Solutions Engineer

Sona
San Francisco, CA
On-site

Who this role is best for

Strong fit for candidates with technical pre-sales or implementation experience in workforce management or HR tech who can operate independently across timezones.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with technical pre-sales or implementation experience in workforce management or HR tech
    — “Experience as a Solutions Consultant, Sales Engineer, or in a technical pre-sales role”
  • Individuals who have worked in a startup or scaleup environment with a changing product
    — “You've worked in a startup or scaleup environment with a complex, modern product that changes frequently”
  • Candidates who can lead consultative discovery and demo sessions, not just feature-led ones
    — “the ability to lead discovery and demos that are consultative rather than feature-led”

Things to consider

  • Requires frequent travel to London and across North America
    — “Travel to London and to customers across North America expected”
  • Must be self-sufficient and operate independently across timezones
    — “the self-sufficiency to operate effectively with half your day running ahead of the UK team”

How to stand out

  • Emphasize experience in shaping sales processes in early-stage companies
    — “This is a founding role. The US playbook is still being written”
  • Showcase expertise in tailoring product demos to specific customer pain points
    — “Partner with Account Executives to tailor and lead product demonstrations that connect Sona's capabilities to customer pain points”
  • Highlight ability to build technical sales assets from scratch
    — “Develop and refine US-specific technical sales assets, including demo environments, competitive positioning, and sector-specific playbooks”
  • Demonstrate experience in relaying market feedback to product and implementation teams
    — “Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Implementation to relay US market feedback”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

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

What success looks like

  • shaping Sona's US sales process
  • developing US-specific technical sales assets
  • partnering with product and implementation teams
Typical background
experience as a solutions consultant or sales engineerbackground in scheduling, workforce management, HR tech, payroll

Skills & requirements

Required

Solutions ConsultingTechnical Pre-salesProduct DemonstrationsDiscoveryRFP ResponsesCustomer Pain PointsBusiness OutcomesProduct ExpertiseMarket FeedbackCustomer Handovers

Preferred

Workforce ManagementHR TechSchedulingPayrollAdjacent Products

Stack & domain

Solutions EngineeringSales EngineeringTechnical Pre-salesImplementationWorkforce ManagementHr TechPayrollSchedulingHospitalityRetailProduct DemonstrationsCustomer Pain PointsBusiness OutcomesDemo EnvironmentsCompetitive PositioningSector-specific PlaybooksProduct ExpertiseCustomer HandoversMarket FeedbackGo-to-market CapabilitySales ProcessesCommercial ExposureProblem-solvingTeamworkCommunicationLeadershipMentorshipConsultative SellingTechnical ExpertiseMarket UnderstandingProduct KnowledgeCustomer Empathy

About the role

Original posting from Sona via Ashby

Frontline work keeps the world running. Restaurants, hospitals, schools, nurseries, airlines, stores, emergency services. Together they employ 80% of the global workforce, over 3 billion people, and they're among the hardest businesses anywhere to run. By-the-minute scheduling, HR and payroll make them far more operationally complex than the average office, yet just 1% of venture funding has ever gone to software built for them.

Rising costs, wage increases, labor shortages and tighter regulation have made fixing that urgent. Sona is the AI-native workforce management platform for frontline organizations, with agents that match staffing to real demand and take the admin load off managers. That's a $500bn+ market the software industry has mostly walked past.

We've raised over $100M from N47, Felicis, Gradient and Northzone, signed more than 100 enterprise customers across the UK and US, and opened offices in London, New York, Austin and Lisbon. More on working at Sona here https://www.sona.ai/careers.

About the Role

We're hiring a US-based Solutions Consultant to join the commercial team and support Sona's expansion into the American market. Reporting to the Director of Solution Consulting in London, you'll be a go-to technical and solution-led partner for our growing US sales team, working primarily across the Hospitality and Retail sectors.

This is a founding role. The US playbook is still being written, and you'll be one of the people writing it. That means shaping how Sona sells in the US, creating demo flows and assets tailored to the market, and partnering closely with Account Executives to turn complex workforce challenges into confident buying decisions. You'll also work alongside Product and Implementation to feed insights back from the US market and ensure seamless customer handovers.

To do that well, you'll need deep familiarity with the workforce management or HR tech space, the ability to lead discovery and demos that are consultative rather than feature-led, and the self-sufficiency to operate effectively with half your day running ahead of the UK team. The SC function at Sona has real influence on how we win enterprise deals and on what we build next.

Responsibilities

  • Own the technical and solution-led side of the US sales process, from discovery through to proof-of-concept engagements and RFP responses.
  • Partner with Account Executives to tailor and lead product demonstrations that connect Sona's capabilities to customer pain points and business outcomes.
  • Build deep expertise in the Sona platform and become a trusted advisor to US prospects and customers across Hospitality and Retail.
  • Develop and refine US-specific technical sales assets, including demo environments, competitive positioning, and sector-specific playbooks.
  • Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Implementation to relay US market feedback and ensure seamless handovers post-sale.
  • Contribute to building Sona's US go-to-market capability - shaping processes, sharing insights, and raising the bar for how we sell.

Requirements

  • Experience as a Solutions Consultant, Sales Engineer, or in a technical pre-sales role - we're also open to implementation backgrounds with strong commercial exposure.
  • A background in scheduling, workforce management, HR tech, payroll, or adjacent products. For this founding role, knowing the space matters - you'll need to be credible in WFM conversations from day one.
  • You've worked in a startup or scaleup environment with a complex, modern product that changes frequently. You learn fast and thrive on ambiguity.
  • Strong discovery and storytelling skills - you lead with problems and outcomes, not features, and you can adapt your narrative to different personas and sectors.
  • You're self-starting and proactive, and capable of building process where none exists, seeking out what you need, and operating independently across timezones.
  • Bonus: experience with AI-powered products, or a genuine interest in applied AI.
  • Bonus: you've been in an early-stage solutions role and know what it takes to build the function, not just run it.

Benefits

  • Salary: $170,000 - $200,000 + 25% target bonus
  • Hybrid: San Francisco, minimum 2 days a week. Travel to London and to customers across North America expected
  • Share options
  • 20 days PTO + sick days
  • 401k contributions, employer match up to 2%
  • Comprehensive health cover via Aetna
  • Enhanced parental leave & pay
  • Annual all expenses paid team retreats
  • The latest MacBook and equipment budget for your home office
  • Professional development budget
  • Unlimited free books

Source: Sona careers (Ashby)

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