THE ROLEPortworx is building a Forward Deployed Engineering team to embed directly with our most strategic customers during their highest-stakes Kubernetes storage deployments. You'll be the technical bridge between complex customer infrastructure and Portworx itself: designing production architectures, unblocking critical rollouts, and turning field experience into structured product feedback that shapes our roadmap.
This is not a support role and not a pure pre-sales role. You'll own engagements end-to-end: from solution validation before you ever get on a plane, through architecture design, production stabilization, and a clean handoff. You'll leave behind documentation and automation that make the next customer's journey faster.
Just as important as the technical delivery: this is a relationship-building role. You'll work directly with senior technical leaders (Directors and VPs of Infrastructure and Platform Engineering), and the goal is to become a trusted advisor on their broader platform strategy, not just their Portworx footprint. Done well, this role gives Portworx (and Pure) visibility and influence across the customer's whole platform organization.
WHAT YOU'LL DO- Where possible - reproduce a customer's target environment, whether on-prem or cloud/CaaS, in a lab and validate the proposed solution and architecture pattern before traveling on-site, so on-site time is spent building trust and executing a proven design
- Design and validate production Portworx architectures for complex, high-stakes customer environments (multi-cluster, DR, KubeVirt VM migration, regulated/air-gapped deployments, cloud-native CaaS platforms)
- Lead hands-on implementation: storage class design, KVDB topology, snapshot/backup policy, async/sync replication, capacity and sizing models
- Run failure-mode and performance validation before go-live (node/AZ loss, network partition, upgrade paths)
- Troubleshoot production-blocking issues in real time during critical rollouts
- Author runbooks, reference architectures, and automation that become reusable IP across engagements
- Upskill customer platform teams so they can operate independently post-handoff
- Build and sustain relationships with senior technical leaders (Directors/VPs of Infrastructure and Platform Engineering) by understanding and helping shape their broader platform strategy, not just their Portworx deployment
- Conduct periodic visits to established, already-live accounts to maintain the relationship, stay current on their evolving platform needs, and surface expansion opportunities. Many customers start small and grow, and this is how that growth gets found and won
- Develop enough fluency in the customer's development environment and workflows to speak credibly to their CaaS platform needs as a whole
- Log and structure field feedback (bugs, feature gaps, roadmap signal) for a recurring feedback loop with Product and Engineering
- Partner closely with Sales Engineering, Customer Success, and Support to triage which engagements warrant FDE involvement
- We are primarily an in-office environment and therefore, you will be expected to work from the Santa Clara office in compliance with Everpure's policies, unless you are on PTO, or work travel, or other approved leave.
WHAT YOU BRING- 5+ years in infrastructure/platform engineering, SRE, or field/solutions engineering roles; prior "forward deployed," field engineering, or professional services experience a plus
- Deep, hands-on Kubernetes expertise (CKA/CKS or equivalent production experience). You've run clusters in production, not just in a lab
- Strong understanding of enterprise storage infrastructure: SAN/NAS, Fibre Channel, iSCSI, NVMe/TCP, multipath (dm-multipath), LVM
- Solid Linux systems administration background
- Comfort working across both on-prem and cloud/CaaS deployment models. You shouldn't have a blind spot on either side
- Working understanding of customer development environments (CI/CD, application deployment patterns, dev/test workflows) sufficient to reason about CaaS platform needs beyond just the storage layer
- Experience with virtualization and migration patterns (VMware, KubeVirt) a strong plus
- Prior experience with Portworx, other CSI-based storage platforms, or enterprise storage vendors (Pure Storage, NetApp, Dell, etc.) is highly valued
- Genuine relationship-building instincts. This role requires earning trust with senior technical leaders over time, not just closing out a project; comfort running both a technical whiteboard session and a live war-room call, and staying in touch between fires
- Strong technical writing skills. The artifacts you leave behind are as important as the fix you made
#LI-ONSITE
Salary ranges are determined based on role, level and location. For positions open to candidates in multiple geographical locations, the base salary range is reflective of the labor market across the applicable locations.
This role may be eligible for incentive pay and/or equity.
There is no application deadline and we accept applications on an ongoing basis until the job is filled.
The annual base salary range is:
$208,000-$305,000 USD
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US:- Innovation: We celebrate those who think critically, like a challenge, and aspire to be trailblazers.
- Growth: We give you the space and support to grow along with us and to contribute to something meaningful. We have been named Fortune's Best Workplaces in Technology™, Fortune's Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™, and certified as a Great Place to Work®!
- Team: We build each other up and set aside ego for the greater good.
And because we understand the value of bringing your full and best self to work, we offer a variety of perks to manage a healthy balance, including flexible time off, wellness resources, and company-sponsored team events. Check out purebenefits.com for more information.
