Solutions Architect, SF
About The Position
Solutions Architects are the technical tip of the spear in Exa's presales motion. From the first call through the technical win, this person demonstrates Exa's capabilities and validates that they work for prospects' use cases. They partner with Account Executives on new accounts and opportunities, with success measured by technical wins, POC conversion, and pipeline velocity. The role involves discovery with engineers and executives, developing tailored demos, designing and leading workshops and proofs of concept, and making the technical case for Exa against alternatives. Solutions Architects bring in Forward Deployed Engineers when a deal requires specialist depth and provide a thorough handoff after a deal closes so customers can reach production quickly. This is an engineering role with a commercial focus, not a demo-only position.
Requirements
- Several years of hands-on programming experience, including the ability to build compelling demos, implement POCs end to end, and design and run rigorous evaluations in head-to-head competitive scenarios.
- At least 2 years of hands-on presales or technical sales experience, ideally at an AI-native or developer-first company.
- Experience owning the technical side of deals, conducting discovery and demos with technical buyers, and helping carry opportunities to close.
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to adapt presentations to CTOs, engineers, and PMs and explain complex technology simply.
- A track record of high performance in demanding environments.
- High tolerance for context-switching, ambiguity, and sustained intensity.
- Willingness to travel as needed for customer meetings and workshops.
Nice To Haves
- Experience as a solutions architect, solutions engineer, or sales engineer at a developer-tools, API, or AI company.
- Experience building with LLMs, RAG, or agents, and credible knowledge of retrieval and search quality.
- Experience helping close revenue or driving commercial outcomes at a previous company.
- Ability to thrive in early-stage environments where job responsibilities change frequently.
- Enjoyment of helping prospects understand a product through demos.
- Strong interest in organizing the world's knowledge and making it accessible to machines.
Responsibilities
- Lead the technical side of new opportunities alongside Account Executives, from the first call through technical win.
- Conduct discovery to understand prospects' use cases, architecture, data needs, and success criteria, and qualify where Exa fits.
- Build and deliver tailored demos, sample apps, and prototypes using prospects' own problems.
- Design and run workshops and proofs of concept with clear success criteria, timelines, and evaluation plans, and drive them to a decision.
- Win technical evaluations by benchmarking Exa on quality, latency, and cost and making a clear case against alternatives.
- Handle technical objections and answer security, compliance, and architecture questions.
- Bring in Forward Deployed Engineers as specialists when deals require deeper expertise and conduct a clean handoff after close.
- Feed market signals back to Product, including prospect requests, reasons for lost deals, and opportunities to improve win rates.
- Build reusable presales assets, including demo environments, reference architectures, and evaluation playbooks.
Benefits
- Premium medical, dental, and vision benefits.
- Fertility benefits.
- Monthly wellness stipend.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
