At SIFT, we’re redefining how modern machines are built, tested, and operated. Our platform gives engineers real-time observability over high-frequency telemetry—eliminating bottlenecks and enabling faster, more reliable development.
SIFT was born from our work at SpaceX on Dragon, Falcon, Starlink, and Starship—where scaling telemetry, debugging flight systems, and ensuring mission reliability demanded new infrastructure. Founded by a team from SpaceX, Google, and Palantir, SIFT is built for mission-critical systems where precision and scalability are non-negotiable.
About the Role
We’re hiring an experienced Sales Engineer to help shape and scale how SIFT sells technically. This is not a typical pre-sales role. You will operate at the intersection of engineering, product, and go-to-market—owning technical conversations with customers, building custom demos, guiding evaluations, and shaping how we win complex deals. This role is ideal for someone who can both go deep technically and drive customer conversations with confidence and clarity.
In This Role, You’ll
Work directly with Account Executives, Forward Deployed Engineers, and leadership
Lead technical discovery with engineering teams and stakeholders
Translate ambiguous customer problems into clear technical solutions
Own pre-sales technical engagements, including pilots and evaluations
Build and deliver tailored product demos using real customer data
Support data onboarding, ingestion, and initial integrations during evaluations
Partner with Sales to navigate and close complex technical opportunities
Create reference architectures and reusable demo patterns
Represent SIFT at customer meetings, onsite visits, and industry events
Develop technical content (demos, guides, prototypes) to accelerate sales cycles
Provide structured feedback to Product and Engineering based on customer needs
The Skillset You’ll Bring
Core Requirements
Experience in a technical pre-sales role (Sales Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Solutions Architect, Forward Deployed Engineer), or strong engineering experience with clear customer-facing exposure
Ability to lead technical conversations with engineers and executives
Strong communication and storytelling skills—able to simplify complex systems
Experience building demos, prototypes, or integrations for customers
Comfort working with APIs, data pipelines, and technical products
Proficiency in Python (or similar) for data manipulation and scripting
Ability to operate independently in ambiguous, fast-paced environments
Technical Strength
Data pipelines and ingestion patterns (batch + streaming)
Time-series or high-volume data systems
Distributed systems fundamentals (storage, indexing, scaling)
Working with messy, real-world customer data
Debugging and iterating quickly during live customer engagements
Bonus Points
Experience selling technical products (data infrastructure, observability, databases, developer tools)
Background working with or selling into hardware-heavy industries (aerospace, autonomy, robotics, manufacturing)
Experience running pilots / POCs and driving technical wins
Ability to build reusable demo infrastructure and assets
Experience simulating complex hardware systems
Experience helping define or scale Sales Engineering processes
Strong product intuition and ability to influence roadmap
What Success Looks Like
You can independently run a full technical sales cycle (discovery → demo → pilot → close)
You build trust quickly with technical customers
You create demos that make complex systems feel intuitive
You help customers get to value quickly during evaluations
You contribute to building SIFT’s Sales Engineering function from the ground up
Location & Travel
Sift's headquarters is in Marina del Rey, CA. We collaborate in person Monday through Thursday, with Friday being a remote day. Ability to travel up to 50% required. Varies by location and customer needs.
Salary range: $120,000 - $180,000 per year. Plus equity and benefits.
Eligibility
US Person Required: Must be a U.S. Citizen or Green Card Holder due to ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) / EAR (Export Administration Regulations) compliance requirements.
Sift is the unified observability platform for mission-critical machines. It ingests, stores, and analyzes hardware telemetry at scale across aerospace, defense, energy, robotics, and autonomous vehicles.
Key team members
Michael Russell
Tom Berger
Michael Cretzman
Pramod R.
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