Sales Engineering Manager

Port•Austin, TX

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Port is the Agentic SDLC Platform, aiming to bring order to the complexity and chaos of modern software development, especially with the rise of AI. Following a significant Series C funding, the company is experiencing rapid growth and global expansion. The Sales Engineering (SE) team is central to Port's vision, working with sophisticated engineering organizations to implement their platform. This role involves leading the US SE team, owning the pre-sales technical strategy across the Americas, and ensuring the team can effectively conduct POCs, deliver demos, and close enterprise deals. The primary focus is on coaching, developing, and building the SE team, with involvement in critical customer calls for competitive situations, escalations, and strategic accounts. This is a high-ownership role in a fast-paced, growing company where the successful candidate will significantly shape the function's global operations.

Requirements

6+ years of strong enterprise SE experience.
Experience running technical evaluations, leading POCs, and helping close large, complex deals.
2+ years of experience managing a team of Sales Engineers or Solutions Consultants at a software company, preferably in a startup environment.
A track record of hiring and developing SE talent, not just inheriting a team.
Hands-on technically: comfortable taking over a demo, covering a POC check-in call, or whiteboarding architecture when it counts.
Comfortability in front of executives.
Ability to describe the value of software sold to rooms full of executives at large and small companies, and describe this value in any given customer’s terms easily.
Builder mindset: creates process and structure, not just manages it.

Nice To Haves

Experience in developer tooling, DevOps, platform engineering, or an adjacent technical domain is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

Lead and develop the US SE team.
Manage, coach, and grow a team of 5+ Mid Market, Enterprise and channel SEs across the Americas.
Run 1:1s and deal reviews that sharpen both technical skills and commercial judgment.
Build a culture of technical excellence, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.
Maintain deep enough fluency to jump in on critical demos, POC escalations, or competitive calls when the team needs it.
Partner with AEs, Sales leadership and product on deal strategy for strategic and complex accounts.
Serve as an escalation point, not a first responder.
Own US SE hiring end-to-end: work with recruiters, interviewing, and closing great candidates.
Work closely with the technical enablement team to maintain & improve onboarding that gets new SEs up to speed quickly and sets them up for success from day one.
Define and continuously refine SE best practices: POC frameworks, qualification criteria, discovery methodology, and handoff standards.
Influence the playbooks and processes that make the team consistent and scalable.
Champion the use of AI and automation within the SE workflow.
Partner with GTM Automation to identify and deploy tooling that gives the team real leverage.
Synthesize deal-level insights into structured, actionable feedback for Product and Engineering.
Be a credible voice from the field that helps shape roadmap priorities.