Principal Solutions Engineer - AI Agent

Cresta unlocks the true potential of the customer experience, turning every conversation into a competitive advantage. Cresta’s unified AI platform combines conversational AI agents, real-time human agent augmentation, and comprehensive conversation intelligence to drive revenue and efficiency gains across every channel. The world’s leading companies, including United Airlines, Cox Communications, and Marriott, use Cresta to power world-class customer experiences every day. 

Born from the Stanford AI Lab, Cresta has raised more than $270 million from the world’s leading investors, including a16z, Greylock, and Sequoia. Cresta’s leadership includes some of the leading minds in AI today. Our CEO, Ping Wu, founded and led Google's Contact Center AI and Vertex AI platforms before joining Cresta to build the future of AI-driven customer experiences.

Over the next few years, AI is going to redefine how people all over the world interact with businesses every day. Come build that future at Cresta.

About the role:

As a Principal Solutions Engineer, AI Agent, you will serve as the dedicated expert on AI Agent technology, a specialist resource who engages early in the sales cycle to drive and support AI Agent opportunities alongside our Core Solutions Engineering team. You bring expertise that Core SEs can pull in at the right moments, owning the AI Agent technical narrative end-to-end: from workshop facilitation and use case design through high-stakes demos and API discovery. You are a force multiplier who makes every AI Agent opportunity stronger.

Responsibilities:

• Be the AI Agent expert. Serve as the go-to internal and external expert on Cresta's AI Agent capabilities, engaging early in the sales process to establish technical credibility and accelerate opportunity velocity.
• Work hand-in-hand with Core SEs. Partner closely with Core SEs as the AI Agent specialist, owning the AI Agent technical narrative.
• Lead AI Agent workshops. Design and facilitate technical discovery workshops with prospective customers to explore AI Agent use cases, define implementation scope, and align on a path to value, translating business problems into agent-powered solutions.
• Own use case and API discovery. Lead deep-dive technical discovery sessions to surface, propose, and refine AI Agent use cases. Evaluate integration requirements and API feasibility to give the deal a solid technical foundation.
• Support high-stakes AI Agent demos. You step in to own the most complex and high-stakes AI Agent demonstrations in partnership with the Core SE team.
• Engage early as a specialist resource. Enter opportunities early, helping to qualify and shape AI Agent deals before proof-of-value, bringing depth and structure to the technical conversation from the start.
• Build the business case. Partner with Sales Directors and Core SEs to translate AI Agent solutions into financial ROI models, contributing to ROI workshops and framing the business case in terms that resonate with economic buyers.
• Partner with FDX. Collaborate closely with Forward Deployed PMs and Engineers in both directions, ensuring smooth handoff from pre-sale to deployment and pulling FDX learnings on agent performance, edge cases, and customer outcomes back into pre-sale positioning and discovery.
• Close the product feedback loop. Synthesize patterns from AI Agent opportunities and provide structured feedback to Product and Engineering, accelerating Cresta's roadmap to stay ahead of enterprise demand.
• Elevate the SE team's AI Agent fluency. Share expertise across the broader SE organization through enablement, playbooks, and informal coaching, raising the team's collective capability.

Qualifications We Value:

• 5-7+ years in a customer-facing technical role, with at least 5 years in pre-sales selling to large enterprises
• Hands-on experience designing, building, or selling AI Agents or agentic AI systems, including familiarity with agent frameworks, orchestration patterns, and LLM-based architectures
• Practical understanding of APIs, integration patterns, and how enterprise systems connect to AI Agent workflows
• Experience with Conversational AI, contact center platforms, or voice/chat automation technologies
• Demonstrated ability to make complex AI concepts accessible, translating technical depth into clear business value for both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Natural workshop facilitator and collaborator, equally comfortable whiteboarding with a prospect's engineering team and presenting to a C-suite audience
• Highly organized, meticulous in preparation, and relentlessly focused on delivering excellent prospect experiences
• Resourceful problem-solver who can navigate ambiguity, rally internal support, and drive complex technical conversations to a clear outcome
• Ability to write Python for prototyping, scripting, or demo customization is a plus
• Familiarity with Salesforce.com and enterprise contact center technologies is a plus
• You embody our core values

Bonus points:

• 2+ years of AI sales engineering experience

• Experience in a high-growth startup environment

Perks & Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive and people-first benefits package to support you at work and in life:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with plans to fit you and your family
• Flexible PTO to take the time you need, when you need it
• Paid parental leave for all new parents welcoming a new child
• Retirement savings plan to help you plan for the future
• Remote work setup budget to help you create a productive home office
• Monthly wellness and communication stipend to keep you connected and balanced
• In-office meal program and commuter benefits provided for onsite employees

Compensation at Cresta 

Cresta’s approach to compensation is simple: recognize impact, reward excellence, and invest in our people. We offer competitive, location-based pay that reflects the market and what each individual brings to the table.

The posted base salary range represents what we expect to pay for this role in a given location. Final offers are shaped by factors like experience, skills, education, and geography. In addition to base pay, total compensation includes equity and a comprehensive benefits package for you and your family.

This role is variable target compensation eligible. There is potential to exceed target earnings when goals are surpassed.  

OTE Range: $220,000-$270,000 - variable & Offers Equity

Our use of AI in recruiting: We may use AI tools in our recruiting process, which require human review and oversight. If you have questions about our use of AI or wish to opt out, please contact [email protected] (if you are opting out, please use the subject ‘Opt-Out’ in your email).

Recording & AI transcription: We do not authorize candidates to record or use AI transcription of any interview by phone, notetaker app, AI glasses, or other device. Candidates may request an exception or accommodation for review during the interview process as needed.

Recruiting impersonation scams: We have noticed a rise in recruiting impersonations across the industry, where scammers attempt to access candidates' personal and financial information through fake interviews and offers. All Cresta recruiting email communications will always come from the @cresta.ai domain. Any outreach claiming to be from Cresta via other sources should be ignored.