Salesforce

Principal Solution Engineer

Salesforce$172K — $260K *
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years in solutions engineering, ideally focusing on analytics or data platforms.
  • Expertise in Tableau Cloud and Desktop with a deep understanding of capabilities and limitations.
  • Ability to independently build technical prototypes, utilizing AI-assisted coding tools.
  • Experience collaborating with field or sales teams to turn feedback into actionable insights for product development.
  • Comfortable in dynamic settings with priorities that shift frequently, favoring quick execution over perfection.
  • Strong communication skills to convey technical gaps clearly and earn field trust.

Responsibilities

  • Collaborate with Solutions Engineers to identify and address customer needs, ensuring solutions are effectively adopted.
  • Create working prototypes before general release, highlighting product gaps using rapid development methods.
  • Engage directly with high-level customers to validate prototypes and assess competitive standing.
  • Maintain and update technical resources like demo environments, messaging decks, and readiness materials.
  • Experiment with emerging AI capabilities, assessing what can be scaled across the team.
  • Differentiate between Salesforce and Tableau buyer priorities to tailor demonstrations and assets effectively.
  • Share insights from field experiences to enhance best practices and tools for the entire organization.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to engage directly with strategic-level customers and shape product resources.
  • Work in an agile environment with a focus on rapid delivery of impactful solutions.
  • Collaborative culture with an emphasis on learning and improvement.
  • Possibility of influencing product development through field feedback.
  • Access to cutting-edge AI tools and resources in a dynamic market.
Full Job Description

To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts.

Job Category

Product

Job Details

This role sits within the Solutions Center of Excellence (COE), a Product-organization team built to close the gap between what Tableau builds and what the field can sell and demonstrate with confidence. Tableau's business today spans an established cloud and server customer base and a fast-growing set of Tableau Next and agentic capabilities, and the field needs both protected and grown at the same time.

We work in 90-day sprints, not long roadmaps, and we measure ourselves on what actually reaches the field, not on how polished an idea sounds in a deck. As a Principal Solutions Engineer on this team, you'll partner closely with the Solutions Engineering organization, and at times directly with customers, to catch gaps before they cost deals and turn what you learn into something the field can use immediately.

What You'll Actually Be Doing

  • Partner with Solutions Engineers in the field to understand what they need to meet the demands of their customers — then close the loop by driving adoption of what you build until the field is actually using it, not just handing it off.

  • Build working prototypes ahead of general availability, using AI-assisted coding tools to move fast, that show the product organization exactly where a capability falls short (e.g. vibe-coded dashboard and knowledge-graph prototypes).

  • Engage directly with strategic and executive-level customers to validate prototypes and pressure-test competitive positioning.

  • Develop and maintain technical assets in your area of focus — competitive readiness materials, talk tracks, or demo environments (e.g. Tableau messaging decks, 201-level architecture decks, Customer Zero materials) — and keep them current as the landscape shifts.

  • Experiment with new AI capabilities and skills as they become available (Slack skills, TabNext skills, Beacon), and bring back what's worth scaling to the rest of the team.

  • Deeply understand the nuances between the Salesforce buyer and the Tableau buyer to deliver demos and other assets that target the appropriate value drivers.

  • Act as a product subject-matter expert on Tableau Cloud and Tableau Desktop — the core platform is still the majority of the business, so your prototyping and field partnering need to be grounded in deep, current fluency with it, not just the newest capabilities.

  • Feed what you learn from the field back into best-practice sharing across the COE and scalable tooling for the Field, so a gap you close for one region or SE becomes an advantage the whole field can use.

You're Our Person If…

  • You have several years of hands-on solutions engineering, sales engineering, or technical pre-sales experience, ideally with analytics, business intelligence, or data platforms.

  • You have deep, current expertise in Tableau Cloud and Tableau Desktop — you can speak to the platform's capabilities and limits as a genuine product SME, not just a user.

  • You can build a working technical prototype independently, including with AI-assisted coding tools, not just talk through a concept.

  • You have experience partnering with a field or sales organization to translate their feedback into something a product team can act on.

  • You're comfortable in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities, and you'd rather ship something in 90 days than perfect it over a year.

  • You can communicate a technical gap or opportunity clearly enough that the field trusts your read on it without you being in the room.

Even Better If…

  • You have experience with Tableau, Salesforce, or another enterprise data and analytics platform.

  • You've worked with model context protocol (MCP)-based integrations or agentic workflows.

  • You have experience contributing to a structured feedback loop between a field organization and a product organization.

  • You have supported customers or colleagues outside your home region.

About Salesforce

ExactTarget is a provider of on-demand email marketing software solutions. Their suite of on-demand one-to-one marketing applications enables clients to send business-critical and event-triggered communications to increase sales, optimize marketing investments, and strengthen customer relationships. They offer four editions of their on-demand software application along with integrated solutions such as ExactTarget for AppExchange and ExactTarget for [Microsoft](/organization/Microsoft) Dynamics CRM.

Salesforce Careers

Joining Salesforce means becoming part of a dynamic, global team of professionals who are deeply committed to driving customer success and innovation. As the world's leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, Salesforce offers unparalleled job opportunities in technology and consulting, making it an ideal place for ambitious individuals looking to make a significant impact.

Work You'll Do

At Salesforce, every position is a chance to leverage your skills and creativity to transform businesses and industries. Our diverse team of experts collaborates to deliver cutting-edge solutions that foster growth and enhance leadership capabilities. By joining our team, you'll be at the forefront of digital innovation, using Salesforce's powerful platform to help clients navigate their transformation journeys.

Innovate and Lead

Salesforce is not just a company; it's a community where you can lead with your ideas and see them come to life. Our culture of innovation encourages you to challenge the status quo and push the boundaries of what's possible. With Salesforce, you'll work alongside leaders in technology and business who are committed to your growth and professional development.

Career Growth and Opportunities

Whether you're looking for an internship, a full-time position, or leadership roles, Salesforce provides a wealth of opportunities to advance your career. Our commitment to professional growth is reflected in our robust training programs, including leadership development and diversity training, designed to help you excel at every stage of your career.

Be Part of a Great Team

Salesforce prides itself on a culture that values diversity, teamwork, and open communication. We believe that our strength lies in our people, and we're committed to creating an environment where everyone can thrive. Joining our team means being part of a supportive community that encourages networking and collaboration.

Benefits and Culture

At Salesforce, we understand that job satisfaction extends beyond the office. That's why we offer competitive benefits to support the health, well-being, and financial security of our employees and their families. From health insurance and retirement plans to wellness programs and flexible working arrangements, we provide the benefits that contribute to a better work-life balance.

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Learn more about Salesforce
Size
73,541 employees
Market Cap
$130.4 billion
Industry
Net Income
$4 billion
Founded
2000
5 Year Trend
+25.7%
Revenue
$21.2 billion
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