Deal Strategy Lead, Confluent
$190-233.3k
+ Equity
Data streaming platform
Be an early applicant
Data streaming platform
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$190-233.3k
+ Equity
1001+ employees
Company mission
Founded by the team that built Apache Kafka, their mission is to make managing Kafka easy.
Role
Who you are
- Bachelor’s degree with over 7 years of experience in roles such as Management Consulting, Deal Strategy, Finance, Growth or Strategy & Operations
- Exceptional critical thinking skills with the ability to absorb and synthesize complex concepts in varied situations into logical, data-driven decisions
- Experience constructing strategic hypotheses with deep understanding of the big picture view of the operational implications
- Proficient in financial analysis and partnering on the development of business cases, with a bias towards data driven decision making
- Deep understanding of various software selling models (SaaS, perpetual, on-demand, consumption, etc.) and a strong interest in Data, Enterprise Architecture, and Infrastructure
- Knowledgeable about the Data and SaaS/Cloud industries, with a keen aptitude for learning about Data in Motion and Confluent’s portfolio
- Demonstrated ability to meet timelines on multiple projects while simultaneously managing stakeholder expectations and managing risk
- Proven project management skills, capable of building relationships and solving problems with cross-functional teams in a remote environment
- Strong communication skills, both oral and written, able to effectively convey information across different teams, roles, and levels
- Relevant experience putting together proposals for executives or customers coupled with past experience or interest in go-to-market strategy and execution
What the job involves
- As a Principal in our Deal Strategy team, you'll be a key collaborator with Confluent's Field Sales team, including Sales leadership, Regional Sales Directors (RSDs), and Account Executives (AEs) and Value Engineering teams
- You'll dive deep into Confluent's offerings and value propositions, ensuring you're well-versed to work effectively with Partners, the broader Confluent Customer Success Group (CSG), Operations, and other teams
- Together, we'll ensure that our deal structures and proposals are perfectly tailored to meet our customers' needs
- Your role in the team goes beyond just working on deals. You'll be our ears on the ground, providing valuable feedback from the field about trends, competitive insights, and customer feedback. This information is crucial for continuously refining our pricing, deal structures, and overall value proposition
- Additionally, you'll play a pivotal role in facilitating training and education, helping to instill best practices across our Field teams. In short, your work will impact our direct sales efforts and contribute to our broader business strategy's ongoing evolution and success
- This position reports to our AMER Director, Deal Strategy
- Collaborate with sales teams on our non-standard deals by structuring strategic and competitive proposals that meet customer needs and are beneficial to long term growth
- Co-create the value proposition of Confluent’s offerings with our Value Engineering and sales teams and brainstorm on potential deal strategy plays in early customer engagements
- Perform deep-dive discovery and qualification with account teams and customers to understand the business problems we are solving for and work towards mutually beneficial outcomes
- Serve as a subject matter expert in Confluent value selling methodologies including best practices for deal structuring, complex pricing strategies, and commercial levers
- Manage cross-functional stakeholders timing and expectations during deal structuring process for multiple in-flight deals occurring in parallel
- This may include leading working sessions, performing analysis and consolidating approvals for innovative, strategic deals that fall outside standard processes
- Identify opportunities to build repeatable, scalable processes within our team and our hand-offs to internal stakeholders
- Continuously update your expertise in Confluent's portfolio, including on-premise, cloud, and hybrid deal constructs, to provide informed advice and support
Our take
Confluent is a commercial company built on top of the open-source Apache Kafka project. Confluent and Kafka have developed a streaming data technology that processes massive amounts of information in real-time.
The streaming database technology was developed at LinkedIn as a way of moving massive amounts of messages. The company decided to open-source that tech in 2011, and Confluent launched as the commercial arm in 2014.
While the base open-source component remains available for free download, it doesn’t include the additional tooling the company has built to make it easier for enterprises to use Kafka. Confluent's value add is in those additional tools, including a cloud version of the product and a marketplace for sharing extensions to the platform.
Confluent expanded strategic partnerships with Microsoft and acquired Immerok, and in 2023 expanded its cloud platform. 2024 saw further product expansions with the launch of the Confluent Migration Accelerator, all exemplifying how the company is living up to its name by rocket-boosting the benefits of Apache Kafka integration for companies.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)
Apr 2020
$250m
SERIES E
Jan 2019
$125m
SERIES D
Total funding: $455.9m
Company HQ
Mountain View, California
Leadership
Jay Kreps
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously a Principal Engineer at LinkedIn.
Neha Narkhede
(Co-Founder & Board Member)Previously a Lead Engineer at LinkedIn and Oracle. They are an Investor/advisor for Gem, Block Party, Material Security, Abacus AI, Cortex Data, Yugabyte, Metaphor Data, Natalist, Common Room, and more.
Jun Rao
(Co-Founder)Previously a Senior Engineer at LinkedIn. Has a PhD in Computer Science from Columbia University.
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