Forward Deployed Engineering Leader

Cohesity•Santa Clara, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Cohesity is a leader in AI-powered data security and management. Aided by an extensive ecosystem of partners, Cohesity makes it easy to secure, protect, manage, and get value from data — across the data center, edge, and cloud. Cohesity helps organizations defend against cybersecurity threats with comprehensive data security and management capabilities, including immutable backup snapshots, AI-based threat detection, monitoring for malicious behavior, and rapid recovery at scale. We’ve been named a Leader by multiple analyst firms and have been globally recognized for Innovation, Product Strength, and Simplicity in Design. Join us on our mission to shape the future of our industry. Cohesity is a leader in AI-powered data security and management. We make it easy to secure, protect, manage, and get value from data — across the data center, edge, and cloud. Our innovative platform and solutions protect organizations against cybersecurity threats and help them recover from attacks, while enabling next-generation AI workloads. With Cohesity, organizations can move faster, without worrying about their most critical asset: data. Cohesity is hiring a Director to lead our Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) organization — a dedicated post-sale technical execution team. This team owns the last mile of technical delivery for our most complex and highest-value customers, ensuring Cohesity's platform capabilities translate into production outcomes and measurable business value. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who is equally comfortable in setting strategy, guiding complex deployments through technical risk, and stepping in to unblock production issues. You will serve as the technical bridge between the field and product, and a key driver of Gross Revenue Retention (GRR) across Cohesity's Top 200 accounts.

Requirements

10+ years in customer-facing technical roles (solutions engineering, FDE, professional services, or technical account management)
5+ years leading teams of senior engineers or technical specialists
Proven ownership of complex, enterprise-scale deployments in production environments
Experience leading distributed, global teams
Deep familiarity with data protection, storage, cloud, or security platforms (e.g., Cohesity, Commvault, Rubrik, Veeam, NetApp)
Demonstrated ability to influence GRR through technical delivery, with measurable impact
Strong track record diagnosing and resolving complex, multi-system failures in production environments
Experience acting as a trusted advisor to enterprise IT and security leaders (CISOs, VPs, Directors)
Familiarity with modern cloud and AI infrastructure (Kubernetes, hybrid cloud, object storage, unstructured data systems)
Ability to translate technical deployment status into business risk for executive stakeholders
Customer-first mindset — defines success by customer outcomes and business impact
Structured problem solver — applies repeatable approaches to complex failures
Builder with scale mindset — able to create clarity, structure, and consistency in evolving environments
Outcome-oriented — focuses on production impact vs. activity
Strong executive presence — comfortable engaging C-level leaders internally and externally
Deep field empathy — understands enterprise sales cycles and customer realities
Highly effective at driving alignment without direct authority
Strong bias for documentation and operational rigor

Responsibilities

Lead, develop, and grow a team of Forward Deployed Engineers at the Individual Contributor level (IC5) across Tier 1 and Tier 2 account coverage
Establish team operating rhythm, performance standards, and career development frameworks
Evolve FDE operating models, engagement playbooks, tooling, and documentation to support scale
Manage a globally distributed team (70% India / 30% US) with consistent standards and an inclusive culture
Own post-sale technical delivery for Cohesity's Top 300 accounts — from complex deployments and Proof of Concept (POC)-to-production conversions to ongoing optimization
Act as the senior technical escalation point for Tier 1 engagements; partner with Customer Success Managers (CSMs), Sales Engineers (SEs), and Strategic Technical Assistance Team (STAT) Centers of Excellence ( CoEs ) on at-risk accounts
Drive time-to-production, deployment success rates, and POC conversion outcomes
Ensure FDE engagement translates into measurable adoption, utilization , and renewal signals — grounded in customer outcomes, not activity metrics
Represent the customer perspective internally by translating deployment friction and adoption blockers into actionable product feedback
Lead structured root cause analysis on deployment failures, misconfigurations, and adoption stalls; convert findings into reusable playbooks
Assess customer infrastructure environments and prescribe Cohesity deployment patterns optimized for performance, resilience, and long-term manageability
Identify and address both technical and organizational blockers impacting customer outcomes
Drive accountability for reducing time-to-unblock across critical Tier 1 engagements
Influence Gross Revenue Retention by removing technical barriers that lead to churn in strategic accounts
Partner with Customer Success (CS) and Finance to track FDE-driven retention and expansion impact
Equip CSMs and renewal teams with proof-of-value artifacts, usage insights, and technical Return on Investment (ROI) narratives
Own and enforce high-quality technical handoffs from pre-sale Sales Engineer (SE) to FDE, including clear account context, risk assessment, and early success plans
Align cross-functional teams around shared customer outcomes
Maintain a structured view of product gaps and deployment friction; regularly present prioritized recommendations to Product and leadership
Partner with Sales Engineering leadership to strengthen pre-to-post-sale continuity for complex accounts
Act as a strategic partner to the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and Customer Success (CS) leadership on account prioritization, risk identification, and escalation strategy