Careers

Systems Engineer

Summary

We are currently seeking a talented and ambitious Systems Engineer to join our team. We’ve got data and lots of software to process and store it: large scale distributed systems, soft real-time systems, long-tail storage, and in-memory databases. We’re looking for someone to help write good distributed software.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Perform maintenance and feature development on data storage systems (both open source and proprietary)
2. Design and implement active-active idempotent soft real-time systems
3. Ensure code quality and performance for core architecture components in both C, Java, and Javascript.
4. Diagnose production issues, suggest a fix to the problem, or be able to articulate what the problem is to your peers and collaborate with them come up with a fix
5. Document design and implementation decisions

Knowledge and Skill Requirements

1. Distributed systems knowledge including consensus approaches, consistent hashing, vector clocks or lamport timestamps, and commutative vs. non-commutative operations.
2. Solid experience programming in C and Java (Javascript is a plus)
3. Be programming language agnostic
4. Ability to analyze/review/design a solution with a solid understanding of both immediate performance, scalability, resource utilization and long-term behavior.
5. Fluency in at least one SQL database technologies (Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)
6. Fluency in at least one distributed KV-store technologies (Riak, Cassandra, Voldemort, etc.)
7. Experience working in Solaris, Linux, BSD and UNIX in general
8. Thorough background in either traditional software engineering or agile development practices
9. Thorough understanding of VCS systems (at least one of Subversion, Git; others are helpful)
10. Can argue, discuss, and reasonably explain the following papers in plain English:
    • Dynamo: amazon’s highly available key-value store
    • Resettable vector clocks
    • An intelligent prediction system for time series data using periodic pattern mining in temporal databases

Sales Director

Summary

Circonus, Inc. is seeking a proven Sales Director to join its team. We’re looking for a persuasive and resilient sales “hunter” who can carry out all necessary sales activities in pursuit and capture of major new flagship clients. This is a senior-level, individual contributor reporting to the VP of Sales and Marketing.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Generate and qualify leads
2. Prepare sales action plans and schedules
3. Plan and conduct direct sales activities
4. Make sales calls to potential clients, following up in a timely manner as needed to develop accounts/contact and close sales
5. Penetrate into new accounts and markets
6. Prepare presentations of company products and services
7. Customize and present sales proposals
8. Determine prospect business requirements, promoting company offerings in light of prospect needs/desires
9. Shepherd opportunities through full sales cycle
10. Maximize revenues and margins of sales opportunities
11. Negotiate sales contracts
12. Maintain and present sales activity records and reports
13. Respond promptly and effectively to sales inquiries by phone, email, and in-person
14. Perform Major Account Management, managing the ongoing client relationship
15. Provide market feedback to Product Management
16. Participate in sales events, traveling as needed including on short notice

Education and Experience

1. Proven ability to achieve > $1 Million annual sales targets
2. > 5 years successful experience in direct IT/Telecom technology sales
3. Executive relationship creation and development experience
4. Understanding of the SaaS business model and delivery
5. Thorough knowledge of and experience in principles and practices of executive selling, consultative selling, solution selling, and value selling
6. Knowledge of Cloud Computing market dynamics
7. Knowledge of and strong appreciation for customer service principles
8. Knowledge of basic business principles such as margin, ROI/TCO, pricing
9. Start-up experience preferred
10. Exposure to operational dashboards / performance monitoring preferred
11. Existing base of Fortune 500 senior IT decision maker contacts preferred
12. BS degree from an accredited university required, Masters degree preferred

Sales Engineer

Summary

The Sales Engineer will be the primary technical resource for Sales and Marketing efforts and the client/partner technical interface. They will be responsible for actively and successfully driving and managing the technology evaluation stage of the sales process, working in conjunction with the sales team as the key technical advisor and product advocate. The Sales Engineer must be able to articulate product advantages to both business and technical audiences. They must be able to identify and resolve technical issues/concerns to assure complete prospective client/partner satisfaction throughout all stages of the sales process.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Collaborate closely and cooperatively with Sales/Marketing teams to understand client/partner requirements, promote the sale of company products, and provide other sales support as needed with rapid turnaround.
2. Generate client/partner enthusiasm and gain their acceptance by preparing and delivering compelling technical demonstrations and presentations, in-person and online, that explains the product.
3. Inform prospective buyers about product features and advantages. Answer technical questions in a highly confidence-engendering manner. Establish and maintain strong personal rapport throughout the sales cycle.
4. Develop, document, and present functional and technical elements of proposals for specific client/partner requirements, including RFI/RFP responses.
5. Confer with internal technical, operations, and project management staff on availability and feasibility related to proposed client/partner engagements, costing proposed activities.
6. Set-up/configure on-site and online trials.
7. Handle client deployments and customizations.
8. Determine and recommend improvements in client/partner prospective deployments by analyzing their environments and needs.
9. Provide product training to clients, partners, and internally.
10. Respond right away to any and all technical support inquiries.
11. Test product elements, including agent and UI.
12. Thoroughly research and perform comparative assessments of competitors’ offerings.
13. Provide input on client/partner/market requirements to product management roadmap.
14. Attend trade shows, conferences, and seminars to promote products.
15. Create or enhance technical documentation for products. Also write blog entries and tweets on relevant technical and industry developments.
16. Must be available for travel as needed, including on short notice.

Qualifications

1. 3-5+ years of proven track record in successful software vendor Sales Engineering
2. B.S. in Computer Science or a related field is required
3. Experienced or knowledgeable in SaaS industry and products a plus

Skills

1. Enthusiastic
2. Self-motivated
3. Can-do mentality
4. Cooperative, team player
5. Ability to identify client requirements and sell to client needs
6. Ability to eliminate sales obstacles through creative and adaptive approaches
7. Comfortable dealing with both technical and non-technical resources, both internally and externally
8. Good sense of humor
9. Problem solving skills
10. Organized and analytical
11. General programming skills
12. Able to communicate professionally in both oral and written form; strong presentation skills