Q: What do you do at Jumio and what does that involve?
I’m a Solution Engineer, which can sometimes be called a “Sales Engineer.” Focusing on that, I am a part of the sales organization and primarily support the pre-sales process from a technical point of view, but also setting the groundwork for a successful ongoing partnership. This means understanding customers’ needs, finding the right solution on an individual basis and making the customer understand all technical aspects to ensure a frictionless integration into their very own systems/processes. This implies putting oneself into the customer’s shoes and explaining/ presenting Jumio’s solutions as well as feeding information back to Jumio’s internal teams.
Q: What was Jumio’s selling point for you? What made you say “I wanna work there!”?
First of all the fact is that I like the broad technical set of skills which one can evolve here. From web, over to native mobile, down to backend and machine learning, you get a glimpse of everything. Another important factor for my decision is the international flair (not just being present in a certain country/region). On top of that I like the fact that I am based in Vienna, where many of the product and engineering people are located as well. This helps bridging the gap between sales and product/engineering, which typically all companies are facing to a certain extent — in my opinion, an SE is responsible for helping to close that gap as well.
Q: How does your work environment differ from other companies you’ve worked for in the past?
The difference clearly is the domain (scope on identity), whereas before I was more into payments and eCommerce processes. Routines, tools and mindset are quite similar to other start-ups and the relatively young companies I have worked for so far. More importantly, it differs a lot from the conservative and process-centric companies – some of which I have worked for as well! Not to forget that here at Jumio we have a certain set of benefits I do not know from other employers.
Q: What are the most interesting bits of the role?
Regarding my team it is clearly the very different characters of the individuals. Each of them adds a certain “flavour to the sauce.” In terms of the domain it is the dynamic evolution of the product! Coming from (pure) ID verification, we are moving to a more holistic approach (authentication, new facets of onboarding, KYC/KYX, etc.). This is very exciting, especially seeing this from the position between the lines of sales and product/engineering. There you have to understand/question/challenge/communicate on a very frequent basis to ensure a common understanding of what is considered to be important to be successful. This creates a highly dynamic environment that motivates me a lot.
Q: What do most people get wrong about the role?
A Solution Engineer is not just “the technical person,” hence shouldn’t be treated that way. Every sales representative should work closely with us, including engaging us in discussions sooner rather than later in the sales processes. We bring another perspective, can help alignment on a strategy and learn from each other.
Q: What’s the secret to being good at your job?
It is a mix of technical, interpersonal, analytical, communication and business-related skills. One needs to fill the gaps between the company/Jumio and all customer-related departments involved in the sales process. This implies internal delegation, communication and most of all, taking ownership. Being creative shouldn’t be underrated either!
Q: What would you say to potential employees wanting to work at Jumio? What qualities should they have?
Of course being good at what they are doing. Willingness to deal with change, and having intrinsic motivation hence being passionate about your job.
Q: Can you tell us something not a lot of people know about you or the job you do?
It is not just about the support of the sales process, but of a support of all kinds of processes. An SE can be a knowledge transfer engineer or a communication engineer too within his/her role!