Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
A Principal Solution Engineer role is a distinctive lever in the SaaS ecosystem because it sits at the intersection of product capability, customer architecture, and revenue outcomes. In a cloud data platform context, pre sales work often involves translating complex technical differentiation into credible business narratives, especially when buyers are evaluating multiple modern data stacks and deployment patterns.
For a SaaS career path, this position builds durable expertise in running enterprise evaluation cycles end to end, from discovery through demos and proof of concept. It also creates repeated exposure to how large customers think about data architecture, governance, and adoption, while sharpening the ability to communicate with both executives and hands on technical teams. The collaboration noted with product management, engineering, and marketing is a common way solution engineering influences roadmap feedback loops in SaaS.
This role tends to suit senior practitioners who enjoy being hands on with technical validation while also shaping deal strategy. It aligns with professionals who like switching between whiteboarding, building working examples, and stakeholder management, and who are comfortable spending some time onsite with customers as part of the sales motion.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
Snowflake is about empowering enterprises to achieve their full potential — and people too. With a culture that’s all in on impact, innovation, and collaboration, Snowflake is the sweet spot for building big, moving fast, and taking technology — and careers — to the next level.
We are looking for a Principal Solution Engineer who is accustomed to solving customer’s most complex problems and closing large deals. In this role you will work directly with the sales team and channel partners to understand the needs of our customers, strategize on how to navigate winning sales cycles, provide compelling value-based demonstrations, support enterprise Proof of Concepts, and ultimately close business.
As a Snowflake Solution Engineer you must share our passion about reinventing the database space, thrive in a dynamic environment and have the flexibility and willingness to jump in and get things done. You are equally comfortable in both a business and technical context, interacting with executives and talking shop with technical audiences.
IN THIS ROLE YOU WILL GET TO:
Present Snowflake technology and vision to executives and technical contributors at prospects and customers
Work hands-on with prospects and customers to demonstrate and communicate the value of Snowflake technology throughout the sales cycle, from demo to proof of concept to design and implementation
Immerse yourself in the ever-evolving industry, maintaining a deep understanding of competitive and complementary technologies and vendors and how to position Snowflake in relation to them.
Collaborate with Product Management, Engineering, and Marketing to continuously improve Snowflake’s products and marketing
ON DAY ONE WE WILL EXPECT YOU TO HAVE:
8-12 years of industry experience with a minimum of 5 years within a pre-sales environment
Outstanding presenting skills to both technical and executive audiences, whether impromptu on a whiteboard or using presentations and demos.
5+ years of experience building and deploying machine learning and generative AI solutions in the cloud.
Broad range of experience within large-scale Database and/or Data Warehouse technology, ETL, analytics and cloud technologies. For example, Data Lake, Data Mesh, Data Fabric
Hands-on expertise with SQL, SQL analytics, and Python.
Ability to connect a customer’s specific business problems and Snowflake’s solutions
Ability to do deep discovery of customer’s architecture framework and connect those with Snowflake Data Architecture.
University degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics or related fields, or equivalent experience preferred. Masters in DataScience or Business Administration is a plus.
Experience with GSIs (EY, Deloitte, Accenture, etc), would be beneficial, but not required
Expect to be onsite with customers about 30% of the time
ABOUT OUR TEAM:
Our Solution Engineers are customer obsessed and we believe in the value we can add and stay honest about it. We love to learn, are open to giving and receiving feedback and are passionate about making our clients successful. Our team works to ensure data is accessible, usable and valuable to everyone.
Every Snowflake employee is expected to follow the company’s confidentiality and security standards for handling sensitive data. Snowflake employees must abide by the company’s data security plan as an essential part of their duties. It is every employee's duty to keep customer information secure and confidential.
Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake.
How do you want to make your impact?
For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com
