Specialist Solutions Engineer - Cloud Security

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business and is seeking a Specialist Solutions Engineer in Cloud Security. This senior role involves serving as a national resource for cloud security, helping organizations enhance their cloud security posture through strategic guidance and technical expertise.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as a national cloud security resource, supporting opportunities across all AHEAD regions
• Strategize and execute technical sales calls in partnership with sales representatives
• Be a thought leader within the Solutions Engineering organization, responsible for designing, architecting, and consulting for AHEAD clients in the cloud security domain
• Partner closely with delivery leadership to ensure proposed solutions align with how AHEAD executes and delivers for our clients
• Support sales teams during engagements by providing advice, solutions, and proposals optimized to meet customer technical and business requirements
• Complete required pre-sales documentation (configurations, pricing, services, presentations, justifications, etc.) quickly and accurately
• Qualify sales opportunities in terms of customer technical requirements, decision-making process, and funding
• Define cloud security strategies for clients, size and design cloud security products, and leverage subject matter experts across AHEAD to scale effectiveness nationally

Requirements:

• 5+ years of overall experience in cybersecurity, cloud, or technology consulting, with at least 4 years hands-on in cloud security
• Prior pre-sales experience is required. Candidates must have previously held a pre-sales role and be able to hold a pre-sales conversation with clients about scope, approach, and pricing
• Demonstrated experience creating cloud security proposals in a pre-sales capacity (SOWs, services proposals, solution designs, or equivalent client-facing proposal artifacts)
• Hands-on experience with at least two leading CNAPP platforms (Palo Alto Prisma Cloud, Wiz, Upwind, or equivalent), with working knowledge of the underlying capability categories: CSPM, CWPP, CIEM, KSPM, DSPM, AI-SPM and container/Kubernetes security
• Hands-on experience with at least one hyperscaler (AWS, Azure, or GCP) including its native security controls (e.g., AWS Security Hub / GuardDuty, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Google Security Command Center), with at least working familiarity with the other two
• Experience designing and presenting cloud security architectures that integrate solutions across multiple vendors and public cloud providers
• Able to present cloud security architectures effectively to both technical practitioners and C-level executives during briefings and AHEAD organized events
• Consulting experience at a systems integrator, professional services firm, or advisory practice, including having scoped or led client-facing consulting engagements
• Delivery experience in cloud security, including having stood up, configured, or operationalized cloud security tooling for clients post-sale
• Working knowledge of IaC security (Terraform, CloudFormation), CI/CD pipeline security, and DevSecOps practices
• Familiarity with identity and access management in cloud environments, including federated identity, RBAC, and least-privilege design
• Experience scaling cloud security programs across multi-cloud, hybrid, and enterprise environments