Senior Field Engineer (Pre-Sales/Forward Deployed)

Cognite
United States
Hybrid

Who this role is best for

Geared toward candidates with industrial engineering experience and a track record in pre-sales engineering, comfortable with translating technical AI solutions into strategic value for clients.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with industrial engineering backgrounds and pre-sales experience in enterprise software
    — “Education or experience in the industrial space (e.g., Petroleum, Chemical, Mechanical, or Control System Engineering).”
  • Individuals who have led complex AI agent implementations and client demos
    — “Lead use case workshops and briefings, translating functional and non-functional requirements into deliverable high-level use cases.”
  • Candidates who can build end-to-end prototypes integrating GenAI, CDF, and legacy systems
    — “Ability to orchestrate and build end-to-end prototypes—integrating GenAI components, CDF data models, and legacy customer systems.”

Things to consider

  • This role requires a commitment to up to 50% travel for on-site client engagement
    — “Ability and interest to travel up to 50% as needed to be 'on the ground' where the impact happens.”
  • Candidates must be prepared to work with messy, real-world industrial data challenges
    — “You’ve worked with 'messy' real-world variables from the Industries we work in (Energy, Oil and Gas, Chemicals, Life Sciences, Discrete).”

How to stand out

  • Highlight experience in bridging field insights with product innovation in your resume
    — “Translate 'field friction' and deployment learnings into actionable product requirements.”
  • Emphasize your ability to distill complex AI solutions into strategic narratives
    — “The ability to distill complex technical AI solutions into compelling, value-driven narratives.”
  • Showcase your track record in leading agentic AI projects with LLMs like Gemini or GPT-4
    — “Demonstrated experience building with LLMs (Gemini, Claude, GPT-4).”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • partner with account executives
  • move clients from strategy to live solutions
  • design and implement industrial agents
  • translate requirements into deliverable use cases
  • build executive confidence
Typical background
forward deployed engineeringpre-sales engineeringenterprise SaaS

Skills & requirements

Required

Pre-sales EngineeringForward Deployed EngineeringAI PrototypingLLM IntegrationTechnical LeadershipSolution DesignData Fusion

Preferred

Cloud PlatformsEnterprise SaasIndustrial Software

Stack & domain

PythonLlmsCognite Data FusionCognite Atlas AIGenaiLlm-specific RisksLeadershipCommunicationProblem-solvingTeamworkIndustrial DigitalizationAIData Solutions

About the role

Original posting from Cognite via Greenhouse

What Cognite is: Relentless to achieve

Cognite operates at the forefront of industrial digitalization, building AI, and data solutions that solve the world’s hardest, highest-impact problems. With unmatched industrial heritage and a comprehensive suite of AI capabilities, including low-code AI agents, Cognite accelerates the digital transformation to drive operational improvements.

We thrive in challenges. We challenge assumptions. We execute with speed and ownership. If you view obstacles as signals to step forward - not backwards - you’ll feel right at home here. 

Our Moonshot is bold: Unlock $100B in customer value by 2035, and redefine how global industry works. Join us in this venture where AI and data meet ingenuity, and together, we will forge the path to a smarter, more connected industrial future.

How you’ll demonstrate Ownership

Client Engagement & Moving Strategy to Reality: Partner with Account Executives to prioritize strategic opportunities and act as the technical lead for complex engagements. You will move clients from high-level strategy to live, functioning versions of Cognite’s solutions through Fast AI Prototyping via Cognite Atlas AI™ and Cognite Data Fusion®.

Agentic Solution Development: Lead the design and implementation of first-of-their-kind industrial agents. You will leverage the Atlas AI workbench to automate complex industrial workflows, ensuring solutions are technically feasible, scalable, and grounded in the contextualized data foundation of our Industrial Knowledge Graph.

Technical Representation & Use Case Design: Lead use case workshops and briefings, translating functional and non-functional requirements into deliverable high-level use cases. You will build executive confidence by delivering client-focused demos and reference architectures that prove the ROI of Industrial AI.

Product Innovation & Field Leadership: Act as the critical bridge between the field and Cognite’s Product organization. Translate "field friction" and deployment learnings into actionable product requirements and scalable best practices that strengthen Cognite’s position as the leader in Industrial DataOps.

The Impact you bring to Cognite

Industrial Architecture Expertise: Ability to design scalable architectures that unify siloed IT/OT/ET data into a single source of truth using Cognite Data Fusion®.

Agentic AI Proficiency: Demonstrated experience building with LLMs (Gemini, Claude, GPT-4) and a deep understanding of the Agentic AI landscape to create trusted, mission-critical industrial agents via Cognite Atlas AI™.

Full-Stack Solution Engineering: Ability to orchestrate and build end-to-end prototypes—integrating GenAI components, CDF data models, and legacy customer systems—using scalable software practices and open-source AI frameworks.

Technical Evangelism & Strategic Influence: The ability to distill complex technical AI solutions into compelling, value-driven narratives. You can pivot seamlessly between deep architectural sessions with engineers and strategy briefings with C-level executives.

Required Qualifications

3+ years in forward deployed engineering/pre-sales engineering roles ideally in enterprise SaaS, cloud platforms, or industrial software companies.

Strong engineering background. Preferred fields include but are not limited to Computer Science, Mathematics, Software Engineering, Physics, and Machine Learning.

A strong foundation in Python and a deep understanding of the GenAI landscape (embeddings, RAG, and prompt chaining).

Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills.

Ability and interest to travel up to 50% as needed to be "on the ground" where the impact happens.

Preferred Experience

Education or experience in the industrial space (e.g., Petroleum, Chemical, Mechanical, or Control System Engineering).

Previous customer facing or sales experience. 

You’ve worked with "messy" real-world variables from the Industries we work in (Energy, Oil and Gas, Chemicals, Life Sciences, Discrete) and understand, for example, why data quality in a refinery is harder than data quality in a web app.

You are excited to bridge the gap between traditional heavy industry and the future of Autonomous Operations via Cognite Data Fusion® and Agentic AI.

A snapshot of our many perks and benefits as a Cogniter

Competitive compensation

401(k) with employer matching

Competitive health, dental, vision & disability coverages for employees and all dependents

Unlimited PTO

Paid Parental Leave Program

Employee Referral Program

Learn more about us

Impact 2025

Cognite's Industrial AI: Moonshot

We’re globally recognized domain experts with an international presence that spans Phoenix, Houston, Oslo Tokyo, Bengaluru, and Abu Dhabi.

Equal Opportunity

Cognite is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment at work and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive the same level of consideration for employment.

Source: Cognite careers (Greenhouse)

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