Enterprise Sales Engineer Jobs in Illinois

Company Background

Censys’ mission is to be the one place to understand everything on the internet. Frustrated by the lack of trustworthy Internet intelligence, we set out to create the industry’s most comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date map of the Internet. Today, Censys delivers real-time Internet intelligence and actionable threat insights to global governments, over 50% of the Fortune 500, and leading threat intelligence providers worldwide.

Censys is building the most credible, robust map of the Internet through IP scanning, DNS lookups, web crawling, and the ingestion of millions of certificates. Censys was founded by security researchers who are passionate about developing technology that provides anyone the power to fully understand their digital risk and exposure. Individuals and enterprises — and anyone in between — can harness this power to discover new information and insight as the Internet, IoT, and Cloud evolve. We are a true security startup with midwestern roots, and we believe that a map of the Internet, or a map of your organization's assets, can quickly help guide organizations to the answers they need to protect themselves from vulnerability and risk.

Role Summary

The Enterprise Solutions Engineer serves as Censys's primary technical resource for enterprise prospects and customers across the Chicago market, bridging the gap between complex cybersecurity challenges and measurable business outcomes. This role combines hands-on pre-sales engineering with deep technical partnership alongside your Enterprise Account Executive — designing and delivering product demonstrations, architecting solutions for complex enterprise environments, and running technical evaluations that give large organizations the confidence to adopt Censys's Internet intelligence platform. Acting as a trusted technical advisor to enterprise stakeholders and a liaison to internal product and support teams, the Enterprise Solutions Engineer drives deal velocity by translating technical capabilities into business value, while feeding real-world customer insight back into product strategy.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary technical leader on enterprise sales cycles across the Chicago territory, partnering closely with your Enterprise Account Executive from discovery through close
• Lead technical discovery to understand prospect environments, security stack, and business drivers, translating findings into a tailored solution architecture
• Deliver compelling product demonstrations and proofs of concept/technical evaluations tailored to enterprise buying committees, including security, IT, and executive stakeholders
• Design solution architectures that address complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise environments and integrate with existing security tooling
• Own technical responses to RFPs/RFIs and security questionnaires for enterprise opportunities in the territory
• Collaborate with sales leadership to identify and prioritize strategic enterprise accounts and expansion opportunities within the Chicago market
• Support enterprise customers through post-sale technical handoff and early implementation, acting as a liaison to Censys's technical support and customer success teams
• Apply business and technical acumen to design customized solutions based on customer needs, ensuring alignment with company standards and best practices
• Stay current on product roadmap, emerging threats, and industry trends to speak credibly to sophisticated enterprise security teams
• Develop and contribute to sales engineering enablement materials — demo scripts, technical guides, competitive positioning — used across the broader SE team
• Collaborate with product management and engineering to relay enterprise customer feedback and influence the product roadmap
• Maintain detailed records of technical engagements, deal support, and account activity, reporting progress to management regularly
• Open to using AI to amplify their skills and strengthen their work — demonstrating curiosity, a willingness to learn, and sound judgment in applying AI responsibly to improve efficiency and impact
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Sales Engineering, Solutions Consulting, pre-sales engineering, or a similar technical role supporting enterprise sales within the technology industry
• Skilled in at least one of the following: Networking, Network Security, Cybersecurity, Private/Public Cloud Security, SOC/Endpoint, or SASE
• Experience supporting complex enterprise sales cycles involving multiple buying centers, technical stakeholders, and multi-product solutions
• Previous experience selling, implementing, or supporting SaaS offerings strongly preferred
• Prior experience architecting cybersecurity solutions that solve technical challenges and influence business initiatives preferred
• Experience influencing and gaining buy-in from senior technical and business stakeholders
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to present complex technical information to both technical and executive audiences
• Hands-on experience with product installations, configurations, technical evaluations, and troubleshooting
• Ability to work independently and as part of a cross-functional team, managing multiple active opportunities in a fast-paced environment
• Strong problem-solving skills and a proactive attitude toward resolving technical objections
• Willingness to travel within the Chicago metro area and broader territory to support customers and attend events as necessary
• Based in or near Chicago strongly preferred, given the in-territory travel expectations of this role

For high cost of living areas (San Francisco Bay, New York City, and Seattle), the expected salary range for this position is $280,000 USD - $330,000 USD, plus bonus eligibility and equity.

Job level and actual compensation will be decided based on factors including, but not limited to, individual qualifications objectively assessed during the interview process (including skills and prior relevant experience, potential impact, and scope of role), market demands, and specific work location. The listed range is a guideline, and the range for this role may be modified. For roles that are available to be filled remotely, the pay range is localized according to employee work location by a factor of between 83% and 100% of range. Please discuss your specific work location with your recruiter for more information.

Censys offers a competitive benefits package to employees, including equity, health, dental & vision coverage, retirement with company contribution, parental leave, mental health & wellness benefits, flexible PTO, and a professional development stipend. Censys also offers sales incentive pay for most sales roles and an annual bonus plan for eligible non-sales roles. Censys's compensation and benefits are subject to change and may be modified in the future. Please see our careers page for more details.

We will work to ensure individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to apply for a role, participate in the interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. If you require accommodation, please reach out to your recruiter. These modifications enable an individual with a disability to have an equal opportunity not only to get a job, but successfully perform their job tasks to the same extent as people without disabilities.

To ensure the integrity of our hiring process and facilitate a more personal connection, we require all candidates to keep their cameras on during video interviews. Additionally, if hired, we would love to bring you to our HQ in Ann Arbor for in-person onboarding.

By applying for this job, the candidate acknowledges and agrees that any personal data contained in their application or supporting materials will be processed in accordance with our Censys Privacy Policy.

Note to external recruiters/agencies: We are not currently engaging with third-party agencies for this role and will not accept unsolicited outreach. We kindly ask that you do not submit resumes or candidate profiles to our team.

Identity Verification

As part of our hiring process, all candidates who receive an offer of employment will be asked to complete an identity verification through CLEAR.

California Privacy Rights Notice

Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we are providing you with notice that we collect personal information from job applicants for business purposes, including evaluating your candidacy for employment, conducting interviews, and, if applicable, completing the hiring process. The categories of information we may collect include identifiers (such as name and contact information), professional or employment-related information (such as work history, education, and references), and other information you provide in your application. We do not sell or share your personal information. For more information on how we use and protect your personal information, and your rights under the CCPA, please refer to our Privacy Policy.