Sales Engineer
Ethena· startup· Internet· Oct 16, 2026 · 11d ago
United States
Remote
Full-time
Mid
$125K–$150K
Job description
Who we are
Hi there 👋 We’re Ethena, compliance training that customizes itself to you. Ethena combines top-rated training content with intelligent AI that builds and adapts training to reflect your company’s unique brand, roles, policies, and risks, so it feels like your team, whether that’s hard hats or virtual meetings. From auto-assigning courses based on HRIS data to transforming your policies into interactive training in minutes, Ethena helps People, Legal, and Compliance teams launch in days (not months) and cut learner seat time by up to 60% with adaptive learning paths. Ethena supports 1M+ learners across 2,000+ organizations, with a 93% learner approval rating and 96% customer renewal rate. Over the past several years, we’ve delivered consistent, durable growth, including 120%+ net dollar retention, 95%+ gross dollar retention, and strong enterprise expansion across industries. Ethena has become a go-to compliance partner for modern, global organizations.
Beyond training, Ethena unifies core compliance tools, Hotline & Case Management, Policy Bot, and Phishing Simulator, into a single platform, with built-in audit trails and compliance controls teams can trust.
Trusted by teams at companies like Genesco, Asana, Pinterest, and Synaptics, it’s a great time to join us.
How we work
We’re a team that values diversity in all its forms and loves adding new perspectives. We ask thoughtful questions, challenge assumptions, and build with empathy, for customers and for each other. We care about craft, we love feedback, and we take ownership. We also embrace humor (yes, the puns are real), because doing serious work doesn’t have to feel so serious.
Our workforce is fully remote, and your personal working hours can be based on your own timezone. All team-wide meetings are scheduled to be inclusive of all North American time zones.
Who we're looking for
At Ethena, we're an AI platform that's revolutionizing the Compliance space. Our product and engineering teams ship fast— really fast. Build cycles are shrinking, product offerings are expanding, and our roadmap evolves to meet the needs of a changing workplace.
That's where you come in.
We're looking for a Sales Engineer to serve as the critical technical partner to our revenue teams and prospective customers. You'll report into an experienced Sales Engineering Manager who has built SE functions from the ground up. You'll bring Ethena's platform to life by connecting our constantly evolving technology, AI features, and integrations directly to the business outcomes our clients care about.
This is a role for someone who's already run the presales motion and is ready to own the technical thread of a deal end to end. You should be comfortable partnering with AEs, leading technical discovery, delivering tailored demos, handling technical questions and objections, and supporting POCs and evaluations without needing to learn the fundamentals from scratch.
Most importantly, we're looking for a career technical problem-solver: someone who thrives as an individual contributor in a hands-off, high-autonomy environment, loves messing around with tech to creatively solve complex customer challenges, create cool prototypes, and tackle diverse projects beyond standard sales calls, and wants to continuously hone their technical craft, help us win deals, and expand their impact and pursue career growth as an individual contributor rather than move into people management.
Why You'll Love This Role
A Product That’s Actually Fun to Demo: You won't be demoing clunky 90s software. Ethena’s product is modern, fast-moving, AI-infused, and constantly improving.
Scope Beyond the Demo: You’ll get to own projects outside standard RFPs—building sales enablement, testing out vibe coding ideas, building interactive proofs-of-concept, and crafting technical narratives.
High-Trust, Collaborative Culture: No micromanagement or step-by-step handholding here. You get the space to take initiative, paired with supportive coaching when you need it.
Direct Access to Leadership: You’ll work closely with Sales, Product, and Engineering leadership to help shape our technical go-to-market strategy.
What you'll do
1. Drive Technical Sales & Tailored Demos
Independently own the technical thread of sales opportunities from discovery and demo strategy through technical evaluation, objections, and close, in partnership with the AE.
Partner with Account Executives (AEs) and Customer Success Managers (CSMs) during discovery and demo stages to map Ethena's technical strengths to customer pain points.
Maintain and refine our demo environment, ensuring it showcases our newest AI features, customization capabilities, and real-world client configurations.
Translate product specs, compliance workflows, and technical details into engaging, simple language for HR, IT, Security, and Legal buyers.
2. Build, Prototype & "Vibe Code"
Build custom walkthroughs, integrations, and tailored proofs-of-concept for high-priority deals.
Bring a hands-on technical curiosity to the team—whether that’s experimenting with APIs, testing automated demo setups, or vibe coding custom tools to help win deals.
3. Handle Technical Due Diligence & Enablement
Field technical and implementation questions covering data security, SSO, and HRIS integrations.
Own responses for RFPs, security reviews, and technical questionnaires with speed and clarity.
Create and maintain sales-ready assets like talk tracks, video walkthroughs/Looms, and objection-handling guides to level up the broader team.
Act as the feedback loop between the field and our Product/Engineering teams.
What makes a great candidate
Background Fit: Hands-on Sales Engineering, Solutions Engineering, or presales experience supporting B2B SaaS sales cycles— or equivalent experience from an adjacent role like Implementation, Technical Solutions, or Technical CS at a SaaS startup . If you're coming from an adjacent background, you should have already run technical discovery and delivered tailored demos inside live deals, not just after the sale.
Technical Curiosity: You love messing around with software, APIs, integrations (HRIS, LMS, SSO), and AI tools. You get excited about "vibe coding" quick scripts or prototypes to solve a problem.
High EQ & Adaptability: You are easy to work with, calm under pressure, and unflappable when plans shift last minute. You hold feedback lightly, take tough notes constructively, and don't get defensive.
Self-Starter & High Initiative: You don't wait to be told what to do or need step-by-step instructions. You proactively look for gaps, surface solutions, and take ownership.
Startup Mindset: You thrive in fast-paced environments where polish takes a backseat to clarity, fast execution, and rapid iteration.
IC Trajectory Focus: You are energized by mastering the craft of Sales Engineering, solving customer problems, and deepening your technical mastery.
Environmental Familiarity: You have experience in a startup, growth-stage SaaS company, or similarly fast-moving environment where priorities shift quickly and there aren't always established processes or specialist resources to lean on.
The Hardest Part of the Role
Our product moves fast, and our roadmap evolves continuously. The hardest part of this job is staying ahead of a rapidly innovating platform and translating those technical changes on the fly into crisp, high-impact customer narratives. If last-minute roadmap shifts excite you rather than stress you out, you’re going to love it here.
At Ethena, we're committed to fair and equitable compensation. We carefully evaluate each candidate's skills and qualifications to provide our best possible offer upfront. Our no-negotiation policy ensures that our first offer is always our best offer , promoting pay equity throughout our organization.
Physical Demands
This is sedentary work that primarily involves sitting/standing in a home office environment.
Location
Ethena is a remote-first organization and is currently hiring candidates based in the United States.
We are not currently offering employer visa sponsorship for this role.
AI Usage in Interviews:
We’re big fans of AI and use it heavily in our day-to-day work. That said, to ensure fairness and accurate skill assessment, we do not allow the use of AI tools (including note takers, transcription tools, or recordings) during interviews. If you have questions or need accommodations, we’re happy to chat — just let us know.
Benefits
The benefits offered for this position can be found here . We provide unlimited PTO.
How to Apply
Applications for this position will be accepted via our job board . Excited about the opportunity, but worried you don’t meet all the requirements? Apply anyway, and give us both the chance to find out. We welcome you to read more about our approach to job descriptions by our Chief People Officer, Melanie Naranjo. Curious to know what it’s like to interview with us? Read more here .
Ethena is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. We believe that a successful organization is one that celebrates its employees for who they are, who they love, and the unique lens through which they experience the world. Ethena does not discriminate based on race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, Veteran status, or other legally protected status. We understand that our differences make us better. They empower us to learn from each other, lean on each other, and create a product and community that models the behavior we hope to see in others.
Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information are accurate as of the date of this posting. The Company reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.
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