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10 presales solutions engineering experts
These ten presales leaders have run solutions engineering and sales engineering teams, with titles such as director of solutions engineering and senior director of solution engineering. A reader can learn how presales leaders build and run their teams.
Professionals to explore
01—10Bruce Obenour
LinkedInExperience: Director, Sales Engineering Architect Team · Box
Former Director, Sales Engineering Architect Team at Box (2019–2025) and Senior Director at Box since 2025. The profile says this person leads a worldwide team of 15 presales Solutions Architects communicating the value of Box solutions and the Box platform. Former Principal Sales Architect at Box (2012–2019) and Pre-Sales Engineer Technical Sales (Client Technology Professional) at IBM (2011–2012).
Daniel Shem
LinkedInExperience: Head of Solutions Engineering · Boon
Former Head of Solutions Engineering at Boon (2025), a role in which the profile says this person led presales technical teams at a Series A startup building agentic AI solutions for trucking and logistics. Also former Head of Sales Engineering at Teambridge (2025–2026) and Senior Manager, Sales Engineering, Enterprise - Strategic Accounts at Samsara (2024–2025); Director of Solutions Engineering at Assort Health since 2026.
Gora Sudindranath
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director, Solutions Engineering EMEA Central Region · Salesforce
Former Senior Director, Solutions Engineering EMEA Central Region at Salesforce (2020–2024), where the profile says this person led a Solutions Engineering team in the DACH region supporting sales teams for Marketing Analytics and B2B Marketing Automation. Former Head of Solution Architects at Vulcan Cyber, a Tenable Company (2024–2025), and Director Solutions Engineering at ThoughtSpot since 2025.
Jay Roper
LinkedInExperience: Director, Sales Engineering · Samsung Electronics America
Director, Sales Engineering at Samsung Electronics America since 2022, and former Team Lead, Technical Account Manager, Sr. Sales Engineer there (2014–2022). The profile describes leading technical teams and designing and delivering proof-of-concepts. Former Principal Technical Account Manager Sr. Sales Engineer at Telestream, LLC (2009–2014).
Jeff Black
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director, Solution Engineering for Tableau (Financial Services Industry) · Salesforce
Former Senior Director, Solution Engineering for Tableau (Financial Services Industry) at Salesforce (2021–2022), where the profile says this person led the Tableau financial services presales team, focused on technical account strategy, pre-sales motions and GTM strategy. Former Director, Sales Engineering (2022–2024), Senior Director, Sales Engineering (2024–2025) and Head of Global Sales Engineering (2025–2026) at Gong.
Jon Gamm
LinkedInExperience: Director Solution Engineering · Salesforce
Director Solution Engineering at Salesforce since 2018, where the profile says this person leads the US mid-market banking and wealth management industry solution engineering team. Former Senior Sales Consulting Manager at Oracle (2006–2014) and Director of Pre-Sales at Sagent Technology (1998–2001); the profile also says this person led a pre-sales consulting team.
Maged Shehata
LinkedInExperience: Solution Engineering Director - North America Retail & Consumer Goods · Snowflake
Former Solution Engineering Director - North America Retail & Consumer Goods at Snowflake (2022–2025), a role in which the profile says this person led a team of 35 sales engineers and sales engineering managers. Former Sr. RVP, Solution Engineering, Retail & Consumer Goods at Snowflake (2025–2026), and VP Global Solutions Architecture at ClickHouse since 2026.
Ray Bracht - M.A.
LinkedInExperience: Director of Solutions Engineering · Virsae
Director of Solutions Engineering at Virsae since 2023, where the profile says this person leads all pre sales engineering activities, including discovery, solution design, architecture validation and technical win strategies, and translates customer requirements into UC/CC observability solutions. Former Customer Success Director, North America at Virsae (2019–2023) and Lead Sales Engineer at CenturyLink (2018–2019).
Roger Buckingham
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director, Solution Engineering International · D2L
Senior Director, Solution Engineering International at D2L since 2019, where the profile says this person leads international solution engineering, helping education institutions and organisations across EMEA and APAC. Former Solutions Engineering Manager, EMEA and LATAM (2018–2019) and Senior Solutions Engineer (2013–2018) at D2L, and Senior Presales Consultant roles at Compuware (2000–2013).
Stephen Stierer
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director Solutions Engineering · Cloudflare
Former Senior Director Solutions Engineering at Cloudflare (2021–2025), and Senior Director, Sales Engineering for North America at Fastly since 2025. Former Global Director Solutions Engineering - Web Performance and Technical Consulting (2017–2021) and Director, Pre-Sales (2012–2017) at Akamai Technologies. The profile describes a current focus on leading a Solutions Engineering team.
Choose the right perspective
Match the person's sales context to yours, since supporting a large enterprise field team differs from setting up the first presales function at a younger company. Also decide whether your question is mainly about technical discovery and demos, team structure and hiring, or how presales works with account executives, and pick someone whose roles centered on that work.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How do you decide which deals get a solutions engineer, and what ratio of SEs to account executives works?
- 02What makes a proof of concept worth running, and how do you keep it from turning into free consulting?
- 03How do you measure a presales team's contribution to revenue?
Reaching presales solutions engineering experts
How can I contact one of these presales solutions engineering experts?
Pick one of the 10 people on this page and choose "Book a paid call", or describe your project to find others. You offer a fee for a 15-minute call or a written answer, Instant Expert finds the person's work email and sends the invitation, and they decide whether to accept. The list covers 8 companies, including Box, Boon and Salesforce, based on profile data retrieved on October 4, 2026. Being listed here doesn't mean someone has agreed to take calls.
How much does it cost to reach presales solutions engineering experts?
You choose the offer, starting at $5 per person. It includes Instant Expert's 20% fee, so an offer that pays the person $100 costs you $125. You're charged only when the person books the call or sends the answer.
What if they don't reply?
You pay nothing. Instant Expert sends follow-up reminders, and if the person hasn't booked or answered within 7 days, the request expires and any hold on your card is released. You can invite several of the 10 people on this list at once and cap your total spend, so you pay only for the ones who accept.
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot and may describe past or present roles. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
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