50%)