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Salary: USD 186,000 - 195,000 / annual
Expel is seeking a Principal Solutions Architect to own the technical side of complex Enterprise security opportunities. This is a Principal-level individual contributor role where you will lead technical discovery, demonstrate Expel's managed detection and response (MDR) service, design and drive Proofs of Value (POVs), navigate technical objections, and create the bridge between Sales and Delivery teams to ensure seamless customer transitions post-sale.
You will independently navigate the company's most challenging opportunities, influence stakeholders without formal authority, and help elevate the broader Solutions Architecture organization. Your responsibilities include owning technical strategy from initial discovery through POV and the customer's first 30 days; leading POVs end-to-end by defining success criteria, building delivery plans, coordinating internal teams, and troubleshooting issues; deeply understanding prospect challenges and mapping them to Expel's service capabilities; delivering compelling technical demonstrations tailored to different audiences (practitioners, executives, CISOs); acting as a trusted technical advisor who can challenge assumptions and respectfully say "no" when appropriate; partnering with Account Executives on opportunity strategy, competitive positioning, and RFPs; preparing Delivery teams with technical context and transition details; owning technical escalations during POVs and early service delivery; coordinating across Sales, Product, Engineering, SOC, Detection & Response, Customer Success, and Delivery teams; maintaining strong working knowledge of SIEM, endpoint/EDR, network, cloud, security operations, incident response, and detection and response; identifying and implementing improvements to POV methodology, technical content, processes, and enablement; and raising the technical bar for the Solutions Architecture team through knowledge sharing and mentorship.
You should have deep expertise across security operations, incident response, SIEM, endpoint, network, and cloud environments. The role requires strong listening skills, the ability to ask great questions, compelling storytelling abilities, and the capacity to build trust with everyone from SOC analysts to CISOs. You will need excellent project and stakeholder management skills, high emotional intelligence, genuine curiosity, coachability, and a track record of improving processes and team practices beyond individual contributions.
Travel is expected to be 10-20% for customer meetings, executive briefings, conferences, and visits to Expel HQ in Herndon, Virginia. The role is fully remote within the United States.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 8+ years of relevant experience in Solutions Architecture, Sales Engineering, technical security selling, security consulting, security operations, incident response, or similar customer-facing security roles
- Demonstrated track record of operating at senior or principal level, independently owning complex Enterprise opportunities and influencing stakeholders without formal authority
- Meaningful experience leading complex Enterprise POVs, including technical discovery, defining success criteria, coordinating execution, managing objections, and troubleshooting
- Strong security depth with ability to confidently discuss security operations, incident response, attacker behavior, network architecture, cloud environments, SIEM, endpoint/EDR, and detection and response
- Ability to understand how security technologies work together in real customer environments and identify where technology alone doesn't solve underlying problems
- Strong storytelling skills to make technically complicated concepts understandable and compelling for diverse audiences
- Trusted-advisor instincts with ability to uncover customer goals beyond initial requests and respectfully challenge proposed approaches
- Strong project and stakeholder management skills with experience coordinating complex work and holding others accountable without formal authority
- High emotional intelligence and ability to navigate disagreement and difficult conversations while maintaining trust
- Genuine curiosity and commitment to continuous learning
- Coachability and low-ego approach to feedback
- Track record of improving processes, technical strategy, enablement, or team practices
BONUS QUALIFICATIONS:
- Hands-on experience in SOC, incident response, threat hunting, detection engineering, or security operations environment
- Experience selling or delivering MDR, MSSP, SIEM, EDR/XDR, cloud security, or security operations solutions
- Experience supporting large Enterprise customers with complex environments and long sales cycles
- Experience working with Delivery or Customer Success post-sale
- Experience responding to complex Enterprise RFPs and RFIs
- Experience improving POV methodology or technical enablement for Solutions Architecture or Sales Engineering organizations
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or related discipline
