About the role 

As the Vice President of Solution Engineering, you will hold a strategic and global leadership position, responsible for the performance and development of the Solution Engineering teams across all regions, ensuring alignment with Cloudflare’s vision. Your role will be pivotal in driving the success of our pre-sales organization, fostering a high-performance culture, and scaling the team to meet future demands of our growing and evolving business.

The team works cross functionally.  We help our customers land and expand and help identify new opportunities for Cloudflare to develop solutions. We focus on ensuring that we design solutions that work for our customers. Team building and scaling are core components of this role, along with coaching and empowering Solution Engineering leaders.  As a leader, you should embody the core values we strive for: Principled, Curious, and Transparent.

A key responsibility of this role will be to build and hire a diverse and inclusive team. You will champion diversity in hiring practices and cultivate and maintain an inclusive environment which empowers all employees to show up, as their full selves, and do their best work.  By fostering a culture that celebrates differences and promotes equity, you will enhance the creativity, innovation, and overall performance of the Solution Engineering team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Global Leadership: Lead the Solution Engineering teams across multiple regions, including the Americas, EMEA, APAC & Japan, ensuring cohesive execution of a global pre-sales strategy.
• Strategic Vision: Build and execute on the Global Pre-Sales vision, aligning regional goals with the overall business objectives. Drive long-term success and customer satisfaction through strategic planning and implementation.
• Team Building and Scaling: Expand the Solution Engineering team while fostering a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement. 
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Sales, Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Professional Services, and Customer Support teams to have a harmonized customer journey ensuring customer success.
• Customer Focus: Advocate for customers across the organization, driving initiatives that enhance customer experience and value realization from Cloudflare subscriptions.
• Operational Excellence: Ensure effective workload distribution, swift issue escalation, and resolution.
• Relationship Management: Develop and maintain strong relationships with key customers to drive the long-term success of Cloudflare’s global business.

Desired Skills, Knowledge, and Experience:

• Diverse Background: Experience in financial consulting, engineering, software development, product management, customer support, or project delivery. Commitment to building a diverse team.
• Technical Proficiency: Passion for technology with the ability to explain complex technical concepts in simple terms. Experience in a networking, security, or related field is preferred. 
• Leadership and Management: Strong leadership experience, particularly in customer-facing organizations. Experience in coaching and team management.
• Visionary Leadership: Ability to lead with a clear vision and mission, execute long-term goals, and inspire confidence in the team.
• Effective Communication: Experience in speaking to large audiences and facilitating knowledge transfer across teams and regions.
• Cultural Leadership: Foster a positive culture of collaboration, independence, and open communication within the team.

Requirements:

• Proven experience in managing large, diverse teams within a global Solutions Consulting or Solutions Engineering organization for a multi-billion dollar business.
• Demonstrated experience scaling the Solution Engineering function.
• Leadership roles in B2B SaaS pre-sales with increasing levels of responsibility.
• Ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and drive strategic goals.
• Exceptional coaching, leadership, and team-building skills.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and experience managing escalations.
• Effective collaboration with senior leadership and influencing decision-making processes.