Sales / Pre-Sales Engineer - Data Platform

About the platform

At FormativGroup we are building a perimeter-safe data lineage and migration impact-analysis platform for regulated enterprises, banks, insurers, healthcare, and government, running complex, legacy-laden data estates. We map exactly what breaks before a migration touches it, and we deliver it alongside FormativGroup's services team. We're early: a real, working product becoming a standalone business. This is a build, not a seat on a mature sales floor.

What you'll work on

You are the technical engine of every deal. You run discovery, lead the platform assessment, demo the product, and own the proof-of-concept, the POC is how we win. You translate a customer's migration risk into a concrete blast-radius map, handle the hard technical objections, scope the work, and hand off cleanly to delivery.

• Run technical discovery with data and platform leaders at regulated enterprises.
• Lead the platform assessment: map the estate, score complexity, show the migration blast radius.
• Own demos and POCs end to end, the SE-run POC is the primary proof in the sales cycle.
• Handle technical objections (perimeter/security, cross-platform lineage, build-vs-buy) with credibility.
• Scope engagements and hand off to FormativGroup delivery; stay close through landing.
• Feed what you learn in the field back into product priorities.

What you'll bring

• 3+ yrs Technical pre-sales / solutions engineering experience, ideally selling data or platform software into enterprise or regulated buyers.
• 5+ yrs Real fluency across the modern and legacy data stack: ETL/ELT (Talend, Informatica, DataStage), warehouses and lakehouses (Snowflake, Databricks, Teradata), dbt, BI, lineage, and governance.
• The ability to run a POC that earns trust, not just a demo, but proof on the customer's real problem.
• Comfort in front of both technical teams and senior business stakeholders.
• Clear, structured communication; you lead with the conclusion.

How you've worked

• You've operated in a startup or 0-1 environment, helped build a motion, a function, or a product from scratch rather than inheriting a mature one.
• You're comfortable with ambiguity: you define the path when there isn't one and move with incomplete information.
• Strongly preferred (not required): experience selling into regulated industries such as financial services, insurance, or healthcare.

AI fluency (required)

• Proficient with AI tools and fluent in using AI to enhance your own productivity and output.
• AI-first thinking: you reach for AI by default to accelerate discovery, prep, analysis, demos, and POCs.
• Demonstrable examples: be ready to walk us through specific ways you've used AI in real work, and the results.

Nice to have

• Background in data migration or modernization projects.
• Familiarity with regulatory drivers (BCBS 239, DORA, EU AI Act) and perimeter / sovereignty constraints.
• Hands-on with cloud deployment (Azure, AWS) in customer-controlled environments.

Location

The location preferred for this remote with 25% travel. Thw ideal candidate will reside in In or near to Austin, TX. US candidates will be considered.
Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa now or in the future.

To be considered for this position, candidates must reside in one of the following U.S. states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WI, and Washington DC. Candidates residing outside these states are not eligible for consideration currently.