About the role
We are looking for a Solutions Engineer with 3+ years of experience to own the technical sales motion at Openlayer — a fast-moving, YC-backed AI governance platform trusted by Fortune 500 enterprises. You'll be taking the demo and POC process directly from the co-founder/CPO, becoming the technical reason prospects buy, and operating as a true owner from first call to signed contract.
What will you be doing?
- Run tailored, compelling demos of a highly technical product to audiences ranging from ML engineers to C-suite executives — solo, without a script
- Lead and execute POCs end-to-end: build customized demo environments, write integration code, and define success criteria that convert evaluations into contracts
- Answer deep technical questions live and in the room — on AI architecture, compliance, security, and product capabilities — with composure and credibility
- Partner closely with Account Executives on deal strategy, qualification, and close; be the technical backbone of every enterprise deal
- Turn deal learnings into reusable assets — demo libraries, POC playbooks, and competitive battlecards — that compress every future sales cycle
Key Requirements
- Must have prior experience as a Solutions Engineer, Sales Engineer, or Pre-Sales Consultant — this is a hard requirement; we will not convert a pure engineer into this role
- Exceptional communication and executive presence: able to run discovery, lead demos, and build trust with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Technically fluent enough to build and debug a working POC — comfortable with Python and/or TypeScript, APIs, and SDKs (production-level code not required)
- Able to ramp quickly and run demos independently within 60 days — slow onboarding is a disqualifier
- Actively uses AI tools (Claude, Copilot, or equivalent) as a meaningful part of daily workflow
About Openlayer
Openlayer is a Series A AI governance and observability platform purpose-built for large enterprises navigating the complexities of deploying AI at scale. The company's mission is to give organizations the technical controls they need to evaluate, monitor, and deploy AI systems safely — serving as a control plane for AI that bridges governance teams and technical enforcement. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in San Francisco, Openlayer is backed by Y Combinator, Liquid 2 Ventures, and notable angels including the founders of Instacart, Instagram, and Vercel — having raised $19.3M to date, including a $14.5M Series A in May 2025. The platform delivers 100+ automated tests, real-time guardrails against prompt injections, PII leakage, bias, toxicity, and hallucinations, and full traceability across RAG pipelines, agents, and complex multi-step AI workflows — supporting compliance with frameworks including NIST, ISO 42001, and the EU AI Act. Customers are primarily Fortune 500 and Fortune 2000 organizations with over $1B in annual revenue operating in highly regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, and telecom. At just ~25 people, Openlayer operates with a strong ownership mentality and a hands-on founding team — the CTO personally manages enterprise on-prem deployments — reflecting a culture that prizes deep technical craft, customer obsession, speed, and building things that work in the real world.
Required skills
Other roles at Openlayer
Job details
Salary
$136,000 - $192,000
Equity
0.2% - 0.3%
Location
Remote
Experience
3+ years
Funding
Total raised
$19.4M
Last stage
Series A
Investors
Founders
What happens next.
No applications, no recruiter spam. Just the intro.
Confirm the fit
A few questions to make sure this role is the right shape for you. Two minutes.
I pitch you to the company
I write the intro, send it to the founder, and handle the back-and-forth.
A meeting lands on your calendar
If they’re a yes, I book the chat. You show up — that’s the whole job-hunt.