Director, Field Engineering and Strategy

Role Summary

The Director, Field Engineering and Strategy  is the operating partner for the Global Field Engineering organisation, embedded within the Office of the CRO's GTM Strategy & Execution function. This role owns the strategic planning, operational cadence, and performance infrastructure that enable the pre-sales/SE (“Field Engineering”) organization to scale efficiently against revenue targets. It translates GTM strategy into Field Engineering execution — capacity planning, coverage models, productivity measurement, tooling, and enablement operations — while acting as the primary strategic advisor to the VP, Global Field Engineering on organizational design and resource allocation.

This is a hybrid role: formal reporting into GTM Strategy & Execution ensures alignment with company-wide revenue planning and cross-functional GTM systems; the strong dotted line into Global Field Engineering ensures the work is grounded in field reality and has direct influence over how the SE organization is run day to day.

Key Responsibilities

Headcount & Capacity Planning

• Own the Field Engineering headcount model: current-state coverage, ratio benchmarking (SE:AE, SE:ARR, SE:Account), and forward capacity planning tied to pipeline and bookings targets.
• Partner with Finance and RevOps on annual and in-year headcount requests, backed by data.
• Build and maintain territory/coverage models across segments, regions, and specializations (e.g., vertical or product-line SE pods).

Performance Operations & Reporting

• Define and own the Field Engineering KPI framework (e.g., SE utilization, POV win rate, technical win/loss, ramp time, deal-cycle involvement).
• Build and maintain leadership-facing dashboards and QBR materials for the Global Field Engineering organization.
• Run the operating cadence: weekly/monthly business reviews, forecast rollups specific to technical validation stages, and escalation processes for at-risk deals requiring SE intervention.

Strategic Planning

• Translate company and GTM Strategy & Execution priorities into Field Engineering execution plans.
• Lead annual planning for the Field Engineering org: goals, org structure, budget inputs, and success metrics.
• Identify structural inefficiencies in field engineering deployment and recommend organizational or process changes.

Systems, Tools & Process

• Own the Field Engineering tech stack requirements (CRM data model for SE activity, POV/demo tracking, scheduling and capacity tools) in partnership with RevOps and Sales Systems.
• Standardize and govern SE processes (deal qualification criteria for SE engagement, handoff protocols, POV governance) in partnership with Field Engineering leadership.
• Drive adoption of AI-enabled tooling to improve SE productivity and reduce non-selling time.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Serve as the primary liaison between Global Field Engineering and GTM Strategy & Execution, Revenue Operations, Sales, Product, and Finance.
• Represent Field Engineering's operational needs in company-wide GTM planning cycles (territory carving, comp design, quota setting).
• Partner with Enablement on the SE certification and skills framework, ensuring it is grounded in capacity and performance data.

Requirements

• 10+ years in Sales/Revenue Operations, Field Engineering leadership, or GTM Strategy roles, with at least 3+ years in enterprise B2B software or infrastructure/data software.
• Direct prior experience as a Solutions Engineer, Sales Engineer, or Field Engineer, or as a manager/RevOps partner directly supporting an SE organization.
  Non-negotiable — this role requires firsthand credibility with the field engineering org, not secondhand familiarity.
• Advanced, hands-on data manipulation and self-serve analytics capability: fluency in a BI tool (Looker, Tableau, or equivalent) and spreadsheet/data modeling at an advanced level (pivot modeling, complex formulas, or scripting in Python/Excel). This person primarily builds their own models and dashboards rather than requesting them from an analyst, although assistance from the Revenue Intelligence team is available when needed (but is secondary).
• Proven track record building headcount, capacity, and coverage models for a technical pre-sales organization.
• Strong command of GTM data infrastructure: Salesforce or equivalent CRM, BI/reporting tools, forecasting methodology.
• Demonstrated ability to operate across a matrixed reporting structure and drive alignment without direct authority.
• Executive presence: able to present to CRO-level and VP-level stakeholders and hold ground on data-backed recommendations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a company selling technical/developer-oriented products where the SE org is deeply involved in the sales cycle (databases, infrastructure, dev tools, security).
• Experience standing up or scaling a Field Engineering function through a growth or transformation phase.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted GTM tooling (forecast automation, deal-risk scoring, technical win/loss analysis).
• Scripting or automation experience (Python, Apps Script) for building recurring reporting pipelines outside of BI-tool constraints.