Field Engineer

People at Vectara are passionate about helping users take advantage of breakthroughs in applied AI to discover and learn more about their business and the world around them. Our team is a group of unquestionable all-stars in their respective fields of computer science and business.

Vectara is looking for an experienced Field Engineer to join us. You will be connecting the user with the magic of our product, aligning our capabilities to the pain points and/or business opportunities they are attacking. You relish the idea of thinking in modern, unconventional ways to show off how Vectara can solve some of the most persistent and difficult problems humans face in finding and using information.

You will work as an integral part of our Sales, Professional Services, and Customer Success motions, providing technical assistance to the customer in all phases of their journey with us. Whatever help they need, we provide. This includes assisting them as they first learn about the product and conduct their evaluation… then helping as they build their first production application… then supporting them once they have launched… then working with them to expand usage over time. By doing so you will play an integral part in delivering sales and customer satisfaction outcomes for our business.

To do this well you will maintain a strong relationship with Product and Engineering, so you can effectively respond to customer needs while ensuring that what we build meets the requirements of the market - both now and in the future. You will be the technical face of the company and build relationships with the technical leaders within the customers you serve. In this way you will positively influence your customers and help them successfully navigate their way through the era of AI, agents, LLMs, and RAG.

While accomplishing the above big picture outcomes, your day-to-day tasks will include the following: providing technical product expertise; helping with POCs; assisting customers with architecture and design decisions; executive presentations; delivering ongoing communication of the latest Vectara capabilities; building prototypes and demos; and helping to oversee delivery of Professional Services engagements.

If you enjoy being a technical thought leader who provokes fresh ideas on what is possible and provides clear explanations for how to incorporate AI into impactful products, we should talk.

Other Responsibilities

• Understand, evaluate and help pinpoint the challenges within client applications; identify where Vectara can have the most impact
• Help Vectara customers design and launch differentiated solutions, via technical presentations, brainstorming sessions, and debugging sessions
• Provide hands-on technical assistance to Vectara’s customers and prospects
• Serve as a technical liaison between customers, partners, and our internal teams
• Track the evolution of the market via customer requests, challenges, and feedback; share that knowledge internally to improve our overall offering
• Demonstrate Vectara products in person, online, at events, in workshops, and anywhere else we have a chance to interact with our customers
• Respond persuasively to functional and technical elements of RFIs/RFPs
• Establish and maintain relationships with key technical staff and leadership in the accounts you serve, grooming a network of loyal champions along the way

Qualifications

• 5+ years of Sales Engineering experience, supporting the GTM motion of companies in one of the following spaces: AI, ML, search, analytics, data engineering
• 5+ years of software development experience, ideally in one of the following spaces: AI, ML, search, analytics, data engineering
• Experience selling to and servicing IT or Data organizations within large enterprises
• Proficiency with REST services and at least one of the following languages: Python, JavaScript, Java
• Understanding of architectural principles for cloud-based platforms, including SaaS, VPC deployments, multi-tenancy, and automation
• Understanding of architectural principles for on premise systems, including hardware, compute (especially GPUs), virtualization (especially k8s), and networking
• Strong communication, interpersonal and collaboration skills
• Compelling storyteller, with experience building product narratives and pitches
• Ability to communicate complex technology concepts crisply and simply
• Should be available to travel to visit your accounts and support field marketing events, up to 20% of the time
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or an equivalent field of study; MS a plus but not required

Location requirements:  We support remote applicants from all over the US but candidates based in the Bay Area are preferred. 

Perks and Benefits:

100% paid Medical, Dental, Vision for employees.  Option of Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Savings Account (FSA). Generous paid time off (PTO) plus paid sick time and holidays. Professional development and training opportunities. Company virtual happy hours and fun team building activities and more. 

Salary is just one component of Vectara’s employee compensation. Our full-time employees are also equity owners in the company, which although not an immediate cash component, can have positive impacts on long-term total compensation for each participating employee. We would be remiss if we didn’t highlight and celebrate our focus on engaging many of our employees in being economic co-owners of the business.

Vectara welcomes all. We value the collective wisdom of people from different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives.  We never discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, or marital, veteran, or disability status. Vectara has a positive and supportive culture—we look for people who are inventive and work to be a little better every single day. We seek to be smart, humble, hardworking and, above all, curious. After all, we are on a mission to find meaning.