Manager, Solutions Engineering

Yext • New York, NY

1d

About The Position

This is an exciting opportunity for a high-performing, tenured Principal or Senior Solutions Engineer ready to take their first step into people leadership. As a Manager of Solutions Engineering, you will be a player-coach: leading a regional or sector-aligned team of Solutions Engineers while continuing to operate as an active presales practitioner. You will combine your deep technical and commercial expertise with a new focus on coaching, team performance, and operational excellence — leading solutions engagements across Enterprise and/or Reseller opportunities alongside your people leadership responsibilities. Reporting to the VP of Global Solutions Engineering, you will serve as the bridge between individual contributors and SE leadership — helping your team deliver consistent, high-quality presales engagements while growing in their careers. This role is specifically designed for a Senior or Principal Solutions Engineer who has proven themselves as a trusted IC, understands the nuances of complex enterprise sales cycles, and is ready to multiply their impact through a team. If you are looking to take your SE career into management without stepping away from the work you love, this is the role for you.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience as a Senior or Principal Solutions Engineer within a SaaS or digital platform environment, with a track record of strong individual performance.
• Proven experience supporting complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise sales cycles and influencing deal outcomes including win rate and deal size.
• A genuine desire to move into people management — and an awareness of what the transition from IC to manager requires.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage competing priorities, triage requests, and hold a clear view of team workload across multiple active deals.
• The ability to deliver constructive feedback, hold performance conversations with empathy and clarity, and develop talent at different stages of their careers.
• Solid technical grounding in AI-driven search, data platforms, APIs, and web technologies, with the ability to credibly engage with both technical and business audiences.
• Experience with structured enterprise sales methodologies (MEDDPICC) and presales best practices.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience formally or informally mentoring, coaching, or onboarding other Solutions Engineers.
• Exposure to managing or coordinating across multiple markets or geographies.
• Background in vertical-focused enterprise solutions, particularly in regulated industries such as Financial Services or Healthcare.
• Multilingual capabilities.
• Familiarity with people management tools and HR processes within a SaaS or technology business.

Responsibilities

• Maintain an active presence in customer-facing engagements, including discovery workshops, executive demos, and solution presentations, particularly on strategic or high-complexity deals.
• Lead customer engagements with a consultant mindset — bringing structured thinking and a point of view to every interaction, rather than simply responding to briefs or demoing product. This approach is core to how Yext's customer-facing teams operate, and you will be expected to model and embed it across your team.
• Own a proportion of direct presales activity yourself, ensuring you remain current on Yext's product suite, competitive landscape, and the evolving needs of enterprise buyers
• Partner with Yext's Demo Engineering leadership and team to scope, shape, and support bespoke solutions and proof of concept engagements, bringing your regional customer context to inform what gets built
• Use your own deal involvement as a coaching tool — debriefing with your team after engagements to share what you observed and how you approached it.
• Balance your time between team oversight and direct contribution, working with the VP of Global Solutions Engineering to calibrate this as the team scales and matures.
• Lead, manage, and develop a regional or sector-aligned team of Solutions Engineers, serving as their primary point of contact for day-to-day guidance, performance conversations, and professional development.
• Actively coach your team to engage with customers as consultants first — helping them develop the habits of structured discovery, insight-led storytelling, and commercial curiosity that distinguish great SEs from good ones. This is a cultural expectation across Yext's customer-facing organisation, and your team should reflect it.
• ICs reporting to you will vary in seniority from Associate to Principal Solutions Engineer — you will need to flex your coaching approach accordingly.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, creating a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Support hiring, onboarding, and ramp planning for new SE hires in your region or vertical, partnering with HR and senior SE leadership on headcount decisions.
• Manage people-related processes including performance reviews, goal setting, leave management, and escalations.
• Identify coaching moments from deal reviews, demo feedback, and customer interactions — and translate these into structured development plans for individuals on your team.
• Act as a role model for the behaviours and standards you expect from your team, demonstrating what great looks like in customer engagements, internal collaboration, and commercial thinking.
• Attend and actively contribute to weekly SE Leadership meetings, representing your region or sector and bringing forward team performance updates, deal risks, and market insights.
• Play a leading role in the monthly Global SE All Hands, helping to shape the agenda, present regional highlights, and ensure your team is connected to the wider global presales community.
• Collaborate with SE leadership peers across regions to share best practices, align on standards, and contribute to the continuous improvement of how Yext's SE organisation operates globally.
• Serve as a key communication channel between the global SE leadership team and your ICs, translating strategic direction into clear, actionable priorities for your team.
• Oversee the triage and allocation of presales requests across your team, ensuring capacity is managed effectively and the right SE is matched to the right opportunity.
• Establish and maintain a clear view of team workload, pipeline coverage, and deal involvement, flagging risks or resourcing gaps to senior SE leadership.
• Ensure presales processes — including discovery frameworks, demo standards, and solution validation approaches — are consistently followed across your team.
• Coordinate with Sales leadership on opportunity prioritisation, helping your team focus effort where it will have the greatest commercial impact.
• Maintain accurate records of team activity, deal support, and capacity across internal systems, contributing to regional presales reporting and forecasting.
• Maintain active involvement in strategic or complex deals within your region or sector, providing senior guidance on solution design, objection handling, and executive-level storytelling.
• Support your team on RFPs, RFIs, and proof of concept engagements across key verticals which could include Financial Services, Retail, Hospitality, Healthcare, and Public Sector.
• Partner with Sales leadership on opportunity strategy, account planning, and risk identification, helping to improve regional win rates and average contract value.
• Review and provide quality oversight on customer-facing deliverables including proposals, solution narratives, and technical validations.
• Be jointly accountable with VP Global Presales for the presales quality and commercial outcomes of the most important accounts in your region or sector.
• Work with the Yext Enablement team to ensure your team has access to the latest product knowledge, competitive positioning, and presales best practices.
• In partnership with VP Global Presales, identify skill gaps across your team and close them through targeted training, shadowing opportunities, or structured coaching programmes.
• Champion new solution narratives, demo assets, and positioning frameworks within your team, helping to operationalise global go-to-market strategy at a regional level.
• Contribute regional feedback on customer needs, competitive dynamics, and market trends to Product Marketing and Product teams.
• Build strong relationships with regional Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and Professional Services leadership, acting as the presales voice in cross-functional conversations.
• Collaborate with Field Marketing on regional events, executive briefings, and account-based initiatives.
• Support post-sale continuity by partnering with Customer Success to ensure presales commitments are accurately handed over and delivered upon.
• Contribute to broader SE leadership discussions, sharing learnings from your region to help shape global presales strategy and standards.

Benefits

• This is a genuine first-line management opportunity — structured to set you up for success as a new leader, not throw you in the deep end.
• You will remain hands-on and close to the work, continuing to grow as an SE practitioner while building your leadership career.
• You will have the support of experienced SE leadership above you and a talented team of ICs around you.
• You will work at the intersection of AI, search, and enterprise digital experience — one of the most commercially relevant spaces in technology right now.
• Your impact will be visible and measurable: team performance, deal quality, and the development of the people you lead.
• You will be part of a global presales community with strong alignment across regions and genuine investment in career growth.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed